Liberty
Since 1875, Liberty has been synonymous with luxury and innovative design. Arthur Lasenby Liberty founded Liberty on London's Regent Street in 1874, selling ornaments, fabric and objets d'art imported from Japan and the Far East.
With a long history of collaborative projects from William Morris in the 19th-century to Yves Saint Laurent in the 20th, Liberty Art Fabrics have embodied great design and been an integral part of the brand and retail story.
At Liberty, a rich heritage combines with the avant-garde in fashion, accessories, textiles, and the home to create one of the world's unique and best-loved stores. In the words of Oscar Wilde, "Liberty is the chosen resort of the artistic shopper."
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is the largest museum in the Western Hemisphere, and the world's most encyclopedic art museum under one roof. Founded in 1870, its permanent collection, housed in seventeen curatorial departments, embraces more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present, from every part of the globe in all artistic media, and at the highest levels of creative excellence.
Produced in conjunction with The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition:
CharlesJames:Beyond Fashion.
After designing in his native London, and then Paris, Charles James (1906-1978) arrived in New York City in 1940. Though he had no formal training, he is now regarded as one of the greatestdesigners in America to have worked in the tradition of the Haute Couture. James's fascination with complex cut and seaming led to the creation of key design elements that he updated throughout his career: wrap-over trousers, figure-eight skirts, body-hugging sheaths, ribbon capes and dresses, spiral-cut garments, and evening gowns with pouf drapery. His unique design process used sculptural, scientific, and mathematical approaches to construct revolutionary ball gowns and innovative tailoring that continue to influence designers today.