Hmmm. When Target announced they were joining forces with my favorite London store to create a special limited collection, I almost fainted with excitement and made immediate plans to arrive at the West Hollywood store at 7:59am on March 14th.
Then last night during the Olympics I saw the television commercial and felt a bit underwhelmed. It's rife with colorful floral watering cans and comforters and plates and bowls and cups and mugs, but...I don't know.
(via Apartment Therapy)
Am I terrible to think such heretical thoughts?
(Margery Fish, 1892-1969;
If you go on Target's website, they give you a little preview of some of the new Liberty of London prints coming out. This bubblegum-pink one must be targeted to a younger consumer because it does nothing for me.
I'll grant you that it's whimsical, but it just doesn't have the same elegance of their Regent Store fabric line. (I know, you're thinking, "Hello, it's Target!" But I'm on the other side thinking, "Hello, it's Liberty!")
I was feeling rather glum when my eyes landed on this next fabric which, while leaving me 97% unmoved, struck a nagging chord of familiarity in me. Where had I seen it before?
I started racking my brains in an effort to recall eccentric women who would have worn Liberty prints, and the goddesses were with me because before too long I found this image of photographer and gardening expert Valerie Finnis. What a shot. I don't know where to look first: at her massive plumed hat, her lordly pug or the potting shed that's clearly escaped from the set of "Grey Gardens."
(Valerie Finnis, 1908-2006; photo by Jan Baldwin,
World of Interiors, April 2009)
But note her shirt. Aside from the colorway, surely it's a variation on the Target design?
Brief aside:
According to lore, Valerie met her husband when one day she heard a voice outside her gardening shed remark, "Goodness, she's got Gillenia trifoliata!" She rushed out and exclaimed, "You're the first person who's ever known that plant!" And presto, two lives became one. Adorable, no?
Anyway, regarding Liberty, maybe things were looking up slightly. On a hunch, I pulled out a book I purchased last year called "Garden People: The Photographs of Valerie Finnis." Perhaps I might find someone else wearing an unmistakable floral?
Jackpot.
It was like leafing through a Liberty catalog from the 1940's and '50's. The caption for this photo must be: "Whoever is not wearing an iconic print, please see me after the lecture."
(Photo by Valerie Finnis from Garden People)
This next photo of Dame Miriam Rothschild at her estate in Northamptonshire is interesting not only for the tips we can glean from her on serving tea to the privileged classes (glass domes, heirloom silver, field of daisies), but because her shirtdress...
(Miriam Rothschild, 1908-2005;
Photo by Valerie Finnis from Garden People)
...isn't too far removed from this Target print.
And now let me introduce you to Margery Fish, a name made infinitely more wonderful by the fact that she also answered to "Lady Montagu Douglas Scott" -- have there ever been two more disparate names belonging to the same person? Margery has clearly opted to wear a sensible offering from Liberty while gathering cuttings in her rattan trug basket.
(Margery Fish, 1892-1969; Photo by Valerie Finnis from Garden People)
Once again, this print from Target mimics the spirit of hers, don't you think?
I guess I'll reserve final judgment until I see the wares in person. As much as I applaud the fresh, innovative thinking and design-for-the-masses ideology that Target embraces, I'm not convinced that this is a perfect fit.
Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong.
Update 2/20/10: This photo, which I just found on the LA Times website, has me much more excited than I was yesterday. The shirts are lovely, lovely, as is the bicycle.