Artistic Dress at Liberty & Co.

Words by Anna Buruma

Liberty’s dress department opened in 1884, headed by Edward William Godwin, an architect with a multi-faceted career and an important figure in the Aesthetic Movement. From the mid-nineteenth-century, women fought against restrictive clothing such as tight-laced corsets and heavy petticoats which were harmful to their health and chose instead to dress in looser fitting dresses, coloured with natural dyes and ornamented with embroidery and needlework. Liberty was at the forefront of Aestheticism with their recognisable soft drapeable silks, transparent textiles and fabrics imported from parts of Asia and the Middle East and their customers were an eclectic mix of women who wanted to dress artistically and stand out from the crowd. Liberty was the chosen resort of the artistic shopper.

With archival materials and previously unpublished pattern books, Anna Buruma navigates Liberty’s role in artistic dress. Examining how their idiosyncratic fashions of Greek and Roman style evening dress and medieval tea gowns translated into late nineteenth and early twentieth century fashionable dress. Liberty sustained their popularity through good taste and willingness to expand into new markets. From their flourishing commitment to Aestheticism to becoming a trail-blazer for the Art Nouveau movement which would emerge from it, Artistic Dress at Liberty & Co: The Early Years is the go-to source for the early history of Liberty’s dress department.

Published by Yale Press