The kaleidoscope of fashion, ever-turning, ever new, but never new - what goes around comes around, and rediscovering and re-inventing the past is part of the fun.
Clothes have always been a significant reflection of the cultural and political climate. Dior's extravagantly full skirts flounced in the face of postwar restrictions; the seventies swung between hotpants and maxis as the economy roller-coasted towards the power-obsessed eighties, when shoulder-pads signified female presence in the boardroom.
As retromania has conditioned trends at the turn of the 21st century, the thirst for fashions of earlier decades has hit an all-time high, reviving a maxim of the sixties: nothing is out because everything is in. But where do you find an early Ossie Clark? How did the craze for the Kelly bag start? Is psychedelia due for a rebirth?
Tracy Tolkien has immersed herself in the trends and taboos, the clothes, the jewellery, the accessories and the style icons of postwar fashion.
