Demob Fashion: Out of Uniform and Into Civvies
Saturday 11 October
Unitarian Chapel
3.00pm
Eighty years after the end of the Second World War, the ‘demob suits’ issued to British servicemen have become iconic. As a token of official gratitude, veterans received not just a jacket and trousers, but the ‘full monty’ – a whole new wardrobe.
Susan Carruthers, author of Making Do: Britons and Refashioning of the Postwar World, revisits these postwar garments, placing them in the wider context of a worldwide textile famine.
Why did a debt-ridden government choose to compensate servicemen with garments? And why didn’t servicewomen receive something comparable? In austerity Britain, clothing wasn’t just a material necessity but a symbolic currency, in which some were rewarded at others’ expense.
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Tickets £10.00
includes refreshments
In association with
History Festival at a Glance
Sunday 28 September
Monday 29 September
Tuesday 30 September
Wednesday 1 October
Thursday 2 October
Friday 3 October
Saturday 4 October
Sunday 5 October
Warwick University Talks
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Guido van Meersbergen | The Making of an Imperial Icon: Richard Hakluyt and the Commemorative Culture of Empire ![]() |
Saturday 11 October |
Henry Clements and Katayoun Shafiee | The Middle East in Context: Energy, Palestine and the Historical Present ![]() |
Saturday 11 October |
Susan L. Carruthers | Demob Fashion: Out of Uniform and Into Civvies | Saturday 11 October |
Saturday 15 November
Friday 21 November