Fashion

[fortune]

In high school (in the fifties), I wore a full skirt with crinolines, Spaulding saddle shoes, and Adler socks.  It was sooooooo important that you wore the "approved" name brands!

[laluzdelmundo]

Oh, do I have specific memories about my childhood clothing. Some good, some I will not dwell on here! (Hmmm...my childhood story told through clothing.)

A favorite memory comes from a back-to-school shopping trip one year that included travel to Portland (our BIG city) and the White Stag outlet. I needed new, larger sweaters and found exactly the perfect style: It was a pullover with a cute collar and came in 5 colors. I said this was the one but my mom said let's look around more. No! I only wanted this sweater and in the end, we drove back home with new blk/wht saddle shoes, 2 pleated skirts and my new favorite sweater in all 5 colors!  

[Foxxee]

Do I ever.  I always like stylish shoes for school, but I jumped rope and played hopscotch every day.  Always wearing out my soles.  I was about 8 or 9.

I didn't tell either parent why my soles were wearing out fearing I couldn't jump rope or play hopscotch anymore. 

My father blamed my mother for not buying shoes that wouldn't wear out.  So, he took the matter in his own hands.  Yep...he thought he knew better than my mother even though he never got involved in buying me clothes.

He drove me to someone's house who sold Buster Brown oxfords in his basement that was set up like a shoe store.  The girls looked exactly like the boys.  How did he know about this place?  I was horrified.

What could I do when he picked out those brown shoes?  Of course, I was afraid everyone would make fun of me.  

I wore the soles out on those in a short time, too.  

I just told my father a few years ago why my shoes were wearing out so fast and reminded him about buying those little boy shoes for a little girl.  We laughed about it, but it wasn't funny at the time.  

[I am still oxox]

I just remembered a "suit" Jacket and mini skirt had in 5th or 6th grade, it was a beige and with orange dots it was a  fabric, that looked like poor boy but it was cotton.

I wore it with an orange crinkle cotton button down and white go go boots, this was 1965 or 66 I think

It was one of my favorite outfits.  I can rememeber the skirt getting very short as I got taller, all 5 feet of me

[PINKdogWOOD]

There was a designer who did lovely dresses for littles girls named Kate Greenaway. I had a navy & white dress that I loved by this designer. It was a mini navy/white gingham checked that had a cumberbund-like waistband that was white flowers trimmed in the gingham. The secret with her designs were her pockets in the skirt portion that were hidden. I loved wearing this dress.

Who knew I was wearing designer clothes at such a young age - young like 5 or 6 yrs old!!!!  No wonder I had a great eye for style that I truly grew up with!!!!

[SunValley]

Someone mentioned earlier the fur stole older ladies wore to church. Do I remember those! Fox was the poor animal of choice. Everyone sat in pretty much the same pew every Sunday so I had to regularly look at many sets of foxy faces and beady eyes. They creeped me out but I could not stop looking at them because the eyes always seemed to follow me. I was about 7 or 8 then and terrified that one day in the future I would be required to wear black leather block heel "old lady" shoes and several foxes around my neck, as this seemed to be the required dress code. I asked my mom about my fashion future and she put my mind to rest. I have to laugh though as the fashionable shooties of today are just a variation of those long ago "old lady" dress shoes... 

[shoptilyadropagain]

The thing I remember most is Easter....new dress with matching or coordinating Hat, gloves, purse and patent leather shoes.  

I was very flat footed as a child and we had to go to a specialty store to get shoes with great arch support.  Of course, they wer all ugly styles but I remember a couple of my classmates having those shoes too so it didn't feel so bad then.

I also remember being in junior high school and Sears had a tweens brand called Lemon Frog.  For some reason my mom purchased a lot of that brand and I must have liked it.

[DancinQueen]

GREAT topic....First thing that came to mind was my parochial school uniform....navy blue gabardine jumper with white blouses.  Most of our moms ordered us 2 uniforms....one to wear while one was at the dry cleaners.  Over time, the "seat" on the uniform became shiny and we could practically see reflections in the back of the skirt!

Warm memory was my mom taking sewing lessons and the Y and getting a Sears sewing machine.  Made me a dance/gymnastic outfit for class.  Loved it.  Dark green with the skirt lined in lime green...sharp!  Hard to believe I baton twirled, danced and tumbled in the cotton "dress".  Thanks for spandex nowadays.

Babysat so much when I was in eighth grade, I bought myself my Easter suit, new hat, new purse.  Mom & Dad got the Easter patents for me.  Very impressed with myself.

This was fun...great to read all your stories, too.

[DancinQueen]

@SunValley   Lordy.....scary memories of watching the eyes on those Fox Stolls when I was in church.  Sometimes I convinced myself they were alive and watching me.  

[wilma]

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@rms1954 wrote:

I can recall almost all my clothing from my childhood.  I still have two sweaters my mother knitted.  Clothing was a huge source of contention with my mother and me.  She used it as a control thing. If there was a particular item I wanted, she would buy it can give it to my sister.  I loved clothing and shoes and still do.  I never got to choose what I wanted to wear, up until I was in high school and learned to sew my own clothing.  She hated everything I made for myself and told me I looked like a "sl--t" whenver I left for school.  

Sorry for going in another direction, but those are my memories.  

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@rms1954 

I’m sorry your mom treated you that way & said those things. I can’t imagine living through that. It was bad enough to have classmates make fun of my graduation dress. It is nice to make our own clothing choices!