Hurrah! It’s curtains for subtle florals this spring
ASKED to think of a single, controversial floral print in all the history of fashion, I would have to rack my brains. The worst offence a flower pattern could commit, in my experience, was to be insipid or frumpy.
Well, that was before this season’s prints were rolled out. A friend of mine took one look at the new chintzy motifs which are out and about for early spring and declared: ‘Pub prints!’
I can see what she means. We’re talking about patterns with salmon pink and brown in the background, and turquoise splashed in the foreground.
A profusion of dahlias, marigolds and carnations. The sort of designs deeply reminiscent of cheap pub upholstery and wallpaper.
You can see exactly where the pub print came from.
Somewhere, back in the Seventies, someone who had vaguely heard of William Morris thought a print inspired by nature and with a faintly gothic edge might add a bit of class down the local boozer. That — and it wouldn’t show stains.
The problem facing those of us who remember said Seventies pub decor is, do we want to wear it four decades later?
It’s definitely a bit of a taste-divider. Maybe the look fills you with feelings of warm nostalgia — or maybe it just screams ‘Rovers Return!’ and makes you want to run for the hills.
YET, there is a style argument for rehabilitating the pub print. When you think about it, how many pubs these days still actually have this kind of decor? When did you last see a dahlia print or bit of stick-on Tudorbethan timbering in a drinking establishment?
The past two decades of gastro-pubification have all but swept away the ye olde pub aesthetic, replacing it with acres of Farrow & Ball paint in ‘Bandage’ and ‘Mole’s Breath’ and forests of scrubbed pine tables.
Also we grown-ups must concede that a whole new generation of fashion lovers has never been exposed to these designs before. They can no more imagine floral tapestry on a pub chair than they can imagine lighting up a cigarette at the table.
And if my years at the fashion coal face have taught me one thing it’s that it’s no good being a stick-in-the-mud. Maintaining mental flexibility is on a par with physical flexibility as we get older. If you’re a print per- son, this latest go-round of florals might be appealing, when paired with boots for day or more delicate strappy sandals for evening. I don’t consider myself a print-person at all, but even I’m attracted to the blancmange pink with orangey-yellow roses asymmetric-hem dress from Topshop (£49, topshop.com).
It has something Forties about it, but somehow avoids the look of what we used to call a ‘granny dress’ when we were teens.
The good news for grown-up shoppers is that these dresses are midi length with high necks and long sleeves, so if you can learn to live with the prints, the silhouettes shouldn’t present too much of a problem.
High Street fashion favourite & Other Stories is doing this look well. I particularly like the Dandelion dress, (£65, stories.
com). Zara — always leaders when it comes to working up a new trend — offer some good pub prints too. Have a look at the long floral print dress, £39.99, (zara.com).
If handled properly, this look is actually very wearable and you won’t look too tryhard. Shoot me before you call me ‘trendy’, but I think I might be ready to give pub prints a whirl.