It’s your duty to be beautiful….

For centuries, being “fashionable” meant belonging to a particular social set. If you didn’t belong with the in-crowd, then all the clothing in creation would not render you “in fashion”. This state of affairs lasted a surprisingly long time, into the early twentieth century, in fact. However, somewhere between the Great War and World War 2, a sea change came about – fashion historians, inform me – and by the 1940s, the meaning of fashion had morphed to encompass the clothing of “ordinary” people.

Fashion on the Ration, now open at the Imperial War Museum, demonstrates how the same people strove to maintain their fashionable status. At £10, the exhibition is a little pricey and (hint to curators) I would like to have an information booklet included for the money. But it is worth going to see, if only to witness the sheer quality of the garments aged 70+ in years. Near the entrance, we see a floral print blouse that would not look out of place in today’s high street – will Primark items be around in seventy years’ time? There follows displays of more street clothing – don’t miss seeing the extraordinary waisted red wool coat or the mesh summer shoes – children’s clothing, knitting and sewing patterns, an elegant wedding dress, graceful lingerie, fine gloves and handbags, dainty furred shrugs – truly, less was more. We see items of jewellery fashioned from scraps of plastic, utility stockings, lengths of the fabrics of the day (tweed, serge, cotton drill, cotton print, rayon, elastic and lisle), magazine pages of model shoots, and surviving cosmetic items by Yardley and Coty. A rolling vintage video demonstrates the art of felt hat making while another information board describes how women were constantly reminded of their duty “to be beautiful”, if only to maintain public morale during the Blitz years...opinions, please. Fashion on the Ration is open at the Imperial War Museum until August 3, 2015