All language subtitles for BBC.Britain.on.Film.Dedicated.Followers.of.Fashion.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother,

arrives at the Royal Opera House
in Covent Garden

for a royal performance.

But this is not at all
what you might expect.

It's not opera, it's not ballet,
it's not even on the stage,

it's a fashion show,
the first ever to be held here -

a show designed to present what
Britain's top dress designers

can offer the women of the world.

But in such a setting, it's hard to
keep ballet out altogether.

Each of these dancers is
a ballet character

and each wears a costume to
represent a fashion accessory...

..shoes and stockings,

silks and leathers,
knitwear, gloves and jewellery,

furs and hats -
there's no fashion extra left out.

Among the dancers is Firebird.

She wears a foundation garment

made by one of Britain's biggest
corset firms.

A foundation is designed
mainly on the model

and hand moulded to ensure that it
fits in all the right places.

Belts and brassieres are
a substantial fashion export today.

They are mass produced in the
factory when a design is completed.

Controlling the feminine form has
become big business,

a business that is now
highly mechanised,

starting with the cutting machine
which cuts out 100 pieces at a time.

The sections of the belt are sewn
together at top speed.

The suspenders and ornamental
stitching are put on

in one operation.

The zips are sewn in

and in about 20 minutes
it's ready to wear.

It can be a long
job from the original design

to the finished dress,
especially if the garment is

made by hand in the salon of a top
designer such as Norman Hartnell.

A dress for a fashion show is
modelled from the start

on the mannequin who will
wear it at the show

and the designer is there with
the fitter as the dress takes shape.

The top designers naturally
cater for the individual woman

with the big dress allowance

but Britain's largest chain of
fashion stores

produces millions of clothes of
every kind, mostly for the other end

of the buying public, in Britain
and more than 20 other countries.

Today, they export thousands of
brassieres as well as outer garments

to Italy, France, Switzerland
and many other parts of Europe.

Britain's mass production of
fashion is establishing

a reputation on the continent
for good workmanship and value.

But before you can sell fashions in
any quantity to a country

such as France, herself
the acknowledged home of fashion,

you must show the French buyers,
usually on their own ground,

what you have to sell.

These model girls are off to Paris
in the spring

to show the combined wares of 28
firms who form an export group,

The Fashion House Group Of London,
to buyers from all parts of Europe,

the Commonwealth and the
United States.

Since it was formed in 1959,
The Fashion House Group Of London,

which specialises in ready-to-wear
clothes, has steadily boosted

its export figures, which now amount
to more than £5 million a year.

Today, British fashion exports are
up to about £11 million.

They have more than
doubled in the last few years.

In this factory of one
of the group's members,

thousands of dresses are produced
for women of other countries

each year as well as for
women at home.

Today, the world is
full of imitations.

This girl, in a thousand-pound
ocelot coat,

is starting off a fashion show
with a difference.

Almost everything in it isn't
what it seems to be.

This coat, for instance,
isn't ocelot but dyed lamb,

while this one is made of
rayon-fur-fabric

and costs about £20.

Here's a Persian lamb coat
worth hundreds.

And here's a fur fabric copy,
selling for £35.

Even the bag
and shoes are not what they seem.

No crocodile ever wore those skins,
they are embossed leather.

Man-made fibres come in many guises,

like this warm-looking woollen
dress, which is really terylene.

Or this gay, cool, permanently
pleated cotton. That's terylene too.

Since the dawn of time,

women have been dressing themselves
up in the skins of animals.

They are still doing it today.

Of course, the cavewoman didn't
have this sort of look.

Nowadays, skins, particularly
of cattle, goats and pigs,

are made into leather of many
different kinds.

But most of the leather
used for clothes comes from sheep.

Mink, of course, is
the thing for a night at the opera.

Today, skins come
in colours to flatter the wearers.

No matter how big or
small you may be,

there's a skin somewhere to fit you.

At a show of ranch-bred mink and
chinchilla in the city of London,

furriers come from all over
the country to look and to buy.

Points are weighed up
carefully by the judges,

just like at a flower show,
before the award the prizes.

This is Canadian wild mink.

About 120 perfectly matched
skins will be needed

to make a full-length coat.

By the time it's ready to wear,

four people will have
worked on it for four weeks.

This makes an acceptable
present for any woman.

At £7,000, it's one of the most
expensive fur coats in the world.

Even today, very
few fur animals are bred on farms.

Most are trapped in the wild.

On the whole, there are
so many available

that trapping is no threat
to the species.

But Australia's koalas were
almost wiped out

to make fur gloves in the
early 1930s.

Polar bears almost died
out in Alaska,

until the United States
protected them by law.

But today, it's the spotted
members of the cat family,

such as the cheetah,
that are in most danger
from the fashion hunters.

Leopards are legally
protected in many parts of Africa,

but trappers still shoot or trap
50,000 of them illegally every year.

So the slaughter goes on.

One day we may find, unless we
really do something about it,

that these species will have
completely disappeared.

For 100 years or more, men have had
a horror of wearing anything

which might make them conspicuous.

Just look at the lengths
they go to in the city.

Even when the British male
dresses up for an occasion,

he restricts himself to toppers
and tails in sombre colours.

There is always, of course, the
pioneer who sets his own fashion.

But today,
there is a new spirit abroad.

Slowly but quite perceptively,

men's clothes are becoming
more individual.

Ideas which may have started
in Pall Mall

are taken up by
other sections of society.

Army service, holidays abroad, these
have given some men new ideas too.

And women have had quite a big say.

A trip to the seaside used to mean
a pair of old flannel bags

and a tennis shirt, but today you
have to have a special rig

if you don't want to be
a figure of fun on the pier.

Some fashions haven't changed a lot.

This London hat shop goes back
more than 200 years,

although the unsold merchandise in
the windows is definitely post-war.

Napoleon's war.

To get the fit exactly right,

they use a machine called
a conformitor.

At first glance, you might
imagine its function was to make

the header conform to the hat, but
in fact, it's the other way around.

The steel pins mould themselves to
every bump or depression in the

customer's cranium, then prick out a
record of their findings on a card.

More men than ever are paying
regular visits to the hairdresser's.

Half the barber shops in Britain
cater for men.

And they vary in style every
bit as much as the women's,

like this old, established
and dignified Mayfair salon,

or this hairdresser's
in Hounslow, Middlesex,

where you can have the same
sort of treatment women get.

And, of course, one or two purely
masculine things as well.

You can have your hair permanently
waved or straightened.

And while you're drying,
you can have a manicure.

Trimming eyebrows is all
part of the service.

Today, more and more people
are becoming colour conscious

to achieve an effect, and not
necessarily to hide grey hair.

This house, set in 20 acres
of Berkshire countryside,

is the house of Raymond, still
known as Mr Teasy-Weasy to millions.

With it, go a string of racehorses,
a London flat

and a villa in the South of France.

There is always room at the top,

and these youngsters know
it as they spend two years training

at the London College of Fashion,
run by the Greater London Council.

Always ready to encourage
up and comers,

Raymond is an honorary
governor of the college.

Among the hair set, wigs are
playing an ever-increasing role,

and the college lays special
emphasis on teaching the arts of

weaving, knotting and ventilating.

With wigs, of course, a woman can
speedily change her hairstyle

for the different
occasions of the day.

Rosalie Ashley shops in her
own hair -

friends in for coffee, and a fall
is added, placed on a headband

and worn like a hat.

A lunch date completes the move
from simplicity to sophistication.

Cocktails call for a change
of colour as well as style.

And with the ball scene,
on goes the kitchen stove.

But you may not be the centre of
attention if Raymond partners you.

He's got his false eyelashes on.

Another man who's been in the van
of this revolution is Vidal Sassoon.

Sassoon himself
works at tremendous speed,

and with an infectious enthusiasm

that animates everyone
who works with him.

He may change his styles
as he makes or follows

the fashions of the day,
but the basic cut does not change.

It is deceptively simple.

Until one realises that it can
take a new stylist

two whole years to learn.

One of the hallmarks is
the glowing health of the hair,

which can be largely due to
correct cutting.

The cut is always with the natural
growth of the hair.

Whether symmetrical or asymmetrical,

shape must always be a
basic principle.

When hair is properly cut,
say the experts, the owner could dip

her head in a bucket of water
without any ill effect.

The hair will simply fall
back into its correct shape.

Another advantage is that, however
the hair is styled, the client has

only to brush it through for it to
immediately revert to the original.

Now, the style that this
girl has is...

Oh, so sorry, sir!

Sometimes it takes two to
create a style.

Well, she seems to like it.
A fine style for a party, anyway.

And a party is what the
girls are wigging up for.

Each of these wigs take more
than eight hours to cut,

over a period of two to three days,
before perfection is reached.

Each will cost from £100 to £140.

For a swinging party,
some swinging hairdos.

# You make me dizzy, Miss Lizzy

# When you call my name

# Whoa, baby, yeah

# Say you're driving me insane... #

# I can tell because it's
plain to see

# Yeah, I can tell the way
you look at me

# The way, you know, you hold my hand

# Yes, pretty baby, I can understand

# I can tell, I can tell

# I know you don't love
me no more... #

Shoulders back.

Get a swing in it.
Keep the smile going.

That's it.

Oh, well, it's a hell of a life
being a model girl,

but it has its points.

There must be about 1,000 of them
in London alone.

You know, anyone who thinks modelling
is all glamour, or that the catwalk

is a shortcut to a rich marriage, had
better forget it and stick to typing.

For one thing, the rich aren't what
they used to be, are they?

The fact is that the life of the
model girl is in some ways

like that of a primitive savage,
rough, tough, and usually short.

No union hours for the model girl.

For her, it's any time, anywhere.

Tired or not, she'll be expected to
smile and smile and smile.

It's no wonder that most girls
want to get that model look.

HE WOLF WHISTLES

Nearly every girl wants to be
a model these days.

But, in fact, only a few have the
necessary equipment.

For instance, unless a girl
has hips 35 to 38,

waist 23 to 26, bust 33 to 37,
and height 5'6" to 5'9",

she may as well save her
time, money and tears.

Responsible modelling schools will
only accept girls

they think have the basic
qualities to success.

Lift up. And down.

Now I want you to
bounce from side to side.

And right, and left...

To scores of girls who aren't
blessed with the right statistics,

the model school classes
are like a finishing school.

Though they may never make
the grade as models,

they come just the same to develop
the flair and get the with-it style.

And stretch.

And push. And out.

The ones who do succeed can
really get jet propelled.

£50-odd a day in London is bottle
tops compared with what

a girl can earn
in the international model set.

Into the dressing room, on with the
war-paint and into battle.

One more big show for the
cash customers.

Some of the shows are so
elaborate these days

that they need days of rehearsing,
almost like a floor show.

Shortcut to the altar,
don't make a girl laugh,

it might spoil the make-up.

Oh, well, the cheque's
good-looking anyway.

They say London swings, it doesn't.
Not even the King's Road, Chelsea.

But here and there among the
conformist, fat-cat crowds

is a lean cat or two,
looking like it might swing,

given some encouragement.

And in among the chain stores
and supermarkets is,

here and there, a shop

that may have something all
its own to say.

To the character who can send up a
mass production car,

to people who
can put living before a living.

World's End means where the
King's Road ends,

which shows what the King's
Roaders think of themselves.

Granny Takes A Trip, the shop behind
the face calls itself,

and it's
typical of the non-typical,

conforming to the nonconformist
image of the in.

What they used to call "way out",
and before that "with it",

and before that
"groovy", and before that "hep",

and what Granny herself
would have called,

"The very latest thing, my dear."

In this King's Road that London is
lumbered with, stands, just,

a collation known as
The Antiques Supermarket,

and antiques can mean clothes.

This lady's time machine is headed
for the flapper world of the '20s,

doubtless a trip many a time
traveller would love to take.

One way of saying no to
authority is to parody it.

Some of the young
with little to say yes to

come to Soho, that pulsating heart
of swinging London,

where girls join
clubs to see old men strip...

Or is it vice versa?

..and at the cutely named
I Was Lord Kitchener's Valet

buy uniforms of the past to affront
the uniformity of the present.

In Carnaby Street, you can't tell
the assistants from the customers.

Anybody addressed as "Madam"

would probably sue for
defamation of character.

John Stephen, these are his shops,

is the uncrowned king of
Carnaby Street.

Many of his business rivals would
dearly like to see him crowned.

The return of the dicky,

for the man who can't afford a clean
shirt but won't admit it.

How about spats? Ideal camouflage
for the larger foot.

Once upon a time, just a year or
two ago, to be precise,

fashion originated in the haute
couture salons of Paris,

then spread downwards through
society in ever-cheapening copies

with one predominant theme.

Shops such as this would have
interpreted the mode,

but no more.

Now, they originate, and so do a
dozen others, in a dozen styles,

owing nothing to Paris
or anyone else.

What gear the cats are wearing
is one story,

where they wear it is another.

But whether here at Tiles,
or here at the Bag O Nails,

or at Samantha's,
or George's, or the Cellar Room,

or any of the in gaffs
where THEY go,

just don't take any of it
too seriously

or you'll miss the whole point.