A shirt featuring vintage robot designs - a sort of 'robot blueprint' with girl and boy robots, some of whom appear to be having a 'relationship'. Also one of them has scantily clad ladies happening in his inner transistorised world. An absolutely delightful, playful shirt on a fine grid background with my other robot design lining the cuff, plaquet and collar - a robotic feast! Three button cuff, pure cotton, slim fit.
Robots. Ah yes. Where would we be without them? To celebrate our automated overlords I have produced this sublime shirt which harkens back to the very beginning, to the impossible dream - our quantum powered buddies as envisioned and rendered into tin toys by the aspirational minds of the 1960s. We have boy robots and girl robots here doing their best to seem human in spite of all the primitive mechanistic fury seething in those overcharged circuits. A richly coloured, fun, playful garment with a three button cuff, tailored fit. As worn recently by Paul Merton on have I Got News For You.
This is a fun monochrome shirt featuring a rather nicely drawn pelican, almost certainly an American white pelican in fact, due to the prominence on the end of his bill there, a sign that it is breeding season! Single button cuff ("Jagger") tailored fit shirt.
A fabulous design thickly infested with inky bugs! It's a swarm, an invasion - but the overall effect is very pleasing. The shirt linings feature a colour reversed version of the print in red tones to contrast with the predominantly cool tones of the main panels. This is a single button cuff, slim fit shirt
A lovely painted rendition of iconic Staffordshire china dogs forms the basis for this shirt. This is a Simon Carter exclusive Liberty print re-scaled from a 1940s' design in the Liberty archive, which manages to evoke retro homeliness and edgy forward at the same time. A bit like radicalising your granny's china ornaments in the name of fashion. In fine Tana Lawn. Three button cuff, slim fit. Probably a classic already.
This archive Liberty design is exclusive to Simon Carter. Originally called Fish Pool, this design was created in 1968 and printed at Liberty's Merton print works. Clearly inspired by Japanese katagami stencil work it has a restrained indigo palette in which the rather beautifully drawn carp swim among Art Nouveau swirls, suggesting both water currents and weeds. A striking but versatile three button ("Moore") tailored fit shirt.
One of our famous quality jacquards in which the pattern is formed as part of the weaving process. In this case a rendering of large fungi. A three button cuff, slim fit shirt with class, elegance and perhaps a touch of whimsy.
What is more quintessentially Autumnal than a Liberty Cap? Very little, in my opinion. This slightly mad, fun, frivolous design features an array of fungi on soft, sage green ground; an enchanting subtle contrast to the tan tones of the shrooms. A bit delirious, a bit magical and all done in the best possible taste! Slim fit, single button cuff
Charming shirt featuring a pattern simulacrum of vintage motorcycle sew-on patches. On a blue cum teal ground it strikes a nice balance between colour and monochrome and will, of course appeal to all fans of the golden age of motorcycling. Single button, slim fit.
'Josue' is a Liberty Tana lawn cotton design featuring a delicate abstract in blue with accents of pink, suggesting coral or maybe a complex archipelago with volcanic hot spots! Or ferns. I don't really know. I chose this design for its freshness and versatility and because I like abstract art. A perfect Spring and Summer staple.
Inspired by a paisley floral design called Kandahar and later Bursa, which was created in 1968 and printed at Liberty's Merton Abbey Mills print works. Large trails of augmented Paisley derived leaf forms surrounding highly stylised 'buds' are interlinked by swooping intricate garlands of tiny flowers. It was revived in the late 1970s but still seems contemporary to me. An exuberant, joyous fanfare which bursts into my Spring/Summer collection.
A shirt which exploits restful Autumnal brown tones in a design formed of striated feathers. A nice contrasty, seasonal piece with a single button cuff in a tailored fit.
This shirt features a flamingo whose pink has, somehow escaped its body. The only way he can retrieve his pinkness is to stand behind a flower, one of his legs perfectly aligned with its grassy green stem. Fair enough. It's a slight trompe l'oeil. From a distance you see a pink flamingo, but on closer inspection two closely associated forms are revealed. The shirt lining features the design in blue for contrast and variety. It's a restful, slightly undulating design with a single button cuff (known to us as a 'Jagger'), in a tailored fit which extends and improvises on the tropical theme of this season's collection.
A single button, slim fit shirt with a very rich pattern formed out of a plethora of birds' eggs! An unusual, striking, perfectly themed shirt for Autumn/Winter.
Inspired by the imaginings and solitary musings from an otherwise deserted south sea island, this coral reef design from Liberty’s newest collection ‘Castaway’ expresses the enchanting world of aquatic flora and fauna, vast ocean horizons and a plethora of equatorial delights in a charming collection of tropical atoll themed prints. This particular print 'Reef' is a truly beautiful, limpid, liquescent, flowing watercolour in delicate hues from aquamarine to cobalt to alizarin crimson, coral pink and many points between, on a soft pearl white ground. The effect is of an entrancing, mesmeric flow and gentle sway. An exquisite, fresh and restful Tana Lawn piece for Spring in a tailored fit with three button ("Moore") cuff.
This shirt counts as one of your five a day. Featuring a plethora of leguminous forms in a restrained palette of inky tones it is light hearted, charming, stylish and rather beautiful. Slim fit, single button cuff
Soaring gulls with indigo tipped wings blending into a soft grey express a sense of spirited rhythm and airiness in this strikingly patterned shirt. The collar, cuffs and plaquet are lined with a crimson or madder hued variant of the same design to produce a softly glowing, radiant effect. A shirt with a breezy, fresh outlook celebrating aerial forms in graceful flight.
A stunning, richly detailed nature print evoking the sense of late Summer, with exquisitely detailed birds, leaves, seed pods, snakes, molluscs, beetles, moths, tendrils and berries. A veritable cornucopia of effulgent, richly coloured loveliness for Autumn/Winter.
Akinobu Fish is a marine version of William Morris' design 'Strawberry Thief', which you probably know. With sea anemones, shell fish, fish, starfish and seahorses instead of birds, flowers and strawberries. Exclusive to Simon Carter this is a rich, fun design in an opulent palette of browns, blues and pinks. Three button cuff, tailored fit fine Tana Lawn cotton shirt.
A reinterpretation of a traditional Liberty classic, Turtle Thief is a tropical, marine take on the much loved William Morris design - Strawberry Thief. A very endearing turtle shares his watery world with starfish, fragments of corals, water weeds and blooms, equatorial fish and exotic shells not to mention the odd stray anchor! In a restful palette of earthy pinks, cobalt, sage, lilac and Naples yellow on a black ground. Aqueous enchantment abounds! A Liberty Tana Lawn shirt with a three button ('Moore') cuff.
This fabulous subdued hued shirt is decorated with all manner of bugs and vegetables, with the odd reptile making an appearance. Another design which exploits the charm of hand drawn elements and juxtaposition - beetroot and crickets anyone? Lovely contrasts exist between shoftly shaded and linear elements to create a splendid spreading effect of organic ebullition. Single button cuff, slim fit
White House Shirt is a fine cotton slim fit garment featuring a pattern derived from a line drawing of Georgian town houses, in three subtly inky tones. A pleasant, restful design with a similar pattern in reversed colours for the plaquet, cuff and collar linings. Single button cuff, branded buttons. Smart, debonair and cool.
An unusual design with line drawn shoes - loafers, saddle shoes, moccasin, brogues and what not on a delightful soft, purple/magenta ground. The collar, plaquet and cuffs are contrast lined with hats! A head to toe experience. A fine cotton, single button cuff, slim fit shirt.
A design which manages to combine the senses of rest and energy with its beautifully drawn bamboo motif, capturing the vigour of this tropical plant in subdued crepuscular inky Prussian and indigo blue shades. Night begins to descend on my deserted island as I sit on the veranda with a cocktail in hand, surrounded by peace! Single button cuff tailored fit shirt known this season as a "Harrison" (as in Ford).
An atmospheric design in a crepuscular shadowy blue palette with a large line drawn sinuous flower pattern of arching woodland blooms. A restful and rather mysteriously evocative - enchanted even, shirt with a three button cuff.
Short sleeved. Very finely rendered, highly detailed pineapples, interspersed with palm fronds to contrast against the spiky, pointed pineapple leaves in a dusky Prussian blue are arranged on a soft white ground to produce this quintessentially Summery piece. It is slightly mesmeric and inviting. Beautifully shaded with a wonderful gradation of tones and a delight taken in the curling, arching foliage and plump pineapple roundness.
Blue hat print shirt with a repeating pattern of both light and dark line drawn and shaded trilbys on a nice soft blue ground. The lining to the plaquet, collar and cuffs reverses the idea and features a drawn shoes pattern. Truly a top to toe experience! Single button cuff in a slim fit.