Everything listed under: Laura Ashley

The 60th Anniversary has not only kicked off an influx of heart warming customer stories but it has also got us reminiscing about the past right here in Laura Ashley Headquarters. One of the most endearing photo journeys is our very own Head of Home Buying Liz Mouat’s long-standing romance with the brand...

Fusing nature and fashion together, Laura Ashley dress at new style exhibition Second Nature…Housed at the elegant Pizhanger Manor, country retreat of British architect Sir John Soane, sits newly opened style exhibition Second Nature. Curated by Gemma Williams, a previous archivist at Laura Ashley, Gemma has unraveled the unique relationship between...

Everyone is abuzz about the start of summer. Check out what’s on our radar for June. For all of our theater lovers, The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park kicks off its 51st season at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The beloved New York City’s summer tradition invites...

Learn the art of styling a bookcase! Showcasing products from two of our new collections, Stuart our Visual Home Manager talks you through the art of dressing a bookcase for the coastal, traditional, and modern home. One bookcase, three ways...

Tucked away, deep within the Laura Ashley headquarters lays the closely guarded Archive,
preserving sixty years worth of Laura Ashley history. It plays host to a wide collection of fabrics, wallpaper and clothing through the eras. A constant source of inspiration for new season collections, the archive...

Over 25 years ago, Laura Ashley played a key part in the restoration of Charleston Farmhouse by reproducing the fabrics originally designed in the 1930's by leading Bloomsbury artists, Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell. Following this successful project, Laura Ashley was granted the rights to carefully re-colour these popular designs and introduce them into the 1987 Laura Ashley Home Furnishings collection.   Now in our 60th anniversary year...

Just in time for Easter weekend spreads, the lovely team at Hummingbird Bakery have loaned us their Earl Grey Tea Cupcake recipe. Earl Grey tea has a lovely bergamot flavour that gives these cupcakes a subtle edge. Variations can be made using herbal and fruit teas…. 

UK Craft blogger Torie Jayne is our kind of lady, with a shared penchant for all things pretty and creative, from shabby chic to fashion and decorative crafts. She recently showed us these super easy customized boxes she conjured up using our Isodore print wallpaper…

We've spent the best part of the week streaming London Fashion Week on our iPads. From the decadent backdrops of Claridges (Mulberry AW13) and The Savoy (Moschino Cheap & Chic) to the awe inspiring venues of the Royal Exchange (Jonathan Saunders) and The Tanks at the Tate Modern (Unique AW13), catwalk venues today take residence in all manner of jaw dropping settings. 

We take to London's retro sweet shop Suck & Chew to shoot our SS13 Kids campaign… Our Kids Behind the Shoot film (below) is a charming recap of all the fun we had shooting the Spring/Summer campaign with all our little lady models back in November. After a speedy make-up, hair and outfit change, we headed to retro sweet shop...

Get your craft on in the lead up to Christmas with the help of SEW Magazine (UK). In their Christmas issue Carolyn Letten shows us how to make folksy bird decorations. Create a whole flock of delightful birds to nest in your Christmas tree or make three to hang as an original window display…

No holiday season would be complete for Laura Ashley lovers without traditional English bunting and festive paper chains. Laura Ashley’s Christmas Tree Bunting and Scandinavian Paper Chains make trimming the tree, mantle, stairway or foyer a delightfully simple task, but our President Penne Cairoli loves creating her own...

We are still in a spin from our recent UK press day, when flocks of journalists & bloggers descended on the London Vinyl Factory for a first look at our spring/summer 2013 collections. The event also marked the revelation that Laura Ashley is fast approaching it’s 60th anniversary (in 2013)...

Patterns are plentiful in the Laura Ashley archive and continue to inspire new prints each season by the artful hands of our design team in London. If you are one of our brand veterans then you may recall that some of Laura’s earliest prints were more graphic than ornate as Mr. and Mrs....

If you are like most, your to-do list includes addressing a burdened closet that’s home to old yearbooks, stale laundry, dusty sports gear and, of course, dated wears that may never come back in fashion. Thankfully, there is professional help for the overwhelming mess you have created. We were fortunate to take a front row seat to the makeover of a busy mum’s master closet...

Now in it’s tenth year, The Festival of Quilts surpassed all expectations in true ‘flying colours’ (quite literally). With around 200 new people entering quilts in to the festival for the first time, the NEC have opened another atrium for what is the biggest quilt extravaganza yet. We can safely say that quilting is now inspiring a whole generation of quilters...

Authors of new craft book ‘Everything Oz’ show us how to make a ‘World Famous Field-O-Poppies’ We were enthralled when we recently received a copy of new craft book ‘Everything Oz: The Wizard Book of Make & Bakes’ by the wildly creative Christine Leech and Hannah Read-Baldrey. The crafty duo are...

There are certainly worse places to travel for business and fortunately for us London is where the brand calls home. Our buying team makes the trip across the pond several times a year for style inspiration and the fruits of design labour that have finally come to harvest—the Laura Ashley UK Press Launch is where we gush over the new collections for the upcoming season.

Long, easy summer days make heading back-to-school seem like a distant reality. But for those leaving the nest for the collegiate life, summer involves a bit of planning and preparation—stocking up on campus paraphernalia, purging the old room and shopping for pretty things so that the new one feels like home...

Our insiders guide to Welsh seaside village The Mumbles Birthplace to famous poet Dylan Thomas and A-List Welsh sweetheart Catherine Zeta Jones is the beloved Mumbles – a pint sized village with an abundance of charm and just a short drive away from our popular Laura Ashley Swansea store.

If there’s one thing we have in common with our stateside friends, it’s the love of country and the red, white and blue. As we approach the Fourth of July, we’ve collected a few of our own favorite colourful things to inspire your holiday….Like a mouth-watering assortment of yummy sweets to share with family and friends.

How To Make Jubilee Embroidered Crown Napkins with Sophie Holt, Deputy Editor of Sew Magazine (UK)
Stitched napkins make great party favors as they’re quick to stitch up and can be customized for any event – whether you’re creating Jubilee souvenirs or birthday party keepsakes.

Feature by UK guest blogger  
If you’re familiar with my blog, Flowerona, you’ll know that I’m passionate about all things floral. Roses are the most popular cut flowers in the world…and it really is no surprise when you consider how many amazing different varieties there are. With colours ranging from pink, white, red and yellow to lilac, magenta, apricot and orange.

The Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics are almost upon us and events celebrating all things wonderfully British is reaching fever pitch. A very proud British brand ourselves, and with over 50% of our product made in the UK, we will also be waving our patriotic flag this summer with absolute gusto! Recognizing Laura Ashley as one of the great British heritage brands, The Victoria & Albert Museum has curated...

Steeped in nostalgia and heritage, stepping in to the Welsh archive transports you back to the sights and smells of Laura Ashley back when Laura and husband Bernard first printed floral scarves on their kitchen table. An old photograph of Laura Ashley sitting at her desk hangs above the doorway to the archivist’s office, fabric covered photo albums and books decorate the shelves...

We can’t imagine springtime without little lovelies dressed in soft flowing silhouettes—styles that beg for bare feet on the grass and make-believe tea parties with friends. Whether true or pretend, tea party guests will want to dress for the part and our spring collection of girl’s dresses couldn’t be more fitting.

The irrefutably feminine and Victorian inspired image of Laura Ashley in the 1970′s and 80′s was largely defined by Jane Ashley, Laura Ashley’s oldest daughter. Her role as company photographer and art director, shooting everything from the advertising campaigns to in-store graphics, brought us the soft distinctive aesthetic that we first fell for in the 70′s and still hold in our memories today.

In as much as we appreciate a beautiful table setting, we’re more than a little fond of the mouth-watering all-American feast that will soon grace our plates. And in the spirit of THANKS and GIVING, we’re kicking of the upcoming holiday with a Week of Thanks just for you, our loyal customers, friends and followers. Nothing says thank you like giving, so we’ve selected a few delightful Laura Ashley things to bestow upon our closest followers….

We’re all very busy preparing for the spookiest of all holidays-- making scrumptious treats in the form of creepy crawly things and creating imaginative costumes for our tots to wear on Halloween. Thankfully for us working mummies, there are a plethora of resourceful mums on the web willing to share their steps for creating beautifully hand-made costumes. At Laura Ashley we have a special appreciation for things made by hand...

As the saying goes, we’re looking at the world through rose-coloured glasses! Yes, this month we’re all seeing pink with the focus on breast cancer awareness.Did you know the phrase “looking at the world through rose-colored glasses,” dates back to 1861, when it was first recorded in Tom Brown at Oxford.* Coined as an attitude of cheerful optimism ...

Welsh born Laura Ashley found inspiration from all around her, but most noticeably in the unrefined beauty of the English countryside. Some 50 years later you’ll still find nature’s influence behind the design, and most often with a contemporary twist that reflects how we live today. Today, our designers keep quite busy creating fresh collections from their busy offices nestled among the streets of Chelsea Harbor in London.

It was the autumn of 1953 when film star and style icon Audrey Hepburn sparked a trend that would kick-start the forays of a very instinctive designer named Laura Ashley. Ms. Hepburn-- like our Mrs. Ashley -- had an eye for spotting a trend. Coincidentally, both had taken notice of young Italian women wearing neck scarves. The actress, known for redefining glamour, incorporated the style into her role in the film Roman Holiday.