Liberty, commonly known as Liberty's, is a luxury

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. It is located on

Great Marlborough Street Great Marlborough Street is a thoroughfare in Soho, Central London. It runs east of Regent Street past Carnaby Street towards Noel Street. Originally part of the Millfield estate south of Tyburn Road (now Oxford Street), the street was named ...

in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...

. The building spans from

Carnaby Street Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in Soho in the City of Westminster, Central London. Close to Oxford Street and Regent Street, it is home to fashion and lifestyle retailers, including many independent fashion boutiques. Stre ...

on the East to

Kingly Street Kingly Street is a street in London's Soho district. It runs north to south from Liberty's and Foubert's Place to Beak Street, in parallel to, and between, Regent Street and Carnaby Street. It was known as King Street until 1906. The Bag O'N ...

on the West, where it forms a three storey archway over the Northern entrance to the Kingly Street mall that houses the

Liberty Clock The Liberty Clock is a mechanical clock that was completed in . The clock forms part of, and protrudes from, the three storey archway that spans the northern end of the Kingly Street mall in Soho, Central London. The archway itself is part of ...

in its centre. Liberty is known around the world for its close connection to art and culture, it is most famous for its bold and floral print fabrics. The vast mock-Tudor store also sells men's, women's and children's fashion, beauty and homewares from a mix of high-end and emerging brands and labels. The store is known to spot and champion young designers at the start of their careers, and many now-prominent brands were first available at Liberty. The store played essential role in spreading and popularizing the

Modern Style The Modern Style is a style of architecture, art, and design that first emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1880s. It is the first Art Nouveau style worldwide, and it represents the evolution of the Arts and Crafts movement which was native ...

. This continues Liberty's long reputation for working with British artists and designers.

History

Early history

Arthur Lasenby Liberty Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty (13 August 1843 – 11 May 1917) was a London-based merchant, and the founder of Liberty & Co. Early life Arthur Liberty was born on 13 August 1843 in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England, the son of a draper. He b ...

was born in

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmla ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, in 1843. He was employed by Messrs Farmer and Rogers in

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...

in 1862, the year of the

International Exhibition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

. By 1874, inspired by his 10 years of service, he decided to start a business of his own, which he did the next year. With a £2,000 loan from his future father-in-law, he accepted the lease of half a shop at 218a Regent Street with three staff members. The shop opened during 1875 selling ornaments, fabric and ''objets d'art'' from Japan and the East. Within eighteen months, he had repaid the loan and acquired the second half of 218 Regent Street. As the business grew, neighbouring properties were bought and added. In 1884, he introduced the costume department, directed by

Edward William Godwin Edward William Godwin (26 May 1833, Bristol – 6 October 1886, London) was a progressive English architect-designer, who began his career working in the strongly polychromatic " Ruskinian Gothic" style of mid-Victorian Britain, inspired by ...

(1833–86), a distinguished architect and a founding member of

The Costume Society The Costume Society is a British organisation formed in 1965 to promote the study and preservation of historic and contemporary dress. It publishes a scholarly journal, ''Costume'', as well as one-off publications; and organises events and study day ...

. He and Arthur Liberty created in-house apparel to challenge the fashions of Paris. In 1885, 142–144 Regent Street was acquired and housed the ever-increasing demand for carpets and furniture. The basement was named the Eastern Bazaar, and it was the vending place for what was described as "decorative furnishing objects". He named the property Chesham House, after the place in which he grew up. The store became the most fashionable place to shop in London, and Liberty fabrics were used for both clothing and furnishings. Liberty art fabrics advertisement May 1888

Liberty art fabrics advertisement May 1888

In November 1885, Liberty brought forty-two villagers from India to stage a living village of Indian artisans. Liberty's specialised in Oriental goods, in particular imported Indian silks, and the aim of the display was to generate both publicity and sales for the store. In 1889,

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

, a regular client of the store, wrote "Liberty's is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper". During the 1890s, Liberty built strong relationships with many English designers. Many of these designers, including Archibald Knox, practised the artistic styles known as

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

and

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

, and Liberty helped develop Art Nouveau through his encouragement of such designers. The company became associated with this new style, to the extent that in Italy, Art Nouveau became known as the '' Stile Liberty'', after the London shop.

1920s

The

Tudor revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

building was built so that trading could continue while renovations were being completed on the other premises, and in 1924, this store was constructed from the timbers of two ships: HMS ''Impregnable'' (formerly HMS ''Howe'') and HMS ''Hindustan''. The frontage on

is the same length as the ''Hindustan''. It is a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. The emporium was designed by

Edwin Thomas Hall Edwin Thomas Hall (1851–1923) was a British architect known primarily for the design of the Liberty & Co. department store, the Old Library at Dulwich College (1902–03) and various hospitals. He was the brother of the architect George Alfr ...

and his son, Edwin Stanley Hall. They designed the building at the height of the 1920s fashion for Tudor revival. The shop was engineered around three light wells that formed the main focus of the building. Each of these wells was surrounded by smaller rooms to create a homey feel. Many of the rooms had fireplaces and some still exist. The architectural historian

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

was very critical of the building's architecture, saying: "The scale is wrong, the symmetry is wrong. The proximity to a classical façade put up by the same firm at the same time is wrong, and the goings-on of a store behind such a façade (and below those twisted Tudor chimneys) are wrongest of all". Arthur Liberty died in 1917, seven years before the completion of his shops.

Post-war

Liberty, during the 1950s, continued its tradition for fashionable and eclectic design. All departments in the shop had a collection of both contemporary and traditional designs. New designers were promoted and often included those still representing the Liberty tradition for handcrafted work. In 1955, Liberty began opening several regional stores in other UK cities; the first of these was in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Subsequent shops opened in Bath,

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

and

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. During the 1960s, extravagant and Eastern influences once again became fashionable, as well as the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style, and Liberty adapted its furnishing designs from its archive. In 1996, Liberty announced the closure of its twenty shops outside London, and instead focused on smaller outlets at airports. Since 1988, Liberty has had a subsidiary in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

which sells Liberty-branded products in major Japanese shops. It also sells Liberty fabrics to international and local fashion stores with bases in Japan.

2000s

Liberty's London store was sold for £41.5 million and then leased back by the firm in 2009, to pay off debts ahead of a sale. Subsequently, in 2010, Liberty was taken over by

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a ty ...

firm BlueGem Capital in a deal worth £32 million. Turnover for 2018 was forecast to be £133m with much of its growth coming from its own brand collections of fabrics, homeware, accessories and ready-to-wear fashion.

TV documentary

From 2 December 2013, Liberty was the focus of a three-part hour-long episode TV documentary series titled ''Liberty of London'', airing on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. The documentary follows Ed Burstell (Managing Director) and the department's retail team in the busy lead up to Christmas 2013. Channel 4 further commissioned a second series of the documentary on 28 October 2014. This series featured four, one hour-long episodes based on six months worth of unprecedented footage. Series two commenced on 12 November 2014.

Collaborations

Liberty has a history of collaborative projects – from

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

and

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

in the nineteenth century to Yves Saint Laurent and Dame

Vivienne Westwood Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood (née Swire; born 8 April 1941) is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream. Westwood came to public notice when she m ...

in the twentieth century. Recent collaborations include brands such as

Scott Henshall Scott Henshall (born 15 November 1975) is a British fashion designer, philanthropist, TV personality and occasional fashion journalist. Henshall was born in York, and raised in Hartlepool, he studied womenswear at Northumbria University. Such ...

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

Dr. Martens Dr. Martens, also commonly known as Doc Martens, Docs or DMs, is a German-founded British footwear and clothing brand, headquartered in Wollaston in the Wellingborough district of Northamptonshire, England. Although famous for its footwear, Dr ...

Hello Kitty , also known by her full name , is a fictional Character (arts), character created by Yuko Shimizu, currently designed by Yuko Yamaguchi, and owned by the Japanese company Sanrio. Sanrio depicts Hello Kitty as an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphi ...

, Barbour, House of Hackney,

Vans Vans is an American manufacturer of skateboarding shoes and related apparel, established in Anaheim, California, and owned by VF Corporation. The company also sponsors surf, snowboarding, BMX, and motocross teams. From 1996 to 2019, the comp ...

Onia Onia may refer to: * Plural of onium, a bound state of a particle and its antiparticle * Onia, Arkansas Onia is an unincorporated community in Stone County, Arkansas, United States. It has an estimated population of approximately 30 civilians. Th ...

Manolo Blahnik Manuel "Manolo" Blahnik Rodríguez (; born 27 November 1942) is a Spanish fashion designer and founder of the eponymous high-end shoe brand. Biography Blahnik was born in Santa Cruz de la Palma, in the Canary Islands (Spain), to a Czech father ...

, Uniqlo,

J.Crew J.Crew Group, Inc., is an American multi-brand, multi-channel, specialty retailer. The company offers an assortment of women's, men's, and children's apparel and accessories, including swimwear, outerwear, lounge-wear, bags, sweaters, denim, dr ...

Superga Superga is a hill situated on the south bank of the river Po to the east of Turin in north-west Italy. At above sea level, it is one of the most prominent of the hills that ring the city. Superga is known for the Basilica of Superga and its ro ...

T. M. Lewin T. M. Lewin Shirtmaker, commonly known as TM Lewin, is a British online menswear retailer. It was started in 1898 by Thomas Mayes Lewin who opened his first shop on London's Panton Street and later moved to Jermyn Street, renowned as a base f ...

, Drew Pritchard of

Salvage Hunters ''Salvage Hunters'' is a British television programme in which decorative salvage dealer Drew Pritchard travels throughout the country in search of antiques from shops, fairs and old mansions to re-sell online or in his shop. The programme has ...

and antique lighting specialist Fritz Fryer. In their Autumn/Winter 2020 collection, Liberty recreated some of William Morris' classic prints. These recreations have been 'vibrantly reimagined' for a contemporary market, incorporating more detail and colour than the Morris originals.

References and sources

;References ;Sources Alison Adburgham, ''Liberty's – A biography of a shop'', George Allen and Unwin (1975)

External links

* *
Liberty at the Vintage Fashion Guild Label Resource
{{coord, 51.5139, -0.1402, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title 1875 establishments in England Art Nouveau Companies based in the City of Westminster Retail companies established in 1875 Department store buildings in the United Kingdom Department stores of the United Kingdom Furniture retailers of the United Kingdom Grade II* listed buildings in the City of Westminster Grade II* listed retail buildings Shops in London Tourist attractions in the City of Westminster Tudor Revival architecture in England