Punk emerged in the late 70’s and fashion was exciting and radicle. Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm Mcclaren set up Worlds End on the Kings road. I never dressed as a punk mainly I think because that fashion wouldn’t have particularly suited but like others I was excited by this new energy and rebellion. Birmingham was a happening city then, with Dexys Midnight Runners, UB40, and of course later on Duran Duran, all of whom I was lucky enough to see before they were famous. Duran Duran was the beginning of new Romantic and with dressing up rather than down. Nowdays sadly people don’t seem to dress up in the same way. As a child we always had our best clothes reserved for special occasions and in the 1980’s dressing up was the thing to do. It was the time of tight cocktail dresses and frills , bows and ribbons and petticoats, and for me the beginning of my great love of the 50s fashion. We all piled into The holy city zoo, The Rum Runner and other venues to mix with Duran, Duran, Fashion, Sigue Sigue Sputnik . Jane Farrimond who sang in Sputnik at that time designed and made my wedding dress which was restrained by new Romantic standards although it does have the some of the features of the time. I have of course kept it for nearly 40 years!

Recapping on last week I also remember visiting the famous Biba store on Kensington High street before it closed in the late 70’s. Unlike Bus Stop, Biba still survives today.

Once I left school, like most students now, and then, I favoured charity shops and jumble sales for my clothes. In those days it hadn’t become main stream and indeed members of my family remained horrified by the thought of wearing clothes worn by other people. Of course preloved clothes ( as they are now named!) are very sort after. Although I notice that jumble sales are no longer. It makes me smile that charity shops are so popular and acceptable these days, it can only be a good thing encouraging people to buy less.

The mid 70s were economically not good so I had little spare cash in those days. Luckily my best friend’s Aunt had hoarded the most exquisite 1940s dresses which my friend inherited, and I was very grateful to be given a few of these items. In those days I had a very small wardrobe so was delighted to be given these beautiful unusual frocks to give variety to the few items I owned. I think that sewed the seeds of my desire to have a large and varied wardrobe of my own, as I had never had much variety due to finances and of course the price of clothes in those days. Then the fast cheap fashion industry had not exploded.

Observer, 21 October 1979: Lee Bender, designer of disposable fashion for the glittering working girl, looks to the future as her boutiques close
— Read on www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/oct/22/lee-bender-interview-bus-stop-boutique-closes-archive

As promised The Guardian article . Interesting that the high street was ever evolving and the desire for fast fashion at a cheap price was emerging in the late 1970’s.

My teenager years started in 1970 right at the very end of the swinging 60’s and Woodstock. Sadly by then fashion had deteriorated into tank tops and bell bottom trousers peppered by midi dresses and skirts. I remember wearing a Victorian style shirt with a purple midi skirt along with my prize procession of white boots. Plastic was new then and hadn’t been identified as an environmental threat. The Mary Quant exhibition at the V and A showcases the new plastic material, used in fashion design and accessories designed by Mary in the 1960’s.It was so exciting and revolutionary then, little did everyone know its harmful potential.

By the time I was sixteen I had established a style I was more comfortable with, the hippy look. One of my memories from those days was having a coveted ticket to David Bowie’s Starman at Birmingham town hall and arriving bare foot in a long cheesecloth skirt and top from Oasis store in Birmingham.

On a completely different note I was at the V and A in London this weekend at the Tim Walker exhibition https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/tim-walker and was rather taken by this photograph!

Returning to my childhood and the beginnings of my love of clothes I can remember the heady days of the 1960’s and persuading my mum to buy me a very jazzy coat. Obviously colour attracted me even in those days as it was purple and turquoise . But then I didn’t have the confidence to wear it very much in case I was noticed.

I also remember my grandmother as a very elegant woman who had a large wardrobe of sophisticated beautifully made clothing . Her family had been tailors and this was reflected in her love of clothes too. I still have photographs of her from the 1920’s in fashionable attire of the day often including a fur coat draped over her shoulders.

Finally just as I was reaching my teenage years my cousin married and I was her chief bridesmaid. I wore a deep blue velvet dress with mutton sleeves . The material was so sumptuous I persuaded the dressmaker to convert it into a velvet coat to be worn in my teenage hippy years. I still have the coat now as can be seen above . It’s still stored in my loft as I’ve never managed to part with it!