Fashion

Coco Chanel in Paris, 1929

Why we should remember…How Chanel No 5 revolutionised the beauty business. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Men marching with bagpipes wearing tartan kilts

General History

Q&AWhen did the Scots start wearing tartan – and what did it mean?

A drawing of a Georgian woman in a wide dress and a towering wig

How to survive in the Georgian court. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Stitching together the history of fabric. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Picture of a 19th-century bloomer costume

Q&AWhen did women start wearing trousers?

Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby in season six of 'Peaky Blinders'

Peaky Blinders: The story so far, plus the real figures to expect in season 6

18th century French caricature satirising the fashion for enormous wigs

Q&ADid Rococo wigs really have mice?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

First World War

10 surprising facts about First World War uniforms

7 weird and wonderful Georgian beauty treatments

Portraits, power and royal wigs. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Young woman gets hair cut in to a bob

A brief history of changing hairstyles

Dark side of fashion: a 1910 portrait of a woman wearing a hat adorned with ostrich plumes and a stuffed bird. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, owning hats like this was a sign of status for many women. (Photo by ullstein bild/ullstein bild via Getty Images)

A hatful of horror: the Victorian headwear craze that led to mass slaughter

Why do brides wear white dresses? Plus the history behind 3 more wedding traditions

Coco Chanel photographed in Paris, c1936

Chanel and the Riviera. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Portrait of Madam CJ Walker, America's first female millionaire. (Photo courtesy of Madam Walker Family Archives/A'Lelia Bundles)

Self Made: the real story of Madam CJ Walker, America’s first black female millionaire

Henrietta Boyle

Fashion history: dressing to impress in the 17th century

Ballerina Margot Fonteyn in a tutu

Q&AWho invented the tutu?

A dinner scene from Downton Abbey, with large candlesticks on the table

Could you survive an Edwardian dinner party?

A real Peaky Blinder mug-shot

In pictures: what did the real Peaky Blinders look like?

A 1954 illustration of a woman wearing nylons. Lightweight, easy to conceal and fiercely sought after, stockings were a favourite with smugglers. (Photo by Bridgeman)

Nylon pirates: the postwar craze for cut-price stockings

Bearded Victorian man. (Photo by Getty Images)

A brief history of beards

Medieval bodies. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A series of images depicting Victorian women wearing crinolines, c1860. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Stitching the fashions of the 19th century: who dressed the 19th-century elite?

A brief history of camouflage

Photo of a couple holding up a fan

Q&AWhat signals were used in fan language?

19th-century men in traditional dress, Marken Island, Netherlands.

General ancient history

Q&AWhen were trousers first worn?

BBC History Magazine

Sexy shoes: 5 things our footwear has said about us through history

15 things you didn’t know about fashion in the First World War

Revealed: the secrets of the Tudor cross-dressers

Who's the best-dressed Briton in history?