Transformational retailing and the emergence of a modern brand: Liberty of London, 1875–1900

ABSTRACT

This article considers the role of a transformational retail setting in the development of an iconic brand identity in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. The focus of this research is Liberty of London. Through experiential engagement and augmented admission, Liberty created a retail environment that challenged existing practices. Coupled with the development of a brand identity enhanced through authoritative advocacy and consumers’ allegorical encounters with the firm’s core brand message, Liberty achieved the symbolic substantiation of a distinct taste regime through the market-mediation of authenticity. We discuss how brand representation in a transformational retail setting in the metropolitan market of the late nineteenth century legitimised and structured consumer expectations in a context of growing middle class demand for merchandise with enhanced aesthetic qualities and associated lifestyle values.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Nicholas Alexander is Professor of Marketing at Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, United Kingdom. His research is in the area of international marketing, branding and business history. He is particularly interested in the process of brand building in its historical context, and the management of brand authenticity.

Anne Marie Doherty is Professor of Marketing at Strathclyde Business School, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom. Her research is in the area of international retail marketing, particularly employing an institutional lens to explore market entry methods, franchising and branding.

James Cronin is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Lancaster University Management School, Lancaster University, United Kingdom. His research interests are in the sociological aspects of consumer behaviour including collective forms of consumption, consumer health and wellbeing, and readings of marketing informed by cultural theory.

Notes

1 Doherty and Alexander, “Liberty in Paris,” 485–511.

2 Nichols, “Arthur Lasenby Liberty,” 76–93.

3 McKendrick, “Josiah Wedgwood,” 408–33. Lancaster, The Department Store.

4 See: Lancaster, The Department Store. Chapter 4, ‘The Drummer from the land of Oz’, 58–84. Rappaport, Shopping for Pleasure, 142–5.

5 Morning Post, London, England, Friday, 23 December 1859: 1d.

6 Pall Mall Gazette, London, England Saturday, 17 March 1866, 14a. Pall Mall Gazette, London, England, Wednesday, 22 May 1867, 15c.

7 Papini, “‘Veritable Fairyland’.”

8 The Morning Post, London, England, Sunday, 30 June 1863, 8b.

9 Baldry, “The Growth of an Influence,” 45–9.

10 Ibid., 46.

11 The Citizen (1898) “British Industries, Pioneers of Commerce, No. 24, Liberty & Co., Limited,” December 10, v–vi, v.

12 City of Westminster Archives Centre (CWAC), Liberty Archive: 788/164/6: Letter from Sir Edward Burne-Jones to Arthur Lasenby Liberty, dated 28 February 1898.

13 Stankiewicz, “From the Aesthetic Movement to the Arts and Crafts Movement,” 165–73, 1.

14 See, for example: Fine, “Crafting Authenticity,” 153–80; MacCannell, “Staged Authenticity.”

15 See for example, Kelly’s Directory of London, 1901, 700.

16 See Lancaster, The Department Store.

17 See Hobhouse, History of Regent Street and Alexander and Doherty, “Overcoming Institutional Voids.”

18 For example, Calloway, Liberty of London; Buruma, “The Library as Muse,” 32–5; Jrade, “Modernism on Both Sides of the Atlantic”; Rose, “The Diaries of Mary Seton Watts (1849–1938) in the Archives at Watts Gallery, Surrey,” 521–8; Bury, “New Light on the Liberty Metalwork Venture,” 14–27. Liberty designs and artefacts have been presented in numerous exhibitions, see: McConnell, “‘Liberty Art Fabrics & Fashion’, Dovecot Gallery, Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh, UK, 28 July 2018–12 January 2019,” 255–8; O'Byrne, “From the Archives,” 122.

19 Liberty has attracted limited attention from a retail or business history perspective. An exception is Alison Adburgham’s short history of the firm, which was written for the firm to mark its centenary in 1975: Adburgham, Liberty’s A Biography of a Shop. She covers the personal, business and design history of Liberty in her valuable book. She also considers Liberty within her wider ranging consideration of nineteenth century retailing: Adburgham, Shops and Shopping 1800–1914. More recently, the internationalisation of Liberty’s retail operation has been considered from a business history perspective: Doherty and Alexander, “Liberty in Paris,” 485–511.

20 Arsel and Bean, “Taste Regimes and Market-mediated Practice,” 899–917.

21 See: Ibid., 901. In relation to the type of context discussed here, they define a teleoaffective structure as ‘the brand specific values, meanings, and myths that the participants experience, enact, and cocreate’.

22 Godwin, “A Japanese Warehouse,” 363, a–b.

23 Coming Events, quoted in Liberty, (1881). Eastern Art, Catalogue of Merchandise, (1881), 17. CWAC, Liberty Archive: 1932/174.

24 Judd, “A Few Early Recollections,” 4–5.

25 Flood, “Old Friends,” 8.

26 Roberts, “A ‘Reflection’ of February, 1887,” 1–2.

27 Liberty, Eastern Art, Catalogue of Merchandise (1881), 8. CWAC, Liberty Archive: 1932/174.

28 Liberty, Eastern Art, Catalogue of Merchandise, (1881), 118. CWAC, Liberty Archive: 1932/174.

29 Liberty, Eastern Art, Catalogue of Merchandise, (1881), 119. CWAC, Liberty Archive: 1932/174.

30 BETA, “Felicitous Quotations,” 136–7.

31 Birmingham Daily Post, Birmingham, England, 1, August (1888): 1f.

32 This echoes publicity surrounding Wedgwood in such journals as Ackermann's Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce: for example, see, “Wedgewood’s Rooms.” Repository of Arts, Literature, Commerce, February (1809): 102–7.

33 Penelope, “Our Ladies’ Column.” The Bristol Mercury and Daily Post, August 11 (1888): 6a.

34 “Specially Contributed ‘The Ladies’ Column.” The Leeds Times, July 25 (1891): 2e.

35 Baldry, “The Growth of an Influence,” 45–9.

36 Liberty, “The Industrial Arts and Manufactories of Japan,” 673–86, 684.

37 Ibid., 676.

38 The Citizen, “British Industries, Pioneers of Commerce, No. 24, Liberty & Co., Limited.” December 10 (1898): v–vi.

39 Daily Chronicle, “The House of Liberty and its Founder.” Daily Chronicle (1913), in CWAC, Liberty Archive: 788/10; Foster, “Some Memories of Regent Street: Old Friends, No. 12,” 9.

40 Burne-Jones, E., Letter from Sir Edward Burne-Jones to Arthur Lasenby Liberty, 28 February 1898, CWAC, Liberty Archive: 799/164/6.

41 BETA, “Felicitous Quotations,” 136–7, 136.

42 “Mr Lasenby Liberty on Japanese Art.” St James Gazette, 15 July 1889, 15b.

43 Japan: A Pictorial Record by Mrs Lasenby Liberty, Edited and Supplemented with Descriptive Text by Mr Lasenby Liberty, Liberty & Co. Ltd., Adam and Charles Black, London W., 1910: CWAC, Liberty Archive: 788/181.

44 Liberty, “English Furniture,” 369–83.

45 “Mr Lasenby Liberty on Japanese Art.” St James Gazette, 15 July 1889, 15b.

46 Ensworth, “Two Old Friends,” 8–9, 9.

47 Ibid; Judd, “A Few Early Recollections.” 4–5, 5.

48 Liberty, List of Indian Natives, CWAC, Liberty Archive: 788/23; Judd, “A Few Early Recollections,” 4–5, 4.

49 Gazette, “The ‘Eastern Dream’ Bazaar,” 7a.

50 Judd, “A Few Early Recollections,” 4–5, 5.

51 Flood, “Old Friends,” 8.

52 Liberty, ‘Part 2, Reception Rooms, Halls, Dining Rooms, Drawing Rooms, Boudoirs, Morning Rooms, Smoking and Billiard Rooms’, Liberty Handbook of Sketches. London: Liberty & Co., 1900.

53 BETA, “Felicitous Quotations,” 136–7, 136.

54 Ibid.

55 Penaloza, “The Commodification of the American West,” 82–109.

56 Fine, “Crafting Authenticity,” 153–80; MacCannell, “Staged Authenticity,” 589–603; Carroll and Swaminathan, “Why the Microbrewery Movement?” 715–62; Postrel, The Substance of Style; Grayson and Martinec, “Consumer Perceptions of Iconicity and Indexicality and Their Influence on Assessments of Authentic Market Offerings,” 296–312.

57 Chhabra, “Defining Authenticity and its Determinants,” 64–73.

58 Leigh, Peters, and Shelton, “The Consumer Quest for Authenticity,” 481–93, 483.

59 Beverland, “The ‘Real Thing’,” 251–8; Alexander, “Brand Authentication,” 551–62.

60 Goulding, “The Commodification of the Past, Postmodern Pastiche, and the Search for Authentic Experiences at Contemporary Heritage Attractions,” 835–53, 837.

61 Gottdiener, The Theming of America, 2001.

62 Daily Chronicle, “The House of Liberty and its Founder.” Daily Chronicle, (1913), in CWAC, Liberty Archive: 788/10.

63 McKendrick, “Josiah Wedgwood,” 408–33, 419.

64 Ibid., 414, 419.

65 Koehn, Brand New, 2001.

66 McKendrick, “Josiah Wedgwood,” 408–33, 421.

67 Ibid., 424.

68 Lancaster, The Department Store. Chapter 4, ‘The Drummer from the Land of Oz’, 58–84.

69 Lancaster, The Department Store, 70; Rappaport, Shopping for Pleasure, 142–5.

70 Twyman, The History of Marshall Field and Company, 1852–1906.

71 For a discussion of Liberty’s reasons for establishing a store in Paris see Doherty and Alexander, “Liberty in Paris,” 485–511, 490–1.

72 Doherty and Alexander, “Liberty in Paris,” 485–511, 490.

73 Ibid., 501.

74 Ibid., 493.