1950s: End of clothes rationing and return to femininity

The end of clothes rationing in 1949 freed fashion designers from war-time austerity measures. British fashions fell under the spell of the luxurious full skirts of Christian Dior’s 'new look', already all the rage in Paris.

This shift from the boxy, practical silhouette of the 1940s to the exaggerated feminine shape of the 1950s, with its corseted waist and impractical wide skirts, was in keeping with the widespread view that women should give up paid employment undertaken during the war and return to the home.

1960s: British fashion and pop music takes the world by storm

In the 1960s, Paris was losing its dominance in fashion and British fashion and pop music took the world by storm, fuelled by a powerful youth culture with more disposable income and leisure time than ever before. At the heart of this movement was Swinging London, with quirky boutiques on Carnaby Street and the Kings Road selling fashions which broke the rules - born on the streets and in clubs rather than in couture houses.

High fashion celebrated modernity with references to the space age and the use of new and unusual fabrics such as PVC and acrylics. ‘No care’ synthetic fabrics such as polyester flooded the ready to wear market and were the appropriate choice for the faster pace of life. The traditionally feminine shapes of the 1950s were replaced by short shift dresses and a boyish silhouette, a shape not seen in fashion since the 1920s, and reflected  the greater freedoms of a more liberal era.

By the late 1960s, however, optimism turned to concern as rising inflation, unemployment and environmental issues came to the fore.