Museum of London tells the history of the rise of "wet-look" PVC fashion, as seen in this beautiful 1963 Mary Quant raincoat and sou'wester:

"In 1955, Mary Quant opened Bazaar, her first clothes shop on the King's Road in Chelsea. She believed that fashion should not exist just for the rich but for everyone, particularly the young. She gathered clothes together which she believed would be exciting for young people to wear.
Success of Bazaar."

"The shop was hugely successful. Within the first week of being open, it had taken five times more money than she expected. It was then that Quant decided that she would design and make her own clothes to sell in the shop. She was responsible for many original styles. These included the mini skirt, coloured tights and 'wet-look' PVC fashion, as seen in this 1963 raincoat."

Labels: rainwear history, vintage rainwear