Due out this September is a new book about Laura Ashley and the company she founded with her husband Bernard. I worked at three of their U.S. stores over the course of several years. I can’t help but feel gratitude to those in the company who hired me despite my being very young and inexperienced. It turned out to be a great place to learn, gain confidence, and later springboard into my other jobs- interior design and window display.
Just for fun I had my friend Hope pose wearing the same Laura Ashley style dress that I found on ebay.
(Bottom photo- Martha B.)
Related Nibs post-
I have a bunch of Laura Ashley (home) catalogs that I am hoping to donate to the textile library/collection on the UW campus. Seems a shame not to let others see them and learn from them. That must have been a fun job. My other favorite designer from that era is Zhandra Rhodes. I still have a bunch of pages torn from magazines; every time I saw one of her dresses in print I clipped it.
Your al fresco table is lovely and the London wedding windows are such a free-spirited take on the subject!
Linda,
In our last move I got rid of so many magazines and catalogs…Laura Ashley was among them. I did save a few…but now wish I had held onto them.
I’m not familiar with Zhandra Rhodes…I’ll have to do a google search on her. :)
I just thrifted a copy of Laura Ashley Guide to Country Decorating. It’s full of inspiring interiors photos!
Hi Missa,
I think you’d love the styling from the old Laura Ashley fashion catalogs, too. Look for the ones before 1985…because after Ashley’s death the later issues lack her touch.