The Fashion City and the Suburb: How Bentalls of Kingston Upon Thames Helped Rebuild Cultures of Fashionable Consumption in London after the Second World War

Abstract

The Second World War disrupted the usual networks and geographies of London fashion, changing the way fashion was made and sold in the city. Taking Bentalls department store in Kingston Upon Thames as a case study, this article explores how this disruption created new opportunities for suburban shops to challenge the West End’s supremacy as they key site for London fashion retail in the immediate postwar era. It explores how Bentalls pioneered innovative retail methodologies that satisfied consumers’ desire for individuality and plenty at a time of austerity, and played an important role in developing retail methodologies for selling to the newly emerging teenage consumer. This article argues that Bentalls, through its innovative publicity, store design and display, contributed to rebuilding London’s postwar fashion cultures in a way that demonstrates the need to incorporate London’s suburbs into future histories of the fashion city.