Lovely Liberty

The entrance to Liberty just behind Regent Street

When in London there are certain iconic places you need to shop.

There's Harrod's, Fortnum and Mason... and Liberty.

Traditional William Morris designs used on a bag collection

Liberty was started in 1875 by Arthur Lasenby Liberty, who had a vision of creating a home for cutting-edge artistry and self-expression. It's basically a department store with fashion luxury labels, but also has very unique products that can only be found at Liberty.

Also what makes the shop interesting is its building near Regent Street, housed in Tudor revival building since the 1920s using timber from two ships: HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan.

With a 2,000 pound loan from his future father-in-law, Liberty started with a tiny shop on Regent Street and three staff, selling ornaments, fabric and objets d'art from Japan.

Within 18 months he had repaid the loan and expanded the shop, which grew bigger.

The shop has done many collaborations over the decades and centuries, most notably William Morris, the British textile designer who revived traditional British textile art.

Bolts of fabric are available on the third floor

There are some handbags and wallets inspired by Morris' designs, but with edgy colour combinations; we found them very interesting, though also very expensive at over 300 pounds for a tote bag!

Upstairs on the third floor there are shirts, some of which use William Morris designs, others more contemporary. I tried several of them on, various designs and cutting, and in the end settled for a contemporary coloured shirt to brighten up my wardrobe.

The Tudor-style building since the 1920s

The same floor has a haberdashery, where there are bolts of cloth people can buy fabric to make their own clothes or crafts, and there are even clothing patterns to inspire people. However the fabric alone would have been expensive! Even a pre-packaged bunch of different remnants cost 40 pounds!

But what a fantastic store to wander around in, full of history and yet also very fashion forward and edgy.