Great British Fashion stamps, by Sølve Sundsbø – in pictures

At a quick glance, these images could be the shrunken-down pages of a fashion magazine. Great British Fashion stamps, which launch next week (15 May), are an attempt by Royal Mail to feature the best in postwar fashion – the clothes that have earned the UK its reputation as the creative leader in the industry. → Photograph: PR

They do a decent job of that, too – from Jean Muir’s fluid rust gown with its late 1970s matching turban → Photograph: PR

to Zandra Rhodes’ gold, pleated, flouncy love-in with 1980s fashion. → Photograph: PR

Claire Wilcox, senior curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, was heavily involved in the project, and all the outfits have their cultural relevance. But some are more recognisable than others. → Photograph: PR

The tartan mini kilt by Vivienne Westwood is memorable not for its design, but because it was the outfit Naomi Campbell was wearing when she famously took her platform-induced catwalk tumble in 1993. → Photograph: PR

You might not be aware that the ravenesque look above is from Alexander McQueen’s 2009 Horn Of Plenty collection, but if you have at least a passing interest in catwalk culture, you’d guess it was the melancholic yet beautiful work of the late designer. Witness the huge shoulders and the nipped-in waist of the silhouette that references 1950s haute couture. → Photograph: PR

What’s most striking about the stamps is that, despite the dramatic postures and the sense of movement, there are no models pictured. → Photograph: PR

That’s because they’ve been airbrushed out by fashion photographer Sølve Sundsbø who, after getting the models to embody the ideal silhouettes of the various fashion eras, digitally removed the clotheshorses. → Photograph: PR

The result is that there are no visible cheekbones to rival the Queen’s shadowy profile. → Photograph: PR

And as for which outfit the woman in the top left of each stamp might actually wear, surely it has to be the tailored Hardy Amies number from the 1940s? Photograph: PR