Fashion on the Ration: Style in the Second World War - Softcover

I would not have thought a book could make me nostalgic for rationing, but Julie Summers has managed it. A marvellous read. (Julian Fellowes 2015-01-15)

Stirring tales of how women beautified on a budget during the Second World War (Mail on Sunday You Magazine 2015-03-01)

A charming read ... and a rebuttal of the notion that fashion is a sideshow to the real business of life; a women only zone. (Anna Murphy Times 2015-03-07)

A fantastic book (Independent 2015-02-28)

A well-researched history (Saga 2015-03-01)

Anyone tempted to look back in envy for life as portrayed in such sepia-tinted soaps as Foyle's War should read Fashion On The Ration ... every page makes one increasingly grateful for modern comforts, and clothes in particular. Few histories capture so simply yet vividly the monotony and grind of ordinary life for the British at home, when patriotism and fear were leavened, daily, by the increasingly irritating restrictions on what people could wear ... a riveting social history of the kind that looks narrow, yet encompasses every individual - infants as well as the elderly - who had to endure these years ... Fashion may look like a trivial subject but, as Summers shows, it goes to the heart of people's confidence and mood. Given the sartorial hardship Britain was obliged to endure, our enduring chuzpah - and victory - seem all the more remarkable (Rosemary Goring Herald)

A fascinating roadmap for all lovers of fashion (Jo Elvin Glamour)

[Full of] glorious details ... This book is a testament to the courage shown on the home front in a war where every button mattered. It is also a reproof to those of us with bulging wardrobes who complain that we don't have a thing to wear (Daisy Goodwin Mail on Sunday)

Wonderful ... Summers handles her source material confidently and colourfully (Louise Carpenter Daily Telegraph)