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Muriel Spark's novel The Public Image introduces the reader into the world of the spectacle, where the 'real' has been replaced by its image.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.