Question for Brits
 

In Muriel Spark's A Far Cry from Kensington a couple living in the boarding house wear "Liberty robes" before bedtime. I've been able to ascertain that a liberty robe is a kind of pastoral garment, but does anyone know where the "liberty" comes from?

Sam, I think Peter is right.

In the US it would be called a robe, in the UK it would be called a dressing gown. That is what I googled.

Liberty is a department store. Read here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_(department_store)

The business was founded by Arthur Lasenby Liberty in 1875 to sell ornaments, fabrics and miscellaneous art objects from Japan and the Far East. Liberty & Co. first catered for an eclectic mixture of popular styles, but then went on to develop a fundamentally different style closely linked to the aesthetic movement of the 1890s and Art Nouveau. The company became synonymous with this new style to the extent that in Italy, Art Nouveau became known as Stile Liberty after the London shop. Liberty still has a distinctive style and produces some of its own fabrics.

If you can get hold of this article, I daresay, your answer is in it:

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/con...3678001~db=all

As an academic, you may have access through your library. Tthey won't let me look at it the article, but the teaser is:

In her novel The Public Image Muriel Spark considers the theme of the double ..... the bed, in a Liberty dressing-gown, smoking, with a smile as of recent ...



Seduction, Simulacra and the Feminine: spectacles and images in Muriel Spark's The Public Image

Author: Fotini Apostolou
DOI: 10.1080/713678001
Publication Frequency: 4 issues per year
Published in: Journal of Gender Studies, Volume 9, Issue 3 November 2000 , pages 281 - 297
Subjects: Sociology & Social Policy: Gender Studies; Interdisciplinary Studies: Gender Studies;
Number of References: 32
Formats available: PDF (English)
Article Requests: Order Reprints : Request Permissions

Abstract
Muriel Spark's novel The Public Image introduces the reader into the world of the spectacle, where the 'real' has been replaced by its image. The woman, who has always been identified with the power of the spectacle, is imprisoned within the patriarchal gaze of the camera, until she is completely lost in the seduction of images. The novel itself is, in its turn, consumed in a continuous reproduction of texts, images, spectacles following the game of the society of the spectacle, in an effort to bring to the fore the operational model of this society.

Liberty's of London, famous department store founded by Arthur Liberty 1875, important in the Arts and Crafts movement, a bit like Tiffany's in New York.

More at: http://www.liberty.co.uk/fcp/content...iberty/content

My wife's very fond of Liberty print garments -- they add a touch of Arts and Crafts to smart contemporary style -- if you're in London, and of the shoppingesque persuasion, the Liberty shop is great fun.

"She stood on the bridge in the pale moonlight
Like a veritable goddess.
Except for the snot on her upper lip
And the hole in her liberty bodice."

-Billy Connolly

I expect liberty robes have similar antecedents to the liberty bodice.

In the paragraph headed 'Mrs Fuller in Black' in the far right column of this pdf there is a reference to 'a simple black liberty satin robe'.

Interesting.

I have all Muriel Spark's novels and stories except that one and it is annoying not to be able to double check if it said robe or dressing-gown in the original.

I found another reference of "Art nouveau maiden in long flowing robes. " http://www.art-nouveau.co.uk/misc6.html

In Paul's reference, Mrs. Fuller, née Sheldon, has a period behind her marital status indicator, we assume she is American. I assume also that she was not at the fete in her bathrobe (dressing gown) as the Spark character (in the quote) was in bed in hers. If that is indeed the passage Sam is referring to.

My theory was that in Sam's copy of M. Spark's book, the words "Liberty dressing gown" was Americanized into "Liberty robe" meaning bathrobe or perhaps more properly Art nouveau.That was how I found the reference to Seduction, Simulacra and the Feminine: spectacles and images in Muriel Spark's The Public Image and it does say "Liberty dressing gown".


In another report in that article it says someone, "...wore an Empire robe of white satin..."

This sort of speculation is a translator's delight--or nightmare.

I'll have to check. She may have indeed said, "Liberty dressing gowns." But your answers, and an email from Mr. Whitworth, make it clear she's speaking of Liberty Department Store of Regent's St., which is, I guess, fairly upscale. So it would seem that the reference refers to a mutual wedding gift the couple have made, which makes sense with Spark's subesequent statement that they must have been very much in love.

This is, incidentally, a novel that is absolutely delicious and, like so many things that are so good you can't stop eating, served in a portion that's entirely too small. It makes you want to reorder and eat it all over again.

I used to spend hours in Liberty's of London just off Regent Street. It is magnificent. It is very large and occupies several storeys. It has antique creaking wooden floors. The sound of them while walking was one of the great pleasures. They were full of delightful objets d'art. They were a source of miraculous rich colour. Their fabric designs are famous. They used a great deal of paisley design but also they leaned towards peacock feathers. I can remember a bizarre collection of leather hippopotamuses and I bought a friend a gift of a brooch that looked like amber but was really plastic, a superbly lifelike blowfly in transparent golden "amber". It was a shop for the lover of colour and quality and the fantastic. A shop for Oscar Wilde. People who made patchwork used to haunt it. Liberty's silk scarves are collectors' items. William Morris was a huge influence.

The liberty garments you mention Sam would be paisley and made of some gorgeous fabric. They might be fine wool or cotton but the colours would be unforgettable and subtle.