Spring back to Seventies prints — if you dare!
THERE’S something about the sight of certain prints that can suck you into a vortex of memories.
Chintzy cabbage roses equal grandma’s curtains. Tiny rosebuds: winceyette nighties. Palm prints with orange hibiscus flowers: auntie’s bamboo conservatory furniture.
This spring, patterns are giving off a strong whiff of the Seventies.
These graphics and flower schemes evoke the strange time when late psychedelia went a bit posh and ran rampant through the cheese and wine parties of suburbia.
Stare at them long enough, in all their cuboid and lozenge, purple and greenness, and what visions rise before us? The wallpaper in Abigail’s Party? Michele Dotrice’s Crimplene frocks in Some Mothers Do ’Ave Em?
Or Margot Leadbetter’s wardrobe of hostess gowns and silk scarves in The Good Life — the sort of thing she would always wear to pop round next door?
And there’s another variant on the loose. This one involves what used to be called flower power prints — those naive, cartoony, daisy patterns that appeared on swimming costumes and A-line summer dresses in the late Sixties.
They jumped out at the recent Balenciaga and Michael Kors shows, much to the surprise of an unsuspecting portion of the audience, who hadn’t seen the like since Ted Heath was in No 10 and Dad was driving a beige Cortina.
Miu Miu’s summer collection (complete with flowery swimming caps) hit me between the eyes — Princess Margaret in Mustique to a tee!
It’s funny, though. You spend half your life running away from the style choices of the older generation, only to discover, decades later, that you’re rather fond of them.
That’s the story of Miuccia Prada’s life, really — and she’s the main influence behind this retro movement.
The kind of Italian prints that swept the world in the heyday of Emilio Pucci and Ken Scott are for ever Prada reference points.
And where she leads, the High Street follows.
Boden’s Richmond trousers (£67.50, boden.
co.uk) in a blue daisy and leaf print have more than a touch of the Seventies about them (though the straight-leg tailored shape stops them straying too close to fancy dress).
Finery’s Rose- croft Virginia bellflower print mesh top (£49, finery-london. com) would definitely have been a big hit with Margot Leadbetter (left). Topshop mixes retro prints with modern shapes in several of its dresses, including the hanky hem printed dress by Boutique (£ 170) and floral ruffle midi dress (£49, topshop.com). I never thought I’d say it, but I’ve made my peace with print, having avoided it my whole adult life.
I’m daring to experiment with the sort of pattern that simply used to make me cringe with embarrassment.
Take it a bit at a time. Last summer, I found some original swirly Seventies Liberty print shirts, cleverly reproduced by style journalist J. J. Martin.
She took to driving around Italy, buying up old stock material and making it into shirts, flounced peasant skirts and A-line, T-shirt dresses. See more of her creations at
ladoublej.com. The shirts are coming out again. They brighten up plain, tailored chinos and jeans. With gold jewellery and a shoulder bag, I’m halfway to a summer Jackie Onassis fantasy.
As summer goes on, I wouldn’t even rule out a retro print swimsuit. A jazzy towel or beach bag might be the first step. Don’t be scared. Glass of Mateus Rose, anyone?
Sarah Mower and Tania Fares’s London Uprising (Phaidon, £69.95) is out now.