Liberty London launches new sleepwear, positions it as daywear option too

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 24, 2018

Reflecting the growing importance of the intimates category, Liberty London has this week launched a new sleepwear collection called The Pavilion Ball that currently has a starring role on the second floor of the heritage department store’s London flagship.

The exclusive collection features fresh designs alongside updated archival patterns, many of them printed on lustrous 16 momme silk satin with the company also hoping to tap into the nightwear-as-daywear trend and saying the looks “needn’t be reserved for after dark.”

The brand’s London-based design team and specialist design consultants Catherine van Baal and Wayne Sorensen drew inspiration from Brighton’s Royal Pavilion for the pieces. 

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Designed by John Nash in the Indo-Saracenic style for the Prince Regent (later George IV), the Pavilion is famous for its interpretation of Indian, Persian and Chinese design and there’s a clear Liberty connection with the building, which is always an important point when marketing a product line that references such a well-known inspirational source. 

In the winter of 1887, Liberty was commissioned to decorate the Pavilion in lavish style for a ball to welcome the visiting Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda. The prince’s royal colours of yellow and lark blue were hung in festooned Indian muslins and palampores throughout, with Turkish and Persian rugs punctuated by fairy lights and potted palm trees, and a spread peacock tail as the supper chamber’s main centrepiece. 

The Pavilion Ball collection’s prints “evoke the palace’s fantastical Indian and Persian-inspired styling, reflecting its array of intricate tiles and botanical tapestries.”

New designs include Hera Jacquard, a riff on Liberty’s classic peacock feather print, and Harlequin, a geometric interpretation of the Iphis motif (complete with a repeated monogrammed Liberty ‘L’). Others include updated versions of its June, Delilah and Leontine designs, sitting alongside the new floral hero print Desert Rose. 

Along with a raft of new and reimagined prints, the team has created a number of new-to-Liberty silhouettes, including wide-legged palazzo pants and double-lined heavy silk kimono jackets. The new jumpsuit silhouette features a tie-waist with short sleeves and a notched collar.