It is a bold and often ostentatious choice, but historical dressing can be more than just a novelty means of self-expression. As with any clothes, they are a way of presenting ourselves to the world. And for some, that means wearing top hats, breeches, doublets, or Bakelite jewellery. Below, six period dressers explain their choices:

Zack MacLeod Pinsent, 25

Regency period



These are everyday clothes of the early 19th century. I never leave the house without a hat and I tend to walk around with a cane, too. A lot of what I wear at the moment is Regency style.

I’ve been dressing alternatively since I was 14 because modern fashion has never appealed to me. I wanted to look back to a time when things were of a higher quality and wear clothes that would make me stand out. I began wearing late-Victorian and Edwardian stuff bought in vintage shops in Brighton and it made me genuinely happy. I got into the Regency look because I was invited to a Regency ball in London and had nothing to wear. I tried to make something myself, but realised it was terrible since I couldn’t find the right fabrics, so I decided to research the history and develop my own skills.

The Regency period was the last hurrah of men’s fun with fashion, when people could be loud with colour and exuberant. The jackets, cravats, trousers – all of it is just wonderful to wear. It’s comfortable, too, and since I make it all myself, it makes me proud to have it on. It’s also a great ice-breaker.

My clothes take time and it’s all about learning to be slow, rather than buying into fast fashion, which is unethical and so removed from the production process. You are who you are and you have to get on with it; I feel very much at home in what I wear and how I wear it.

I haven’t really had any backlash – people have been very inquisitive and polite to me. I don’t see jeans in my future. If anything, I see something more extreme.

Nora Thoeng: ‘Dressing up brings so much joy into my life.’ Photograph: Nora Finds

Nora Thoeng, 32

1940s



My style is 1940s and 50s inspired. When I was in my early 20s, I was living in Australia and I started going to secondhand shops because I didn’t have much money. I realised I could buy all the princess dresses that I loved as a little girl cheaply; so I started with 1980s clothes and then worked my way back, before settling on the 40s as my style. It’s more comfortable for me and it’s very girly; when I cut my hair short, I didn’t want to look boyish, so these clothes are lovely and feminine.

When I dress, it makes me feel like myself. I’m in awe of people who look good in just a white T-shirt and jeans, but this style gives me that comfort. Dressing up brings so much joy into my life: sometimes, when I’m sad, I just want to wear colourful clothes because they cheer me up and make me want to go out.

In my experience, it’s rare to see people of colour in the vintage scene. I think it might be because we’re already minorities, so we don’t want to draw more attention to ourselves by virtue of the clothes we’re wearing. I grew up with being westernised as the goal, and vintage clothing from my culture highlights the fact that I’m different and, in the current political climate, perhaps sometimes we don’t want to be different.

The most important thing is that people wear clothes that are more sustainable and that they use them. Vintage clothes are made to last and it’s made me learn to sew because I have to take care of these clothes – they have survived 80 years and they can’t die in my care.

Joel Phelan: ‘It’s nice for individuals to express themselves in life.’ Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Joel Phelan, 44

1930s



My style is rooted in the 1930s. I always wear trousers with braces, made from a natural material such as cotton or linen, a collarless shirt, a bakerboy cap and leather shoes. I started off doing it because I’m a carpenter and I got a back injury about eight years ago, so there was a practical side to wearing high-waisted trousers with braces that took the pressure off my back and I really liked pairing them with the 30s style.

The way I dress led me into 30s culture. I started playing jazz saxophone and got into the dancing of the period, where the clothes really take on a new purpose. It’s nice for individuals to express themselves in life. I’m not trying to be anything I’m not, I just feel good dressing like this, and it gives other people a sense of who I am. It’s all positive.

I’ve always been interested in clothes; even when I was at school I had my own sewing machine and I would adapt clothes or paint them. People would give me a hard time because I was an eccentric, but I was determined to be the way I was and now, as an adult, it doesn’t bother me. People don’t have anything to say.

Dressing this way is the future – buying fewer clothes and adapting them. We need to value craft and pay someone for doing their job.

Kollyn Bailey: ‘I re-enact the civil war and I like the clothes, so I wear them every day.’ Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian

Kollyn Bailey

17th century



I dress in 17th-century clothes from the civil war period. I reenact the war and I like the clothes, so I wear them every day. A typical outfit would be a shirt, breeches, doublet, shoes and a hat. I make a lot of my clothes myself and some I buy from traders at re-enactment events. I read books on the patterns of the period and the methods of manufacture and do what I can.

Towards the end of the 90s, I was working at a historical property in Wolverhampton and a mate of mine joined a civil war re-enactment society. He persuaded me to come along. Initially, I would only wear the clothes at the re-enactments, but then they started to seep into my everyday wardrobe and, since 2005, I’ve been wearing them all the time. They’re comfortable and I like the style, so I wear it. It means I don’t have to worry about today’s trends. They do for me what any clothes do: provide warmth and avoid nakedness.

I’m self-employed as a guide to a National Trust property, which is in a 1930s modernist style, and some people can be a little thrown to have me there in 17th-century clothing to show them around. But most seem not to bother.

I don’t tend to get much backlash; some people might shout on the street that I look like Robin Hood, but they need to learn their history; Robin Hood was dead by 1200 and these clothes were current by 1640. Generally, people just say it looks like fun.

Emma Preston: ‘I’ve always lived with furniture and decorations from the 50s, too – it’s become my whole lifestyle.’ Photograph: Emma Preston

Emma Preston, 50

1950s



I wear clothes from the 1940s and 50s; a typical outfit would be a pair of 30s-style culottes with a little blouse, a 40s sweater and wide-legged pants, or a 50s Gypsy skirt. I’ve been into it since I was 14 years old: that was in the 80s when there were a lot of subcultures happening, from mods to punks. I used to look at the mod girls at school and thought they were fantastic – I wanted to be part of the crew. I started out with 60s clothes and moved back to the 50s as a young adult and have settled on it ever since.

I just think it’s so much more glamorous and classy – it makes me feel more special when I wear it, because modern clothing can look so tacky and bland. The clothing I wear is much more colourful and vibrant and I’ve always lived with furniture and decorations from that period, too – it’s become my whole lifestyle. We’ve redecorated our house to replicate the 50s style. I couldn’t live in a grey, modern design, I’d be so depressed. Living in the midst of all this colourful mid-20th-century design gives me so much pleasure. This is what I live in and what I wear because it makes me feel good. People say it makes me look younger, too!

Natasha Hall: ‘I could finally be Ginger Rogers.’ Photograph: Provided by Natasha Hall

Natasha Hall, 53 – 1950s



I collect clothes from the 1930s to the 50s. An everyday outfit would probably be a vintage picture- or border-print skirt with a Gypsy top and Bakelite jewellery.

My dad’s an actor and he was really into old movies, so when I was young, we would watch all the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals together on a Sunday. I always wanted to be Ginger Rogers and I always wanted to dance. When I was in my 20s, I discovered a place in central London where you can go lindy hop or jive dancing and, through going there, I met people who dressed this way and knew the places to get the original clothes. I could finally be Ginger Rogers.

That was in about 1996 and I’ve been dressing this way ever since. I wish I’d known it existed before that because I definitely would have started earlier.

I love this era of clothes – it’s colourful and you feel so good when you dance in it, especially with men in wide-legged trousers. It’s a far more glamorous era than the one we live in now; things can feel so scruffy with just T-shirts and jeans around. Wearing those clothes makes me feel as if I’m inhabiting a different time and they’re such exciting, unique pieces to own.

It is important to buy clothes that suit you and your shape, which also bring something distinctive to your day.