Laura Ashley's History of Fashion

Usually the story of fashion is the story of the rich, but Laura Ashley designed affordable and beautiful clothes for ordinary people. Born in 1925 in Merthyr Tydfil, she came from a frugal welsh background, with a tradition of weaving, patchwork and hand quilting.

In 1953, unable to buy material with a pattern small enough to be suitable for patchwork, she began to design her own textiles. Her husban Bernard made silk-screen printing frame and together they printed small items on their kitchen table in Pimlico, London. They produced headscarves, tea towels, tablemats and oven gloves which they sold wholesale to shops like Harrods and John Lewis.

As the business took off, they acquired a factory in Kent, and at first the fabric was crudely printed and contained flaws, until Bernard perfected his flat-bed printing machinery. They moved to Wales in 1961, setting up their best known factory in Carno in 1967. Here they developed from simply printing fabric and fashion accessories to producing shift dresses and gardening smocks and eventually into fashion garments. They always printed on cotton, from fine lawn to heavyweight calico.

Laura Ashley sought inspiration from a variety of sources, She had a nostalgic view of the past, for the golden country life of the nineteenth century. She designed floor-skimming dresses with romantic puffed-sleeves and deep flounces, together with "milkmaid smocks, and pinafores with a mid-Western prairie influence. She referenced Victorian books and handbills, patterns from ceramic and motifs from medieval tappestries. By merging these historical influences, she developed the instantly recognisable "Laura Ashley Dress". The company tried to keep their clothes affordable at around £5 in 1972, with a calico wedding dress costing £8.50.

Most widely known for her floral prints such as" Wild Clematis", Laura Ashley was also inspired by medieval illustrations to produce a range of Mythhical Beast prints. Examples are : the Pelican and Ram;  Swans; Peacocks; Deer and Mountain Lion; Deer in Stripe; Heraldic Beast; Lion and Tree and Winged Dragon-like Dog.

The first Laura Ashley retail shop was opened in London in 1968, and the business gradually expanded throughout the UK in the 1970's, and then into Europe and America, having 5,000 retail outlets by 1981. Soon after her accidental death in 1985, the company was floated on the Stock Exchange and became a public limited company.

Author - Katie Taylor

Used with her permission