Preen, Henry Holland and Orla Kiely bring fashion to Beatrix Potter covers

Five fashion designers and brands have redesigned the covers of some of Beatrix Potter’s most beloved works. Each designer lends their characteristic creative styles to Penguin Random House’s celebratory rerelease, 150th years since the birth of the iconic children’s author.

Preen provides the cover artwork for its childhood favourite Potter work The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin. Founded by Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi in 1996 out of a love for colliding Victoriana with a contemporary edge, the team marries Potter’s quaint aesthetic with the ultra-modern. They make use of one of Beatrix Potter’s own iconic illustrations, which they emblazon on a field of botanical illustrations evocative of the delicate fabrics nature inspires, disrupted by negative space.

Irish designer Orla Kiely known for her unmistakable, retro-inspired prints and patterns, stayed true to form and has created a frankly adorable repetition of a hedgehog motif to wrap The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. “I have very much enjoyed designing our hedgehog to represent Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle in a simple modern style and repeat,” she says. A vintage style plaque carries the title.

British fashion designer Henry Holland has provided a design for The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, combining his own visual signature with extrapolations of the Potteresque, such as reappropriating the duck-egg blue that appears traditionally on Jemima’s bonnet. Known for his bold t-shirt designs and snappy slogans, the design places typography front and centre. Often cheeky and risqué with his wording, Henry admits: “Creating an age-appropriate slogan in my traditional font and style was the trickiest part…I feel like Jemima is the kind of duck who believes that ‘cleanliness is next to godliness’ and is always trying to be a good domestic duck.”

Rodnik Band illustrates the cover to The Tale of Tom Kitten. Having grown up in the small town of Dunkeld, Scotland where Beatrix Potter famously took holidays, designer Philip Colbert says: “the beautiful landscape of Perthshire inspired my soul as a child and I loved the idea of her characters living there.” Appropriating Mondrian’s aesthetic, he overlays illustrations of the titular protagonists and motifs of yarn and a butterfly, explaining: “I wanted to bring my pop aesthetic philosophy to her quintessentially English charm.”

Luxury knitwear brand Cats Brothers had the honour of recovering Potter’s iconic The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Co-founder Lindsay McKean says: “When designing the cover for Peter Rabbit, we started by imagining Peter today – what would he be like? Well, he’d be naughty, streetwise and incredibly cool, of course.” As such, he has been made-over in a denim jacket customised with vegetable patches. Hand-embroidered throughout, the design and lettering have been used to evoke the texture of the fabric and lining.

Adam Wardle, art director for the series, summarises: “Beatrix Potter had an eye for fashion as well as the natural world, clothing her characters in à la mode jackets, hats, shawls and dresses with Peter Rabbit being inseparable from his iconic blue jacket.”

Penguin Random House will publish the newly covered books on 7 July.