These treasures are the key to the brand's resurgence. Iconic designs from the 1960s, 70s and 80s flank a sample wedding dress that was modelled by Kate MossĪfter the panic of the pandemic, archivist Bronwyn Gaffney and her team are now busy cataloguing collected items both vintage and modern: fragile pieces and photos, racks of dresses and random items, from crockery to bedspreads. They house hundreds of thousands of priceless items: clothing, accessories, sample books, hand-drawn artworks, fabrics and wallpapers, including much-loved prints as well as never launched, unseen patterns. We're taken by minibus along dark tunnels to the archive, a space the height of two double-decker buses in places, filled with unassuming cabinets. It all smells musty, like the inside of a vintage wardrobe. A fine layer of pinkish dust covers everything, while salt crystal walls glisten under lightbulbs overhead. Fresh air from above is constantly forced through, but with only three shafts serving the 175km warren of caverns, it's best to be prepared.Ĭrammed into a clunky carriage, I feel my ears pop as we descend the height of the Blackpool Tower in one and a half minutes, a flurry of salty dust pluming around us as we reach the bottom. After my safety training, I don a high-vis vest and hard hat (adorned with on-brand floral stickers) and buckle up a leather belt with a 'self-rescuer' kit containing emergency breathing apparatus. Few even know it exists.īeing the first 'civilian' to enter the archive is slightly surreal. Naturally free from ultraviolet light, vermin and flooding, it is also difficult to access. Larger than 700 football pitches, Deepstore maintains an ambient temperature of 15C and balanced humidity, required to preserve delicate materials. Public records, museum pieces, private art collections – even Sir Norman Foster's architectural records – sit in caverns excavated from mining millions of tons of rock salt. Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, Laura Ashley has risen again Part of the UK's oldest working mine, it provides grit for our roads – but also secure storage for over 3.2 million sensitive documents, priceless artworks and historic artefacts.Īrchivist Bronwyn Gaffney with the 1953 Pelham scarf. The reason for this resurgence? When the firm folded in 2020, global advisory and investment firm Gordon Brothers, who bought the brand and intellectual property rights, had the foresight to preserve the archive, sending everything from the London and Wales headquarters to Deepstore. There's also a collaboration with New York designer Batsheva Hay to create a collection of dresses in updated 70s prints from the archive. Rather than sell directly, the brand now works with partners: M&S, John Lewis, Next and B&Q. Celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, Laura Ashley has risen again. The fact that Ashley was a real person – and her designs sold on the high street rather than in high-end boutiques – made the brand more relatable than others of the day.īut while its popularity soared throughout the late 20th century ( Princess Diana caused pieces to sell out when she wore them), the English romantic countryside look fell out of fashion the brand failed to move with the times and it finally went into administration during the Covid pandemic. Most people over the age of 35 have memories of prairie-style floral dresses or chintz cushions on their grandma's sofa. Yet more than 500 feet beneath this prosaic setting, in a still-operational salt mine, lies a treasure trove of British fashion history, a repository filled with thousands of rare finds: the secret Laura Ashley archive.įew labels stir affection and nostalgia like Laura Ashley. The industrial site in Winsford, in the heart of the rolling Cheshire countryside, looks a lot like any other, with heavy machinery and piles of grit waiting to be spread on the nation's motorways.
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