If you’ve never been on the Laura Ashley bandwagon, a decked-out Jeep and a swath of special anniversary products may be just the ticket. The internationally loved lifestyle brand, with a U.S. home base in South Carolina, is marking 70 years with a collection that honors the company’s enduring appeal. We’re taking a look at how the London-born trendsetter’s fabrics, furnishings, and fashions have prompted fresh designs infused with nostalgia for a new generation—dressing little ones in prints from their own childhood and jazzing up car interiors in Laura Ashley style.
Laura Ashley quickly became a household name when the visionary namesake set out to reimagine the art of patchwork quilting as screen prints at her kitchen table in 1953. The success of Laura’s artful fabrics and an apron design prompted her foray into the fashion industry, and the home décor line hit the market in the early 1980s.
Inspired by Edwardian chintz fabric, the Summer Palace pattern first debuted in 1988 and has been produced in more than 20 colorways over the years. For luxe bedding and curtains, the print has been reintroduced this year in classic, muted tones as well as modish, high-contrast versions. Botanical wallpapers, reprising wildflowers of Laura’s beloved English countryside, also nod to prints in the company’s extensive archive.
A limited-edition children’s dress in the girlish Rowena fabric hearkens back to the popular floral dresses added to the fashion house’s repertoire in the ’80s and ’90s. Other commemorative pieces will launch throughout the year, as fun-filled events honor the company’s milestone. From South Carolina’s Charleston to College Station, Texas, the fanfare centers around a vintage Grand Wagoneer outfitted in Laura Ashley upholstery, designed in collaboration with entrepreneur Jennifer Satterfield of @GrowingUpTexas.
Follow along for the ride as Laura Ashley continues to delight longtime enthusiasts and modern-day fans with exclusive product releases, special collaborations, and parties around the world in the months ahead.
Photography Courtesy of Laura Ashley
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