This post doesn’t really focus on a specific designer, as much as it focuses on fashion and the photographs taken for the Woolmark company from 1937 to 1987.

Back in 1937, Woolmark, then known as the International Wool Secretariat was established to research and promote wool. Over the course of the next 50 years they established a massive archive of black and white images, and press releases that capture both the fashion of the time and the style of fashion photography.

In the late 1980’s when Woolmark moved to a new headquarters, the entire collection was donated to the London College of Fashion and has now been released on the VADS website. Most of the images are directly from the International Wool Secretariat, but some represent the German, France, and United States offices as well which reflect the international scope of The Woolmark Company.

The collection holds a curated balance of both men’s and women’s wear, and each image contains information about the designer and the year it was taken. There are over 2000 digital images currently available. The entire collection can be found here at the VDS website. If you are a fashion designer, designer, illustrator, or artist that deals with period fashion, this collection is invaluable.

The images and metadata presented in the Woolmark archive are copyright of the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. They may be used for private research and study purposes only. Enquiries regarding reproduction should be sent to the address below but permission must also be sought from The Woolmark Company.