This weekend marks the 25th anniversary of The Clothes Show Live, which is running until 10 December at NEC Birmingham. It's the biggest fashion and beauty exhibition in Europe, but for us it will always be a reminder of the iconic TV show we loved and lost: the BBC's original The Clothes Show.

Of course, The Clothes Show has had many incarnations. It popped up for a while on cable TV in 2006, and today it lives on as YouTube's Clothes Show TV. But the original, the best, the one that won our hearts, was the version that ran from 1986 to 2000 on BBC One. Here's why we loved it.

1. The Clothes Show covered street style before we realised ‘street style’ was a thing.

Hard to imagine now, but it was the first fashion-based TV show in the world, and in many ways it was groundbreaking. Just look at this special report on Bristol's hip hop style, in which Caryn Franklin interviews someone who calls himself Paul ‘Fila’ Rogers about his love for the Fila label (see what he did there?), and finds a group of teenagers who shun baggy jeans in favour of a 'smarter businessman look'.

Fashion history in action. (Side note: Franklin looks so cool in that headscarf.) 

2. The theme tune was amazing.

It was an instrumental version of In The Night by the Pet Shop Boys, who were the height of mid-eighties London cool (as this arty video demonstrates). The song is now so inextricably linked to fashion that it's since been used as a catwalk soundtrack by Gareth Pugh.

If we have one complaint it's that perhaps the BBC should have used the full song rather than the instrumental version. After all, the lyrics are amazing. The rhyming of 'Zazou, what you gonna do?' with 'Zazou, comment allez-vous?' is particularly inspired.

3. It was TV for people with short attention spans.

The Clothes Show was part of a new wave of snappily-edited magazine shows (also including The Word) that jumped around from one item to another. There were catwalk reports, interviews, style tips and fashion news – and if you were really struggling to keep up, there were onscreen captions summing up the headlines. At the time it felt fresh and young.

4. Caryn Franklin was fabulous, and is still fabulous.

From 1982 to 1988, Franklin was the fashion editor and co-editor of i-D magazine – a game-changing publication that looked to the streets to find previously unexplored styles and ideas.

She joined The Clothes Show shortly after it started and then took over from Selina Scott as one of the main presenters. To young viewers, it felt like she was the most in touch. She's still highly active and successful in the fashion industry today.

5. The show featured Leigh Bowery.

Bowery was an Australian performance artist and designer in 1980s London. He was painted several times by Lucien Freud and often appeared, usually masked, at London fashion events.

Bowery died at the age of 33, but not before making a delightful appearance on The Clothes Show. 'I'm a real fashion fan,' he said winningly.​ 

6. It made Sunday afternoons bearable.

On the endless Sunday afternoons of our childhood, we had The Clothes Show to look forward to (followed by the mindnumbingly tedious combination of Antiques Roadshow and Songs of Praise). Our idea of fashion at the time may have been Global Hypercolour T-shirts, but nevertheless we knew stylish TV when we saw it.

7. It didn't shy away from designer fashion.

Modern terrestrial television tends to stick with the most accessible areas of fashion: high street bargains and tips on dressing for your body shape (and FYI, a jazzy belt is not the answer to all wardrobe problems). But here was a programme that dealt with the whole spectrum of style.

'The Clothes Show was a breakthrough programme which cared about high-end fashion,' said Franklin recently. 'I interviewed everyone from Yves St Laurent to Georgio Armani to Lee [Alexander] McQueen. With Lee, I told the producers that he was going to be massive and that was why we would accommodate his request to be filmed in the dark for his interviews. He didn’t want to be on camera for the first three seasons. The show had extremes; it was about personal identity and exploring clothes from all angles.'

8. But at the other end of the spectrum, Jeff Banks brought style to the Girl Guides.

Banks created the show and presented it for 14 years, but he's first and foremost a designer, and was the co-founder of Warehouse. In 1990 he sent gentle shockwaves round middle England by redesigning the uniforms for Brownies and Girl Guides, giving them a choice of sweatshirts to wear (trust us, this was mildly controversial at the time). 

He left the show over a matter of principle – he felt the BBC were trying to dumb it down. He told an interviewer thatThe Clothes Show had 'always had an intelligent view. How does Paris work? How is linen made? But increasingly the BBC started wanting things that were inconsequential. What's the "in bag"? What's the "in belt"? And it hacked me off.'

10. And there was a whole cast of surprising guests.

Note Jools Holland's appearance 43 seconds into this clip, providing a teaser for an in-depth report on pinstripes. Ruby Wax and Joanna Lumley pop up a minute later. 

However much the modern version of The Clothes Show is thriving, for us it will never recapture the chaotic, inspiring appeal of those early days. The best the TV execs can do now is come up with a new fashion format that feels as refreshing, intelligent and current as this iconic show once did. And let's leave the waist-cinching belts out of it.