The green and white Laura Ashley logo is a familiar sight to anyone preparing to furnish a home or anyone interested in fashion or anyone who spends any time at all on the high street. The logo may have changed slightly from the white on green, floral sprigged 1970s version, but the colours are the same, as is the store's fashion philosophy.
Even in the twenty-first century, the Laura Ashley brand draws its inspiration from a chintzy Victorian past, a world of lace, high necklines, long hemlines, sweetness, modesty and decorum. What a shock Mrs. Ashley was to the Swinging Sixties.
Triumvirate of Fashionistas in the Sixties and Seventies
Laura Ashley was part of a triumvirate of fashion stars of the sixties and seventies (the other two great names being Mary Quant and Biba) who, between them, revolutionised high street fashion. When Mary Quant and Barbara Hulanicki (of Biba) were cutting their hemlines shorter and shorter and exploring shades of prune, damson and tobacco, Laura Ashley was a moderating influence, marketing pretty, feminine, forgiving clothes, more Country House than Women's Lib.
Laura Ashley herself was born in Dowlais Top, Merthyr Tydfil into a family of Welsh Baptists strongly imbued with the non-Conformist work ethic. Her formal education was interrupted by the outbreak of WWll and her early adult years were strongly influenced by her marriage to Bernard Ashley.
This interview gives a fascinating insight into the "austere" Mrs. Ashley's world. For someone born in the heart of the South Wales valleys, she sounds unnervingly similar to the late Princess of Wales; there's something about her shyness, her sidelong glances and apparent vulnerability which also seems to echo Princess Diana's style, although Laura Ashley pre-dated Princess Diana by many years. In fact, Princess Diana in her Lady Diana Spencer days used to favour the Laura Ashley country house style of high-necked blouses and drifty print skirts.
Non-Conformist Work Ethic and Kitchen Table Chic
The Laura Ashley empire began with a few hand-printed tea towels on a kitchen table. From there, powered by Laura Ashley's interpretation of traditional Victorian floral prints and her ferocious work ethic the company grew and prospered. For a brief period in the Seventies and Eighties the company brought well-paid employment to the remote region of Carno in mid-Wales where the Ashley family had made their home. Laura's vision was to concentrate her production in Wales and at one time, there were nine Laura Ashley factories in the principality.
The beautiful Welsh countryside around Carno in mid-Wales (where the company's head office was then based) fitted perfectly with the image the company was trying to evoke. The tiny, gentle floral prints of the Laura Ashley collection offered a stylish alternative to the clashing purple and orange pop-art designs and eye-wateringly short skirt lengths available from other designers.
Laura Ashley:The Brand Lives On
Laura Ashley died at the age of sixty from injuries sustained from a fall at her daughter's house. It seems (with hindsight) as though her success was motivated by a determination not only to be a wonderful wife and mother but also to ensure the success of her business vision whilst also deferring to the whims of her flamboyant husband.
There is no doubt that the demure Victorian style vision was that of Laura Ashley herself. Her business success made its own statement, quite separate from her domestic role which in some ways, seemed to be modelled on that of a subservient Victorian wife and mother or even on one of those incredibly hard-working Baptist women from Merthyr Tydfil.
More than twenty five years after her death, the Laura Ashley brand continues to be a byword for a certain sort of British stylishness, an Old Money, rural chic which is simple, elegant and timeless.
Source
Levy,Geoffrey, Mail Online, 20.02.2009
Join the Conversation