Hear the words ‘swinging London’ and chances are you’ll think of Marianne Faithfull in a fur rug or The Beatles trotting over the Abbey Road zebra crossing. The Fashion and Textile Museum’s new exhibition, however, delivers a different twist on the term, using it to describe the world of the so-called ‘Chelsea Set’ who were already setting trends back in the 1950s.
Centred on fashion designer Mary Quant and Habitat founder Terence Conran, the show shines a light on domestic life from 1952-1977, showing how knives and forks changed as much as knickers and frocks.
A short dress with boob-embossing spirals stands in front of glossy bread bins, while a line of polka-dotted pinafores are stationed just across from some info on Elizabeth David, the cookery writer who got Brits to swap Spam and Eccles cakes for aubergines and syllabub.
Sure, this isn’t the sexiest version of Swinging London folklore, but unless they’re Mick Jagger, it’s probably a damn sight closer to most people’s real memories of the period.
What’s surprising is how it feels simultaneously radical and a bit quaint. The dramatic change from 1950s finery – circle skirts and teensy tops – to the minimalist, pop-coloured shift dresses won’t fail to make an impression.
Yet despite their shock value at the time of creation, a lot of the garments now seem like the last things to cause a cry of ‘You’re not going out like that!’ from an angry mother. Robust wool tweed, knee-length capes… even all that PVC comes across as a fairly sensible solution to the British climate.
But that might be the biggest compliment of all. Anything that’s as bang on-trend as the clothes and furnishings of this era inevitably becomes old news as quickly as it became new news. That’s fashion for you, kids.