RAPHA + LIBERTY: THE FINE PRINT
A few weeks ago we attended Rapha's latest launch. We were excited to see a collaboration between Rapha and London based 'Liberty'.
Liberty is well known for producing some of the finest fabrics in the world... this one really caught our attention.
Images - Marcus Enno
Founded in 1875 in London, Arthur Liberty launched his own shop selling ornaments, fabrics and objects d'art from Japan and the East. Only ten years, on Liberty had established itself as a leading European creator of apparel.
Rapha has featured very few prints in their range so seeing this departure is really exciting. Liberty has an archive of an astonishing 40,000 prints, many of these are small florals, but they have a massive amount of other prints that don't get used.
Robin Hulme, a senior designer at Liberty said 'I really liked the idea of speed on the bike, and wanted the print to give the illusion of motion and speed, which matched the theme of ‘flight’ that Rapha has set for its women’s collections this year'.
Interestingly, when the team at Liberty were going back through their archives, they discovered that Liberty actually had a longstanding commitment to sport and cycling going back further than they thought, including running a women's cycling race for staff... over half a mile.
The end result from the collaboration is a print from the 1930s, reimagined across Rapha's Women's City, Women's Road and Souplesse. Rapha describe the print as 'evoking the image of starlings in flight'.
We love the look of the new women's kit, it's a stylish, does capture the illusion of motion and stands out while remaining tasteful and stylish.
Find out more - www.rapha.cc
Do you dream of the open road, riding through beautiful rolling country and breathing in the fresh country air? Of riding roads with little traffic and testing yourself against some very spicy climbs? Well, you can get this and a lot more from this year’s Newcrest Orange Challenge.