Ready to Wear

The sartorial progress of the suit from the sixties to the eighties.

The chequered history of teenage fashion; the rise of Teddy Boys, mods, rockers and hippies.

The discovery of leisure time and the clothes to go with it.

The 'make-do-and-mend' years of the Second World War, when clothes rationing tested the ingenuity of the nation.

Home dressmaking was once a part of domestic life, but with off-the-peg clothes the skill was reduced to a hobby.

The daily dilemma women face when dressing for work. The change in attitudes toward acceptable work wear, beginning in the 1950s when cumbersome underwear restricted women's fashion choices. The humble pair of tights changed all this and paved the way for short skirts in the 1970s and the padded shoulders of the 1980s.