0:02:35 > 0:02:37Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother,
0:02:37 > 0:02:39arrives at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden
0:02:39 > 0:02:41for a royal performance.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44But this is not at all what you might expect.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48It's not opera, it's not ballet, it's not even on the stage,
0:02:48 > 0:02:52it's a fashion show, the first ever to be held here -
0:02:52 > 0:02:56a show designed to present what Britain's top dress designers
0:02:56 > 0:02:58can offer the women of the world.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02But in such a setting, it's hard to keep ballet out altogether.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11Each of these dancers is a ballet character
0:03:11 > 0:03:14and each wears a costume to represent a fashion accessory...
0:03:16 > 0:03:18..shoes and stockings,
0:03:18 > 0:03:22silks and leathers, knitwear, gloves and jewellery,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26furs and hats - there's no fashion extra left out.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42Among the dancers is Firebird.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44She wears a foundation garment
0:03:44 > 0:03:47made by one of Britain's biggest corset firms.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50A foundation is designed mainly on the model
0:03:50 > 0:03:55and hand moulded to ensure that it fits in all the right places.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59Belts and brassieres are a substantial fashion export today.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02They are mass produced in the factory when a design is completed.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Controlling the feminine form has become big business,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09a business that is now highly mechanised,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13starting with the cutting machine which cuts out 100 pieces at a time.
0:04:17 > 0:04:22The sections of the belt are sewn together at top speed.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24The suspenders and ornamental stitching are put on
0:04:24 > 0:04:26in one operation.
0:04:26 > 0:04:28The zips are sewn in
0:04:28 > 0:04:34and in about 20 minutes it's ready to wear.
0:04:41 > 0:04:44It can be a long job from the original design
0:04:44 > 0:04:46to the finished dress, especially if the garment is
0:04:46 > 0:04:50made by hand in the salon of a top designer such as Norman Hartnell.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54A dress for a fashion show is modelled from the start
0:04:54 > 0:04:56on the mannequin who will wear it at the show
0:04:56 > 0:05:00and the designer is there with the fitter as the dress takes shape.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13The top designers naturally cater for the individual woman
0:05:13 > 0:05:15with the big dress allowance
0:05:15 > 0:05:18but Britain's largest chain of fashion stores
0:05:18 > 0:05:22produces millions of clothes of every kind, mostly for the other end
0:05:22 > 0:05:26of the buying public, in Britain and more than 20 other countries.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Today, they export thousands of brassieres as well as outer garments
0:05:34 > 0:05:38to Italy, France, Switzerland and many other parts of Europe.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Britain's mass production of fashion is establishing
0:05:42 > 0:05:45a reputation on the continent for good workmanship and value.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56But before you can sell fashions in any quantity to a country
0:05:56 > 0:06:00such as France, herself the acknowledged home of fashion,
0:06:00 > 0:06:03you must show the French buyers, usually on their own ground,
0:06:03 > 0:06:05what you have to sell.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07These model girls are off to Paris in the spring
0:06:07 > 0:06:11to show the combined wares of 28 firms who form an export group,
0:06:11 > 0:06:15The Fashion House Group Of London, to buyers from all parts of Europe,
0:06:15 > 0:06:18the Commonwealth and the United States.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30Since it was formed in 1959, The Fashion House Group Of London,
0:06:30 > 0:06:34which specialises in ready-to-wear clothes, has steadily boosted
0:06:34 > 0:06:38its export figures, which now amount to more than £5 million a year.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43Today, British fashion exports are up to about £11 million.
0:06:43 > 0:06:46They have more than doubled in the last few years.
0:06:46 > 0:06:49In this factory of one of the group's members,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52thousands of dresses are produced for women of other countries
0:06:52 > 0:06:55each year as well as for women at home.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15Today, the world is full of imitations.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17This girl, in a thousand-pound ocelot coat,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21is starting off a fashion show with a difference.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Almost everything in it isn't what it seems to be.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32This coat, for instance, isn't ocelot but dyed lamb,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35while this one is made of rayon-fur-fabric
0:07:35 > 0:07:37and costs about £20.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40Here's a Persian lamb coat worth hundreds.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48And here's a fur fabric copy, selling for £35.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Even the bag and shoes are not what they seem.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55No crocodile ever wore those skins, they are embossed leather.
0:07:58 > 0:08:00Man-made fibres come in many guises,
0:08:00 > 0:08:04like this warm-looking woollen dress, which is really terylene.
0:08:07 > 0:08:12Or this gay, cool, permanently pleated cotton. That's terylene too.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44Since the dawn of time,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47women have been dressing themselves up in the skins of animals.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50They are still doing it today.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53Of course, the cavewoman didn't have this sort of look.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Nowadays, skins, particularly of cattle, goats and pigs,
0:08:57 > 0:09:00are made into leather of many different kinds.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03But most of the leather used for clothes comes from sheep.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Mink, of course, is the thing for a night at the opera.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11Today, skins come in colours to flatter the wearers.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14No matter how big or small you may be,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16there's a skin somewhere to fit you.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29At a show of ranch-bred mink and chinchilla in the city of London,
0:09:29 > 0:09:32furriers come from all over the country to look and to buy.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Points are weighed up carefully by the judges,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38just like at a flower show, before the award the prizes.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50This is Canadian wild mink.
0:09:50 > 0:09:53About 120 perfectly matched skins will be needed
0:09:53 > 0:09:55to make a full-length coat.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57By the time it's ready to wear,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00four people will have worked on it for four weeks.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12This makes an acceptable present for any woman.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17At £7,000, it's one of the most expensive fur coats in the world.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28Even today, very few fur animals are bred on farms.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Most are trapped in the wild.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33On the whole, there are so many available
0:10:33 > 0:10:35that trapping is no threat to the species.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38But Australia's koalas were almost wiped out
0:10:38 > 0:10:41to make fur gloves in the early 1930s.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44Polar bears almost died out in Alaska,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47until the United States protected them by law.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54But today, it's the spotted members of the cat family,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58such as the cheetah, that are in most danger from the fashion hunters.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11Leopards are legally protected in many parts of Africa,
0:11:11 > 0:11:16but trappers still shoot or trap 50,000 of them illegally every year.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18So the slaughter goes on.
0:11:18 > 0:11:21One day we may find, unless we really do something about it,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24that these species will have completely disappeared.
0:12:03 > 0:12:07For 100 years or more, men have had a horror of wearing anything
0:12:07 > 0:12:09which might make them conspicuous.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12Just look at the lengths they go to in the city.
0:12:16 > 0:12:20Even when the British male dresses up for an occasion,
0:12:20 > 0:12:24he restricts himself to toppers and tails in sombre colours.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34There is always, of course, the pioneer who sets his own fashion.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39But today, there is a new spirit abroad.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41Slowly but quite perceptively,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43men's clothes are becoming more individual.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Ideas which may have started in Pall Mall
0:12:46 > 0:12:49are taken up by other sections of society.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56Army service, holidays abroad, these have given some men new ideas too.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04And women have had quite a big say.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11A trip to the seaside used to mean a pair of old flannel bags
0:13:11 > 0:13:15and a tennis shirt, but today you have to have a special rig
0:13:15 > 0:13:18if you don't want to be a figure of fun on the pier.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24Some fashions haven't changed a lot.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27This London hat shop goes back more than 200 years,
0:13:27 > 0:13:31although the unsold merchandise in the windows is definitely post-war.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33Napoleon's war.
0:13:34 > 0:13:37To get the fit exactly right,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39they use a machine called a conformitor.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42At first glance, you might imagine its function was to make
0:13:42 > 0:13:45the header conform to the hat, but in fact, it's the other way around.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49The steel pins mould themselves to every bump or depression in the
0:13:49 > 0:13:53customer's cranium, then prick out a record of their findings on a card.
0:14:03 > 0:14:07More men than ever are paying regular visits to the hairdresser's.
0:14:20 > 0:14:23Half the barber shops in Britain cater for men.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26And they vary in style every bit as much as the women's,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29like this old, established and dignified Mayfair salon,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32or this hairdresser's in Hounslow, Middlesex,
0:14:32 > 0:14:35where you can have the same sort of treatment women get.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45And, of course, one or two purely masculine things as well.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49You can have your hair permanently waved or straightened.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52And while you're drying, you can have a manicure.
0:14:55 > 0:14:59Trimming eyebrows is all part of the service.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02Today, more and more people are becoming colour conscious
0:15:02 > 0:15:05to achieve an effect, and not necessarily to hide grey hair.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24This house, set in 20 acres of Berkshire countryside,
0:15:24 > 0:15:29is the house of Raymond, still known as Mr Teasy-Weasy to millions.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32With it, go a string of racehorses, a London flat
0:15:32 > 0:15:35and a villa in the South of France.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39There is always room at the top,
0:15:39 > 0:15:43and these youngsters know it as they spend two years training
0:15:43 > 0:15:47at the London College of Fashion, run by the Greater London Council.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54Always ready to encourage up and comers,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57Raymond is an honorary governor of the college.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02Among the hair set, wigs are playing an ever-increasing role,
0:16:02 > 0:16:05and the college lays special emphasis on teaching the arts of
0:16:05 > 0:16:08weaving, knotting and ventilating.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15With wigs, of course, a woman can speedily change her hairstyle
0:16:15 > 0:16:18for the different occasions of the day.
0:16:18 > 0:16:22Rosalie Ashley shops in her own hair -
0:16:22 > 0:16:26friends in for coffee, and a fall is added, placed on a headband
0:16:26 > 0:16:28and worn like a hat.
0:16:30 > 0:16:34A lunch date completes the move from simplicity to sophistication.
0:16:36 > 0:16:40Cocktails call for a change of colour as well as style.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51And with the ball scene, on goes the kitchen stove.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55But you may not be the centre of attention if Raymond partners you.
0:16:55 > 0:16:56He's got his false eyelashes on.
0:17:04 > 0:17:08Another man who's been in the van of this revolution is Vidal Sassoon.
0:17:15 > 0:17:18Sassoon himself works at tremendous speed,
0:17:18 > 0:17:20and with an infectious enthusiasm
0:17:20 > 0:17:22that animates everyone who works with him.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25He may change his styles as he makes or follows
0:17:25 > 0:17:29the fashions of the day, but the basic cut does not change.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31It is deceptively simple.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Until one realises that it can take a new stylist
0:17:34 > 0:17:37two whole years to learn.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39One of the hallmarks is the glowing health of the hair,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42which can be largely due to correct cutting.
0:17:42 > 0:17:46The cut is always with the natural growth of the hair.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02Whether symmetrical or asymmetrical,
0:18:02 > 0:18:05shape must always be a basic principle.
0:18:05 > 0:18:09When hair is properly cut, say the experts, the owner could dip
0:18:09 > 0:18:12her head in a bucket of water without any ill effect.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15The hair will simply fall back into its correct shape.
0:18:15 > 0:18:19Another advantage is that, however the hair is styled, the client has
0:18:19 > 0:18:23only to brush it through for it to immediately revert to the original.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Now, the style that this girl has is...
0:18:36 > 0:18:39Oh, so sorry, sir!
0:18:44 > 0:18:47Sometimes it takes two to create a style.
0:19:03 > 0:19:08Well, she seems to like it. A fine style for a party, anyway.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11And a party is what the girls are wigging up for.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Each of these wigs take more than eight hours to cut,
0:19:20 > 0:19:24over a period of two to three days, before perfection is reached.
0:19:24 > 0:19:28Each will cost from £100 to £140.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52For a swinging party, some swinging hairdos.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06# You make me dizzy, Miss Lizzy
0:20:06 > 0:20:09# When you call my name
0:20:09 > 0:20:12# Whoa, baby, yeah
0:20:12 > 0:20:16# Say you're driving me insane... #
0:20:16 > 0:20:19# I can tell because it's plain to see
0:20:22 > 0:20:26# Yeah, I can tell the way you look at me
0:20:29 > 0:20:32# The way, you know, you hold my hand
0:20:35 > 0:20:39# Yes, pretty baby, I can understand
0:20:42 > 0:20:45# I can tell, I can tell
0:20:45 > 0:20:49# I know you don't love me no more... #
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Shoulders back.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Get a swing in it. Keep the smile going.
0:20:59 > 0:21:01That's it.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04Oh, well, it's a hell of a life being a model girl,
0:21:04 > 0:21:06but it has its points.
0:21:06 > 0:21:09There must be about 1,000 of them in London alone.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25You know, anyone who thinks modelling is all glamour, or that the catwalk
0:21:25 > 0:21:30is a shortcut to a rich marriage, had better forget it and stick to typing.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33For one thing, the rich aren't what they used to be, are they?
0:21:33 > 0:21:36The fact is that the life of the model girl is in some ways
0:21:36 > 0:21:41like that of a primitive savage, rough, tough, and usually short.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43No union hours for the model girl.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45For her, it's any time, anywhere.
0:21:45 > 0:21:51Tired or not, she'll be expected to smile and smile and smile.
0:21:51 > 0:21:56It's no wonder that most girls want to get that model look.
0:21:56 > 0:21:58HE WOLF WHISTLES
0:22:00 > 0:22:02Nearly every girl wants to be a model these days.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06But, in fact, only a few have the necessary equipment.
0:22:06 > 0:22:11For instance, unless a girl has hips 35 to 38,
0:22:11 > 0:22:16waist 23 to 26, bust 33 to 37, and height 5'6" to 5'9",
0:22:16 > 0:22:21she may as well save her time, money and tears.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24Responsible modelling schools will only accept girls
0:22:24 > 0:22:26they think have the basic qualities to success.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31Lift up. And down.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35Now I want you to bounce from side to side.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37And right, and left...
0:22:37 > 0:22:40To scores of girls who aren't blessed with the right statistics,
0:22:40 > 0:22:42the model school classes are like a finishing school.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Though they may never make the grade as models,
0:22:45 > 0:22:50they come just the same to develop the flair and get the with-it style.
0:22:50 > 0:22:52And stretch.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54And push. And out.
0:22:54 > 0:22:58The ones who do succeed can really get jet propelled.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01£50-odd a day in London is bottle tops compared with what
0:23:01 > 0:23:03a girl can earn in the international model set.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Into the dressing room, on with the war-paint and into battle.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13One more big show for the cash customers.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16Some of the shows are so elaborate these days
0:23:16 > 0:23:20that they need days of rehearsing, almost like a floor show.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Shortcut to the altar, don't make a girl laugh,
0:23:25 > 0:23:27it might spoil the make-up.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Oh, well, the cheque's good-looking anyway.
0:23:44 > 0:23:49They say London swings, it doesn't. Not even the King's Road, Chelsea.
0:23:50 > 0:23:54But here and there among the conformist, fat-cat crowds
0:23:54 > 0:23:57is a lean cat or two, looking like it might swing,
0:23:57 > 0:23:59given some encouragement.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07And in among the chain stores and supermarkets is,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09here and there, a shop
0:24:09 > 0:24:12that may have something all its own to say.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15To the character who can send up a mass production car,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20to people who can put living before a living.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23World's End means where the King's Road ends,
0:24:23 > 0:24:27which shows what the King's Roaders think of themselves.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29Granny Takes A Trip, the shop behind the face calls itself,
0:24:29 > 0:24:32and it's typical of the non-typical,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35conforming to the nonconformist image of the in.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38What they used to call "way out", and before that "with it",
0:24:38 > 0:24:41and before that "groovy", and before that "hep",
0:24:41 > 0:24:43and what Granny herself would have called,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45"The very latest thing, my dear."
0:24:52 > 0:24:56In this King's Road that London is lumbered with, stands, just,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59a collation known as The Antiques Supermarket,
0:24:59 > 0:25:01and antiques can mean clothes.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06This lady's time machine is headed for the flapper world of the '20s,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10doubtless a trip many a time traveller would love to take.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13One way of saying no to authority is to parody it.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Some of the young with little to say yes to
0:25:16 > 0:25:20come to Soho, that pulsating heart of swinging London,
0:25:20 > 0:25:22where girls join clubs to see old men strip...
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Or is it vice versa?
0:25:25 > 0:25:28..and at the cutely named I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet
0:25:28 > 0:25:33buy uniforms of the past to affront the uniformity of the present.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51In Carnaby Street, you can't tell the assistants from the customers.
0:25:51 > 0:25:52Anybody addressed as "Madam"
0:25:52 > 0:25:55would probably sue for defamation of character.
0:26:04 > 0:26:06John Stephen, these are his shops,
0:26:06 > 0:26:09is the uncrowned king of Carnaby Street.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12Many of his business rivals would dearly like to see him crowned.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21The return of the dicky,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25for the man who can't afford a clean shirt but won't admit it.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36How about spats? Ideal camouflage for the larger foot.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Once upon a time, just a year or two ago, to be precise,
0:26:39 > 0:26:43fashion originated in the haute couture salons of Paris,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47then spread downwards through society in ever-cheapening copies
0:26:47 > 0:26:50with one predominant theme.
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Shops such as this would have interpreted the mode,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54but no more.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57Now, they originate, and so do a dozen others, in a dozen styles,
0:26:57 > 0:27:00owing nothing to Paris or anyone else.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18What gear the cats are wearing is one story,
0:27:18 > 0:27:20where they wear it is another.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32But whether here at Tiles, or here at the Bag O Nails,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35or at Samantha's, or George's, or the Cellar Room,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38or any of the in gaffs where THEY go,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41just don't take any of it too seriously
0:27:41 > 0:27:43or you'll miss the whole point.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd