All Dressed Up

"All Dressed Up" - is an on-going project about the nostalgia movement in England, where dressing up in authentic clothes of 1940s, 1950s, 1960s - and participating in especially organized 'get-together' events, usually in the summer-time, is very much part of it. The immediate post-war period has a particular nostalgia for the English. As the country came out of a prolonged period of economic austerity - the country was challenged in how it adapted to its new world role: of not being a super-power any longer and where 'class' barriers were being broken down. In this environment a new self-awareness began to emerge - especially in the young post-war generation - who expressed themselves in clothes their parents would hate - drove motor-bikes (rockers), motor-scooters (mods) and British sports cars. Being eccentric and looking different was OK. From this, the country exploded into an age of new cultural expression in the 1960s - in fashion, music and the way of life - and exported it to the world. To a large extent it was also an age of innocence (pre the pill), of plentiful jobs, of optimism and looking forward. It was a time though, when the British saw things in black and white - winters were grey and uninviting - and imagery, both photographic and TV, was also in black and white. To break out from this clothes and fashion became ever more colourful and music ever-more creative. This on-going series is a kind of homage to those times and the people who now recreate it so enthusiastically. I attempt to 'create' images as if they were actually taken in the 50's or 60's and therefore I've tried to ensure that the subjects and their background surroundings are as authentic as possible to the era.