Keeping Up Appearances

Drawing on a range of original sources, this history vividly records the experiences of clothes selection during the interwar years, revealing the importance of dress codes to both men and women whether at home, work, or at leisure





The British have always been concerned about accent, appearance, and class, but at no time during the twentieth century was "keeping up appearances" more important than during the 1920s and 1930s. From the impecunious youth anxious to create a favorable impression at the local tennis club dance to female office workers advised by the Daily Mail that women in business kept "their position partly, if not chiefly, by appearance," this history peers into the intimate lives and anxieties of the middle classes as they dressed to impress. Seemingly insignificant items such as ties, gloves, and hats, could convey a lack of breeding if worn incorrectly. This engagingly written and illustrated book explores the social mores behind one of society's most popular activities, and reveals not only how people dressed but why.