A look into the worldof fashion introduces Dan Carrier to an unusual way of examining history

THIS is a book of firsts: an autobiography of a man who is a self-styled fashionista, it is all about trend setting.
And biographies as a rule are not wrapped around the threads the person who wrote the book was wearing – but broadcaster Robert Elms, of Albert Street, Camden Town, has written a history of his life based mainly on the clothes he wore.
It’s about the last 25 years of pop culture he watched develop and claims to have played a major role in nurturing.
For example he was a punk before it went all high street, as he puts it. He tells us he was a prime shaker behind the New Romantic movement and if it wasn’t for him, we’d never had been blessed with Spandau Ballet.