ABSTRACT
By 1960 the Ashleys had moved their now thriving cottage industry to a disused railway station in the village of Carno, Powys, in Laura’s native Wales. Principally a textile design and printing operation, the business acquired a retail sideline in 1965 when it opened a small sales outlet in MidWales. Three years later a Laura Ashley shop opened in London, in a quiet part of Kensington. Entry into the world of fashion followed soon afterwards, with the introduction of ’Basic Dress 1’. The simple above-the-knee housedress was to be the forerunner of the famous Laura Ashley floral frocks, long white nightdresses and Victorian-style pin-tuck blouses. Laura’s countrified and quintessentially English designs conjured up rose-tinted and rose-printed folk memories of bygone days. The clothes were not made for real country people, but for city dwellers who craved a romanticized version of a rural idyll. The Laura Ashley look soon acquired a loyal following in London and the Home Counties, and attracted interest from abroad.
