WATCH: Derbyshire fashionista shows off her ‘time capsule wardrobe’ with clothes from the 1930s to the 70s

Louise Gather, 37, has gone through a style evolution - swapping dungarees for a-line dresses, capes for cords, and pin curls for psychedelic sweaters.

Louise, a wedding celebrant, said: “People just used to dress up a lot more in certain eras. A lot of older people tell me they wish they had the courage to dress like I do. But I want to say to them 'you could still'.

“I never wear casual clothes really - I’m all about cords, not jeans, when I dress down. Even when I’m not really dressy, it reminds people that there was an era where people used to be dressed up all the time.”

Louise, who lives in Derby, was first inspired to wear vintage outfits after she joined a 1930/40s style band in 2019. They used to perform at V-Day parties, retro events and pensioners’ 90th birthdays.

She began scouring charity shops, reproductive vintage stores and Vinted for wartime clothing. “I was all tea dresses and victory rolls at that time,” she said. “It came from singing in a vintage trio. I loved the music so much, it made me want to start dressing in that style.”

But when the pandemic hit, and the trio was forced to disband, Louise was stuck on what to wear. Throughout lockdown, she got into ‘Mad Men’ and ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ - both shows set in the 1950s. The glamour of the decade inspired Louise to fill her wardrobe with capes, dinner suits, satin and a-line dresses.

In summer 2021, Louise went to a salon and got her hair dyed bright orange and the change prompted her to throw out all her 1950s clothing and evolve her style once again.

“In the last couple of years, it’s all been about the 1960s and 1970s,” she said. “I feel like that colour palette of psychedelic pi nks, yellows and greens didn’t match my old hair.

“My fifties wardrobe no longer suited me having orange hair - so I sold a load of stuff. Now, I love finding authentic 1960s and 1970s stuff - I do loads of shopping in vintage shops and Vinted. If I sat down and thought about how much I’ve spent on clothes over the years - I’d probably need a word with myself.”