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1871 THE INVENTION OF JEANS
Who'd have thought that a pair of hard-wearing workman's trousers, developed by the tailor Jacob Davis and his business partner Levi Strauss for American labourers in the 1870s, would evolve into such a style phenomenon? Today 450 million pairs are sold each year in America alone. By 2015 the global jeans market is set to be worth more than Pounds 39 billion.
1901 THE FIRST MAC
Today a belted trench is the chicest way to negotiate that treacherous fashion territory between seasons, but the garment was originally used by the British Army as a heavy raincoat for soldiers. One of the earliest designs was Burberry's, submitted to the War Office in 1901. Variations on the theme have been worn ever since, and Burberry is now one of the world's biggest luxury brands, with an annual turnover of Pounds 1.5 billion.
1915 THE END OF CORSETING
The Broadway actress Violet Romer is credited with wearing the first 'flapper' dress, a loose shift cut above the knee. A world away from the corseted silhouette and long skirts of the Edwardians, it was greeted with outrage but eventually came to define the look of the 1920s.
1926 THE FIRST LBD
Clever Coco Chanel. Understanding that what every woman's wardrobe needed was a classic working staple, she created what would later become known as the little black dress, or LBD. The sleek black number with pleats was featured in American Vogue, whose editors described it as 'Chanel's Ford' - a reference to the universal appeal of Henry Ford's Model T car design - and predicted that the LBD would become 'uniform for all women of taste'.
1947 THE NEW LOOK
'It's quite a revelation, dear Christian,' pronounced Carmel Snow, the editor of Harper's Bazaar. 'Your dresses have such a new look.' After the hard war years Dior anticipated an appetite among women for a wardrobe more luxurious and feminine. The French couturier's 'flower women' with their tiny waists and voluminous skirts defined an idealised image of womanhood for the decade to come.
1965 THE RISE OF THE MINISKIRT
Many lay claim to the miniskirt. There is some argument whether the French futurist designer Andre Courreges or Mary Quant was responsible. For patriotism's sake...