In this talk author and consumer social historian Lindy Woodhead explores a topic that arguably touches everyone’s lives - shopping. She looks at both the meteoric rise of the great 19th century department stores such as Selfridges and their liberating impact on women, as well as the seismic changes in fashion from the pre-war Edwardian era of lush to the suited and booted female war worker.

Speaker Lindy Woodhead set up her own Public Relations Agency in 1974, specialising in fashion and retail PR. Her latest book Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge was chosen by Radio Four to be their 'Book of the Week'.