‘Dressed to Impress’ captures the vivid world of everyday fashion in the 1950s and 1960s

It’s hard to imagine just how precious a single physical photograph can be from our modern-day viewpoint of complete image saturation. In comparison, a found photograph contains so much – it’s a unique object that can so easily be torn from its context yet still be freighted with meaning.

That’s the premise behind The Anonymous Project, an archive started in 2017 by the filmmaker Lee Shulman. Inspired by his acquisition of a box of Kodachrome colour slides with no identifying information, Shulman set up The Anonymous Project to collect and catalogue the overlooked work of unknown anonymous photographers.

Over time, the collection has spawned print publications, including Mid-Century Memories, On the Road, The House, and collaborations with Omar Victor Diop and Martin Parr (Shulman also directed the recent documentary, I Am Martin Parr).

Dressed to Impress is the latest monograph to emerge from this rich archive. As the title suggests, the images within represent their subjects at their best, photographs that have been posed for, not swiftly snapped. As a result, the images show people dressed in their finest clothes, whether for a family event, formal occasion or to showcase a new job or outfit.

With most of the imagery dating from the 1950s and 1960s, and focused on the UK and USA, Dressed to Impress provides a valuable snapshot into the sartorial choices of a bygone age, away from the polished world of high fashion. What stands out is the evidence of joy and pride, as subjects put forward their best face, with colour, pattern and texture all faithfully vividly rendered by Kodachrome’s cutting edge film technology.

According to Shulman, the photographs ‘show a post-war society that wanted to celebrate life in all its facets. I am always amazed by the incredible colours and use of patterns and fabrics in what we mistakenly think of as a very monochrome period. Here, the clothes shout, “Look at me!” and “Life is fabulous.”’

Dressed to Impress: The Anonymous Project, Lee Shulman, Prestel, £40, PrestelPublishing.PenguinRandomHouse.de, Anonymous-Project.com, @the.anonymous.project