Laura Ashley: The Romantic Heroine

The Royal Crescent

I have just moved to Bath and having come from the middle of nowhere, I am keen to get out and experience as much of the city as humanly possible. So I was happily browsing the web for exciting things to get up to, when I came across this Laura Ashley Exhibition at the Bath Fashion Museum. As a lover of all this garishly floral and hyper-feminine, I had to hot foot it down there!

It was everything I had imagined, lots of colour, lots of flowers, but I think the think I most enjoyed was the company. As, although I went on my own, the exhibition (set in the gorgeous Assembly Rooms) was full of woman in their 50's saying "I had one just like that!" and "Oh do you remember those leg of mutton sleeves?". This created a hugely nostalgic atmosphere.

Another thing that I had never considered was the notion that Laura Ashley's designs harp back to the romantic period of literature. Many of the dresses where inspired by heroines Thomas Hardy's Far from the Madding Crowed or Jane Austin's Pride a Prejudice.

 

These designs came at a period of severe economic gloom (1970's) where programs such as Upstairs Downstairs were hugely popular and women were keen to emulate their literary heroines as a form of escapism. This reminds me of 2013, where we have our own economic struggles and millions of people are waiting on the edge of their seats to see how Lady Mary reacts to the tragic death of Mathew Crawley in Downton Abbey, next weekend! Could this mean that we are in for another wave of 'Victorian demurs'? I hope so, I quite fancy swanning around in a big floral dress!