Why Liberty's nostalgic prints are having a fashion moment

My autumn wish list currently comprises a handful of Liberty-print dresses – and not much else. I know this is hardly groundbreaking fashion news, and yet there is something very 2020 about a frock (or blouse, or skirt) crafted from one of the delightfully nostalgic fabrics created by London’s most iconic emporium. And if you’re immediately thinking, “nope, too twee for me,” I urge you to reconsider. Twee, with all its comfort and familiarity, this year, is no bad thing.

The Liberty look has a frisson of right-for-now-ness courtesy of Gucci’s autumn/winter collection which includes a capsule offering of ready-to-wear and accessories crafted after creative director Alessandro Michele delved into the 45,000-strong archive of prints. In Italy, anything made from the fabrics is known as “Liberty-style”, an offshoot of the country’s Victoriana-centric anglophilia, an affection which is played up in Gucci’s smocked dresses and sweeping Laura Ashley-style maxis. There are less traditional takes too – you could opt for a floral deck shoe, hairband or padded jacket. Michele indicated that you could give the look a grunge-y feel depending how you style it… on the catwalk, floral scarves were paired with baggy, worn-in jeans and those dresses had slouchy cardigans layered over the top.

Liberty print dresses, from £330, O'Pioneers 

Mary-Ann Dunkley, design director of Liberty Fabrics, says it was “the ultimate compliment” when Gucci came calling. “It’s an honour and privilege to see this wonderful spotlight on Liberty design... It was also the first time all 20 people in the Liberty design studio stopped what they were working on to help on a project.” She says Liberty has seen its reach “grow even more diverse, from loyal followers who are passionate and knowledgeable, to new customers who have just discovered and started enjoying the fabrics. We have seen Liberty fabrics being enjoyed in new places around the world.”

Stow-on-the-Wold, in the heart of the Cotswolds, might seem like prime Liberty territory, but an upscale reimagining is afoot at Cutter Brooks, the boutique owned by US tastemaker Amanda Cutter Brooks. The former Barneys fashion director has been showing Brits how to do country style with a new sense of elegance since she moved to the UK with her British husband in 2012 and this season her shop is stocking some beautiful updates on the Liberty look.

“It’s such an iconic English thing,” she reflects. “There’s some part of me that wonders whether an English person ever needs to see another Liberty print again, as long as they live? At the same time, Horror Vacui made me look at Liberty with fresh eyes, because the shapes are so intricate. I think having a new perspective on it revives it. Doen is a quintessential California brand – it’s very easy, breezy Seventies.”

Liberty print face coverings set of five, £40, Liberty

Cutter Brooks and her daughter Coco modelled the Doen designs with a wholesome, outdoorsy Linda McCartney vibe – those dainty florals feel more practical and less goody-two-shoes when worn with high-waisted jeans, toffee dungarees or bandannas.

“Tana Lawn cotton is our most loved fabric, but the designs look rich and luxurious on silk satin which is growing in popularity and wools and velvets for winter are seeing a growth in interest,” says Dunkley. “The collection may have launched 40 years ago but the designs evolve and customers find endless new colours and designs to mend old pieces or create new ones that suit their style and taste. As Gucci has shown, pieces can be pretty or punk depending how you wear them.”

The rise in popularity of deadstock fabric means that no scrap of Liberty fabric goes to waste. Many labels used leftovers to create masks, but London-based O Pioneers is going a step further, creating romantic yet functional dresses with whatever end-of-roll fabrics they can find.

August Dress in Cherry Drop print, £410, Horror Vacui at Cutter Brooks

“We actively hound the wonderful Liberty team for the small quantities left that larger labels wouldn’t work with,” says O Pioneers co-founder Tania Hindmarch. “We’ve been playing around in the studio and are just about to launch a new collection of ‘mix and match’ dresses using clashing and contrasting smaller lengths of prints... The prints are so beautiful that we cannot bear to waste a single scrap.”

O Pioneers might be distinctly British, but the label has fans around the world. “We’re attracting a lot of customers from the States and other far flung corners of the world,” adds Hindmarch. “Some are British and now living abroad, and perhaps pine for some sense of home. Others just love the stamp of heritage and see our dresses as heirlooms they will save for their daughters.”

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