Fashion Historian, James Laver, on male fashion, with models posing in costumes; 1967

Fashion Historian and writer, James Laver, speaks about men's and women's fashion. As he speaks, two male models each pose in historic costumes, one as a Dandy, and the other as an old fashioned Banker. Laver comments, "Ever since 1800, English tailoring has dominated the world. Beau Brummell started it all. And what people don't realise about Dandyism, is it's essentially a conspiracy against aristocracy. It says, 'all gentlemen are equal'. It seems to me, that our clothes are dictated to us by the deepest unconscious desires of the opposite sex. What do people want in a partner in life? Well, I'm afraid, throughout history, what men have wanted, has been sexual attractiveness on the part of their prospective partner. And that is why the erotic principle is always present in male, female dress. When we come to that crisis in human affairs, which is usually called, the French Revolution, and which is really the victory of plutocracy over aristocracy- since then, all men have dressed as Bankers, because that was the way to reassure the little woman that you were going to support her for the rest of her life. And it is precisely because that dominant, providing male idea is vanishing more and more, as the state takes over the functions that used to be exercised by the Father, and because women are earning their own livings, that they can begin to choose their partners in life, by their attractiveness as men. And if they do that, the erotic principle will transfer itself back to male dress, and may even overcall the clothes which women are allowed to wear." London, UK; 1967 (LDC5482S - AEVZ001J)