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New Liberty range that lets you (cross) dress like Perry...
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent7 Aug 2009
One of London's most traditional department stores has swapped floral prints for hand grenades after going into partnership with a transvestite potter.
Liberty, the 134-year-old institution best known for its conventional prints, has launched a new fabric range designed by Turner Prize winner Grayson Perry.
Perry's inspirations included the bonnets in Cranford, the television adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel starring Judi Dench.
But he also injects a darker note than might be expected among the roses and paisleys with illustrations of hand grenades, knuckle-dusters, automatic rifles, fighter planes, dustbins and gravestones.
Throughout its history Liberty has collaborated with artists, including the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Perry, who is famous for the dress designs worn by his alter ego Claire, said: "I had used Liberty fabrics in several dresses I had designed and always liked the quality of it, so when they asked me if I would do this project it seemed like a match made in heaven.
"It was nice to be playful. I treated it like a student project. I took a little bit of inspiration from their archive and then I just doodled in front of the television. I'd definitely do fabric designing again. It suits my style."
There is, of course, a new Perry dress made up of a kaleidoscope of the designs which he will model in a cabin in Liberty's window at 5.30pm on Tuesday. A mannequin version of Claire will then don the baby doll number.
The main fabric design is called Cranford, but there are others named after his wife Philippa and daughter Flo starting at at £19.95 a metre.
Some designs have already been incorporated into items ranging from a £110 headscarf to £45 boxer shorts. A spokeswoman for Liberty said the new designs were in keeping with the renaissance of the store, in which it had introduced more contemporary fashion earlier this year.
"We wanted to keep the heritage of Liberty but use it as a platform for innovation," she said.
The designs are being showcased alongside work from the archive in an exhibition, Prints Charming, in the fourth floor gallery until 2 September.
The other artists who have created new designs for Liberty are Paul Morrison, Mike McInnerney, Michael Angove, Anj Smith and Simon Hart. Inspirations range from Smith's mother's kitchen curtains to the harbours of Cornwall for Hart.
