A theoretical investigation of the postbuckling response of thin, flat, rectangular, generally layered laminates with clamped edges, under uniform shear load is presented. The nonlinear Von Karman type governing equations are set up in terms of two unknown functions, namely a lateral deflection and a stress function, and they are solved by the Galerkin method. The effects of an extensive range of parameters, i.e. fibre orientation, lay-up, aspect ratio, number of layers, material properties, initial imperfection from flatness, and combinations of inplane loading on the response of the laminates are examined.