Laura Ashley is back – but can it live up to its heyday?
telegraph.co.ukit was Laura Ashley which really tugged at the heartstrings. After years of lacklustre designs, profit warnings and uncertainty, the once iconic British label finally succumbed as the pandemic hit and was eventually bought by Gordon Brothers.
The 2020 deal, which led to the closure of all 70 Laura Ashley stores, saw the company refocus on homeware in the UK while launching a collaboration with Next that sold some (largely forgettable) nightwear and childrenswear.The demise of the fashion collection was badly timed, given the 2020 “Cottagecore” trend that saw Gen Z hunting through their mothers’ cupboards for Laura Ashley designs – often as the fiftysomething mums in question looked on in baffled amusement. “My teenage daughter is a fan and loves the charming simplicity of the original prints,” says fashion designer Justine Tabak, who worked at Laura Ashley. “I think younger women have embraced the sheer romanticism of the brand.
Of course, each generation does their own thing with a Laura Ashley look. I love how my daughter wears the dresses more casually now with trainers – Laura would have approved.”This zeitgeist for puff sleeves, pie-crust collars and ditsy florals meant second-hand sites like eBay, Depop and Etsy were inundated with requests for Laura Ashley designs by young women, and yet – other than a small 2021 collaboration with New York designer Batsheva Hay – no new fashion collections were released.
No surprise, then, that the money-making machine has now swung into action, as news broke this week that Gordon Brothers had signed a partnership with American sports and entertainment management company IMG to create what they’re describing as “a new range of fashion opportunities through retail.
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