Skip to Content
Log In
    HomeAdvanced SearchSearch TipsGalleriesCollectionsMapsLondon Picture MapAbout the London Picture ArchiveHelp and Support

    Popular Searches

    • Cafes
    • Christmas
    • Coffee Houses
    • Crystal Palace - Hyde Park
    • Crystal Palace - Sydenham
    • Grinling Gibbons
    • Gunpowder Plot (1605)
    • Horwood's Map of London
    • Leicester Square
    • Livery Companies
    • London Fire Brigade
    • London Pub Photographs
    • Lord Mayor of London
    • May Day
    • Piccadilly Circus
    • Queen Elizabeth II
    • Rossetti La Ghirlandata
    • Second World War Bomb Damage
    • ship
    • The Crystal Palace Fire
    • Trafalgar Square
    • Victorian Schools
    • Victorian Whitechapel
    • Wembley Stadium
    • Workhouses

    Galleries

    • 1920s London: Birth of the Modern City
    • Inns, Taverns and Public Houses
    • London Horsepower
    • London's Department Stores
    • London's Key Workers
    • Parks and Gardens
    • The National Health Service
    • Tube, Tram, Bus
    • Evacustes Phipson
    • LCC Bomb Damage Maps
    • LCC Tramways
    • London's Museums
    • Monet's London
    • Policing London
    • Women and Art in London
    • More galleries

    Institutions

    • The London Archives
    • Guildhall Art Gallery
    Gallery

    There are many visual examples of fashion in London across the collections. From the medieval period through to the twentieth century, fashion is illustrated in caricatures, prints and photographic portraits. It can be found in all its forms: street photography to fashion shows and student work to couture designers as we peer into the shop window of the fashionable high street. A particular highlight is the George W F Ellis collection which steps into the fashion of the 1920s as seen in the banner image here.

    The early geography of London fashion can be found in the trading of goods at Cheapside which was assisted by the close proximity of Mercers Hall (4978) and also the Merchant Taylors in Threadneedle Street (316439).

    In the eighteenth century the fashion for promenading came into its own in the district of Westminster and Chelsea and in the Pleasure Gardens such as Ranelagh (286486). The "macaroni" (18363) was a dandy figure about town sporting the latest attire. The caricatures of James Gilray burst out in a shock of brash colour often with excellent examples of outlandish headwear (26594).

    Fashion plates through the seasons for 1830s and 1840s were produced by the tailor Benjamin Read; an example can be seen at (22865). By the mid-1850s the East End employed around half of the women tailors in England and Wales and became known for producing ready-mades. Production had been able to increase with the introduction of industrial sewing machines which were patented in 1851 by Singer. In the West End up market tailoring was housed in the famous Savile Row. Norman Hartnell, who became the dressmaker to Queen Elizabeth II, opened his business in Bruton Street in 1923 (301611).

    The fashion districts of the Swinging Sixties radiate from the photographs taken by the London County Council and Greater London Council. The Mod look walked straight out of Lord John on Carnaby Street (128538) then across town to the Kings Road to Mary Quant's Bazaar Shop at 138 Kings Road (56889) where raised hemlines were the order of the day with the new miniskirt. Other brands such as Foale & Tuffin and Take 6 were at 1-2 Marlborough Court (138910).

    The 1970s saw the arrival of Vivienne Westwood & Malcolm McLaren's shop called 'Sex' at number 430 King's Road (57025). The Punk aesthetic grew out of this with their clothing being worn by the Sex Pistols.

    This gallery presents some of our finest historical photographs and pictures of fashion in London. To discover more images, try searching or use the London Picture Map to focus on a location.

    Fashion in London

    of 4
    Refine
    Sort
    138910
    1-2 Marlborough Court, Westminster LB: front elevations
    18087
    Attitudes towards fashion
    17028
    Bagnigge Wells, St Pancras
    292647
    Bargain Hunt
    301756
    Bathing Dress at the drapery Exhibition
    56889
    Bazaar in King's Road
    26932
    Cap of state
    56917
    Chelsea Girl in King's Road
    200180
    College of Fashion: embroidery.
    323083
    Commuters in the City of London
    26808
    Costume
    26771
    Costumes
    26775
    Costumes
    26780
    Costumes
    26781
    Costumes
    26785
    Costumes
    26507
    Cries of London
    26516
    Cries of London
    292888
    Denis and Customer
    293234
    Deptford Bikers
    of 4
    The London Archives
    London
    Picture Archive

    Contact & Support

    • support@londonpicturearchive.org.uk
    • www.thelondonarchives.org

    Follow The London Archives

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • YouTube
    • LinkedIn

    The London Picture Archive is owned and managed by The London Archives on behalf of the City of London Corporation

    © City of London Corporation

    • Legal Notices
    • Cookie preferences

    Developed by iBase Media Services

    City of London