A WOMAN about town in the 1950s would most certainly wear the latest fashion footwear – a pair of steel tipped stilettos, made popular by Andre Perugia and Dior.

But she would also be forced to carry a pair of flats around, as the damage to the razor thin heels would create on wooden floors was so bad that many venues banned them.

Discover this and other fascinating facts from one of the most glamorous eras of fashion in a new exhibition curated by Epping Forest District Museum.

Dazzling dresses, ready-to-wear styles and outlandish Teddy Boy outfits have all been brought together for the first time as part of 1950s Fashion: A Decade of Glamour at The Time Machine galleries in Harlow.

The museum’s touring exhibitions assistant Vanessa Meade and her team spent two months creating the sartorial journey, after it received a grant of £143,000 from Arts Council England to put on a series of six touring exhibitions over the next two years.

Vanessa says: “The idea is to show the optimism, glamour and opulence of the decade. The ‘50s was when the fabric rationing from World War Two stopped and people were finally able to have a more flamboyant way of dressing and expressing themselves.“ Garments and accessories have been sourced from museums across the east of England including Chelmsford, Harlow and Ipswich and the exhibition has been designed to explore both the everyday and the extraordinary fashions of the decade and examine how the fashions of the stars were first created and then adapted to be worn by families.

Three outfits have also been especially created as interactive exhibits that people can touch and explore and a jukebox has also been built to play the top ten tunes of the decade to visitors.

Vanessa says: “So many people love the ‘50s, whether it be from watching Mad Men or they were alive then themselves. We hope this will catch the attention of a lot of people as we have brought together so many different pieces from so many different museums and they will not be seen together again.“ After the exhibition leaves Harlow it will tour the east of England, visiting Lowewood Museum in Hoddesdon first in the New Year.

l The Time Machine, Harlow Leisure Zone, Harlow, until January 6. Details: science-alive.co.uk