Do a Ruby Keeler : The Boy Friend: Period Film and Retro Fashion in 1971

Small gem of an exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at the relationship between fashion and film with the trend for retro dressing in the 1960s and 70s.

I hadn’t known this show was on and got a lovely surprise to find costumes from “The Boyfriend” a film which I loved and which influenced my aesthetics at an early age. As well as the outfits designed and put together by Shirley Russell and archive material, the show included outfits by Barbara Hulanicki, Janice Wainwright and Ossie Clark which used the same ideas.

It also talked about the fashion for collecting retro clothes and accessories at the time and I realised I’d been doing that without realising it was fashionable. I had a small collection of items some of which I wore.

Closes 8 September 2024


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