To their wartime fans, Gert and Daisy were two charladies in grubby macs and Wellingtons.

But when the lights dimmed and the sisters trudged off stage, actresses Elsie and Doris Waters liked to present an image a far cry from their stage personas.

Fans who knocked on their front door in Steyning were often taken aback to find them dressed up to the nines in clothes made by the country's foremost royal couturier.

Now art historian Jane Hattrick has lifted the lid on the double act's double life and tells how the music hall stars were desperate to keep up appearances.

Jane, 40, who has just graduated from Brighton University with first class honours in art history, spent months researching the way the sisters used dress to cross class barriers - employing Norman Hartnell, dressmaker to the Royal Family, to design their wardrobe in the Fifties.

She said: "They were very much part of Steyning for years. They had this very high-profile image in the village and they were always seen around wearing very smart clothing.

"But they came from the East End of London. They weren't born into it but they became posh ladies by wearing couture clothing. They created their identities as these smart, stylish ladies."

The result of Jane's research is a display of photographs of their original dresses and memorabilia which form part of a new exhibition at Steyning Museum.

As Cockney duo Gert and Daisy, the pair became hugely popular for more than 25 years.

In 1927, they made their debut on the radio and became overnight stars, something the family was used to as their brother was Jack Warner, who played George Dixon of Dock Green.

During the 1940s and 1950s they were the top female double act in radio and variety and developed a new style of comedy by just chatting away to each other about their own lives, friend and neighbours and the world in general.

Neither sister married, and they lived together in Steyning until they died - Doris, aged 74, in 1978 and Elsie, aged 95, in 1990.

Doris was quoted in newspapers two years before her death as saying: "Some people think we really are like Gert and Daisy. We are not - we wear very nice clothes.

"Old Normie Hartnell has made our dresses for 29 years."

Jane said: "They used to dress to become frightfully posh ladies in real life, and then they had their working class characters on stage.

"People used to think they really were Gert and Daisy, and it was important to them that people knew they weren't, which is why they associated with Norman Hartnell."

Jane, a trained dancer and singer, first came across a collection of Elsie and Doris' dresses when she was a volunteer helper at Brighton Museum.

She said: "Their fame bought them wealth, which in turn they were able to spend on a Bentley and a lovely house in Steyning, so their clothes became a sign of their respectability."

Jill Kemp, Steyning Museum's publicity officer, said: "Our exhibition provides a view of the famous pair which may well surprise and fascinate the public.

"These were ladies who, in spite of their music hall image of grubby macs and handbags, were in fact wedded to haute couture - and were really known to have answered the door wearing Norman Hartnell and Wellingtons."

Gert and Daisy - Hartnell and Wellington Boots, can be seen at Steyning Museum until the end of September. Call 01903 813333 for more details.