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The Jeff Banks uniform range, 1990

A mix-and-match uniform range by the fashion designer Jeff Banks, launched in 1990 and first shown on the BBC's Clothes Show.

In 1990 Guiding launched a new “mix and match” uniform range designed by the fashion designer Jeff Banks, who volunteered his services. Girlguiding says the design also drew on a nationwide competition and a consultation involving more than 10,000 units, and that the uniform made its debut in a catwalk presentation on the BBC’s Clothes Show.[3] An enthusiast’s history dates the launch to September 1990.[1] In 2025 Girlguiding brought back some of the Brownie and Guide pieces as a limited adult casual-wear range. According to an enthusiast’s history, the 1990 range covered Brownies, Guides, Rangers and adult leaders, while Rainbows kept their tabards; we have not yet confirmed this from Girlguiding’s own records.

Mix and match

The range replaced a single set uniform with pieces members could combine. The garment details below come mainly from an enthusiast’s history and an archive teaching resource, and there is some doubt about them until they are checked against the 1990–91 uniform catalogues. For Brownies, that meant yellow and brown T-shirts, polo shirts and sweatshirts with brown culottes or joggers, plus a sash to carry badges. Norfolk’s archive notes that the “mix and match” style gave Brownies more choice.[2] Guides wore navy and blue, including a denim shirt. Unconfirmed The colour names (“Guide blue”, “aquamarine”) are especially doubtful: they come from a single secondary source.

The Norfolk archive’s history of Brownie uniform adds some context. It says a leisure-wear option (a yellow T-shirt and hat, and shorts for the first time) had already been introduced in the 1980s for camps. Of the 1990 range it says that “Girls could choose how modest they wanted their uniform to be, allowing for increased religious and personal inclusivity”, and that the mix-and-match style drew on American Girl Scout uniforms.[5] The archive gives no source for these points.

Reactions were mixed: some felt the new look was not smart enough; others welcomed how practical it was.[1]

More than a list of garments

  • Fashion. Why hire a fashion designer, and what did that say about how the movement wanted to be seen?
  • Branding. How did the range fit into a wider change of image?
  • Affordability. Did the new items cost more or less than the old, and who paid?
  • Identity. How did girls feel wearing it, and did they wear all of it? Older uniforms stayed in use: see the Brownie uniform of c. 1989–1991.

Interpretation Uniform always carries social meaning as well as practical purpose.[4]

Object story

What is it, who made it, and when?
A 'mix and match' range designed by Jeff Banks and launched in September 1990. The following details come from secondary sources and have not yet been checked against catalogues. Brownies had yellow and brown T-shirts, polo shirts and sweatshirts with brown culottes or joggers, a sash for badges, a cap, belt and necker. Guides had navy and blue tops, including a denim shirt, with navy trousers, joggers or culottes. Rangers and Young Leaders wore navy with aquamarine touches. Adults had their own wider range. Rainbows kept their tabards.
What did official rules say?
Not yet checked: the uniform lists and Policy, Organisation and Rules of 1990–91 have not been seen. According to the Norfolk archive, the range let girls choose how modest they wanted their uniform to be.
What larger story can it tell, and what can it not prove?
The range shows the movement choosing choice and practicality over formality. It cannot show how many members bought the full range, or what it cost them.
Where is it held, what is its accession number, and what are the reuse terms?
This page describes a range, not one object. Girlguiding Norfolk Archive Resource Centre has published a photograph of Brownie garments from it, with no accession number; the image is licensed CC BY-NC-SA.

Still open: Who owned or used it? · What signs of use, alteration or repair remain? If you can answer any of these, please tell us.

Sources

  1. Leslie's Guiding History, “Guiding Uniform – Everyone loved the 1990s new look, no?”, 2024-02-11. Accessed 25 September 2026. Enthusiast history; a lead, to be confirmed against 1990–91 uniform catalogues.
  2. Girlguiding Norfolk Archive Resource Centre (via MyLearning), “Brownie Uniforms Designed by Jeff Banks”, MyLearning. Accessed 25 September 2026.
  3. Girlguiding, “Girlguiding brings back iconic 90s uniform in celebration of the girl power era”, Girlguiding (press release), 2025. Accessed 25 September 2026.
  4. Tammy M. Proctor, “(Uni)Forming Youth: Girl Guides and Boy Scouts in Britain, 1908–39”, History Workshop Journal 45, no. 1, 1998, pp. 103–134.
  5. Girlguiding Norfolk Archive Resource Centre (via MyLearning), “Followers of Fashion: the Brownie Uniform, Promise and Promise Badge”, Girl Guides: Aspects of a Fascinating History, MyLearning. Accessed 25 October 2026. A county archive's teaching resource; it does not cite the rules editions behind its dates.