Style City

One of Britain's greatest cultural achievements of the late 20th century was the establishment of British designer fashion. Robert O'Byrne explores this phenomenon from the mid-'70s, when designer fashion scarcely existed in Britain, to the new millennium, by which time London ranked alongside Paris, New York, and Milan as a world-class fashion capital. The book describes and illustrates all the key players and influences of British fashion in the period: not only the designers but also the music, the clubs, the parties, the amazing dressing-up tradition, and London itself. The language of fashion is visual, and this sumptuous book reflects that with evocative photographs by Norman Parkinson, David Bailey, Patrick Lichfield, Barry Lategan, and others, including iconic images such as the young Princess of Wales, Katherine Hamnett at 10 Downing Street wearing her "60 percent don't want Pershing" T-shirt, Margaret Thatcher in Aquascutum, and other rare shots from the designers' own archives.