Peacock colours and motifs are brightening up this season’s interiors.
With their eye-like iridescent feathers, peacocks were exotic motifs in art and decoration at the end of the 19th century, beloved by the outré London artists of the Aesthetic Movement, which was sending shockwaves through polite society.Peacock feathers are back in the news and celebrated in a charming exhibition called Liberty in Fashion, which is running at the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey Street, SE1.
The show celebrates the 140th anniversary of the world-famous department store opened by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in Regent Street in 1875.Liberty’s original peacock feather fabric was called Hera after the Greek goddess. First sold in 1887, Hera is one of Liberty’s most-loved patterns and stars in its own section at the show. Dennis Nothdruft, the curator of the exhibition, says that with growing interest in exotic decoration, “the peacock’s feather-eyes and glittering aqua shades fit in perfectly”.
Liberty in Fashion celebrates the 140th anniversary of Liberty, with more than 150 garments, textiles and objects on display. It runs until February 28 at the Fashion and Textile Museum, 83 Bermondsey Street, SE1.