Brit Chic
Welcome to the front row!
Celebrate the nation's knack for cutting-edge couture with this special selection of rarely-seen films from the BFI National Archive, offering a kaleidoscopic survey of post-war British fashion. From utility to utopia, high end to high street, Brit Chic invites you to escape austerity with Fashion Fantasy (1946), get yourself In Gear (1967) with the cool kids on the Kings Road, gatecrash a photoshoot at the iconic emporium in Pacemakers: Biba (1970), and discover Peter Greenaway's innovative portrait of a fashion legend, Insight - Zandra Rhodes (1981). On the way you can be a fly on the wall in a London couture house with Design for Fashion (1954), and see how the 1950s saw the latest trends become increasingly accessible to the ordinary woman thanks to British industry (Birth of a Dress, 1954), and how the arrival of magazine-style shows like Mayfair Merry-Go-Round (1954) put fashion at the forefront of a blossoming postwar consumer culture. Welcome to the front row!
All films:
Fashion Fantasy
1946 | Extract: 2 min
Once upon a time, not long after the War, a young Wren dreams of swapping drab 40s utility for opulent couture by NormanHartnell. But first she must go to Mannequin School...
Design for Fashion
1954 | Extract: 3 min
A colourful insight into the painstaking work involved in creating an haute couture gown in the London atelier of Giuseppe Mattli.
Mayfair Merry-Go-Round
1954 | 10 min
Catherine (later Katie) Boyle presents this early TV magazine show advertising affordable fashions, including a Berketex dress by Hartnell – yours for a fiver.
The Birth of a Dress
1954 | Extract: 3 min
British industry enables 'film stars and the average woman' to enjoy the latest designs.
Fashion Fantasy
1946 | Extract: 4 min
The exercises paid off: our budding mannequin is summoned for an audience with Mr Hartnell himself.
Ossie Clark
1968 | Extract: 3 min
In this previously unseen interview with Bernard Braden, the hugely influential designer discusses the merits of high street vs. high end.
Look at Life: In Gear
1967 | 9 min
Courtesy of ITV Global Entertainment Ltd. Join the cool kids on the Kings Road and Carnaby Street as youth fashion brings a welcome splash of colour to Britain. 'Don't take it too seriously, or you'll be missing the point!'.
The Pacemakers: Biba
1970 | 14 min
Rare documentary profile of design guru Barbara Hulanicki, whose legendary Kensington store Biba inspired a generation and made clothes shopping into an art.
Fashion Fantasy
1946 | Extract: 4 min
'The gown's nearly ready but the girl is not': our heroine visits Elizabeth Arden for a facial.
The Mary Quant Show
1974 | 5 min
The mistress of the mini-skirt looks back at her Swinging sixties heyday for an edition of This Week in Britain.
Death is Their Destiny
1978 | Extract: 3 min
Courtesy of Phil Munnoch
Using his home movie camera, Phil Munnoch – aka Captain Zip – chronicled the defiant fashions of Kings Road punks.
Insight – Zandra Rhodes
1981 | 15 min
'I can't think of another fashion designer quite like me'. Peter Greenaway's inventive portrait of a style rebel, made for the BFI and newly remastered.
Vivienne Westwood Showreel
1989 | Extract: 2 min
With thanks to Vivienne Westwood Ltd.
Sara Stockbridge models a remarkable array of Westwood designs in these 16mm rushes, discovered among a batch of film donated to the BFI National Archive.
Fashion Fantasy
1946 | Extract: 4 min
It's show time: our made-over Wren models for Hartnell's hardiest couture clients as the 40s fantasia comes to a close.
Total running time approx. 82 min
