Jonathan Walford

This book came as a pleasant surprise: I was expecting the archetypal coffee-table book, all shiny pictures and little substance, but what I got was shiny pictures AND a fascinating documentary upon the fashion scene in the nineteen-sixties. I was particularly pleased that it did not just take a view of fashion from a date towards the end of the sixties and play to our amusement at the wacky styles that were about. The book starts at the very beginning of the decade and shows clearly the way the well known sixties look came into being.

I lived through the sixties, and was young enough not to have been offered any of the mind altering 'experiences' which lead to the famous quote, "If you can remember the sixties, you weren't there." This book certainly seems to cover the fashion world through this period pretty faithfully. There were many short lived styles that I had completely forgotten but, which this book puts into context. I have no knowledge of, or real interest in the fashion business; for me, this book is an interesting piece of social history but, I would imagine that it would be invaluable to anyone looking at the history of fashion and, as I said of myself, great for anybody just keen to understand more about a crucial period in our history.… (mere)