Mayfair's dressmakers, tailors and elegant couture houses; Soho's bohemia and Swinging Sixties

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Rates

Individual: £55 Student Price: £30 each for two or more

Enquire for larger numbers

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Duration

2-4 hours

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About

This tour looks at how the British influenced women’s fashion from the Victorian period right up to the present day. We look at a multitude of exciting contemporary fashions and relate them to the styles, designers and influencers of previous eras. We visit many designer shops, and, along the way, we investigate the origin of the first women’s suits that – decades before Coco Chanel -- heralded a new freedom of movement and gave rise to a new costume for the working woman. We consider the importance of the arts & crafts movement and fabulous fabrics inspired by trade with India and Japan. We talk about London’s many court dressmakers, who decorated the debutantes in embroidered trains to meet the demands of Royal ritual. We recount lost stories of London couture houses before, during and after World War II, including those of Norman Hartnell, Hardy Amies, Edward Molyneux, Charles James and Jean Muir. All that glamour faded away with the swinging sixties, and we have fun remembering the massive shockwaves begun by London’s street fashion and spread by the likes of Mary Quant and Foale & Tuffin. A look at Punk’s impact is also essential, as is an appreciation of Alexander McQueen’s change of the silhouette. This tour is solely offered as a private tour, available by appointment only.

We recommend at least three hours for this tour, but we're happy to give a two-hour tour, if that's all the time you have.

We start in front of Grosvenor Chapel, 24 South Audley Street, London W1K 2PA.