Fabulous prints and dream jobs

Many years ago I met a girl who had recently graduated from a textile and fashion course. She had landed a job with Laura Ashley, researching prints in archives that could be adapted to their range of clothes and home textiles. I once recognised that I needed to look for a new job when I dreamt that I worked in a similar role for Cath Kidston! Coincidentally, the job I found then was as the newly created post of manager of the Old House Museum. There's been a nostalgic retro fashion for nineteen twenties, thirties, forties and fifties prints for many years. I still have some printed silk and crepe dresses bought from charity shops when I was a teenager, and a lovely cotton skirt with a 'how does your garden grow' themed print of cockle shells. No longer wearable, I hang on to them for the sake of the fabric. The Bowes Museum celebrated Laura Ashley's style and archive last year. The Gallery of Costume in Manchester has just held an exhibition of wonderful Ossie Clark dresses, featuring Celia Birtwell's gorgeous prints. The Old House Museum collection of dresses and quilts includes some lovely prints and patterns. This mid nineteenth century dress caught my eye recently.

Whatever happened to this favourite Laura Ashley top?!