Fashion

[mima]

I'm 60 and I also walked about 1 mile to school.  I honestly don't remember walking to grade school but I walked to school 7th and 8th grade.  I would stop at my cousins house on the way and they would finish the walk with me since they had to walk to school also.  I had to worry a lot about being late because they couldn't leave for school until the breakfast dishes were done.  I thought their parents were abusive!  LOL

If it was bitter cold, my dad would take me to school.  Most of the time I walked.

Edit:  We couldn't wear pants to school either until HS.  In HS they couldn't be jeans.  I wore corduroy pants.

[gmkb]

Yes, I only wore dresses to school.  In the winter months I had to wear leggings, which were heavy wool pants held up by suspenders.  I rebelled against these at about age 12/13 and was permitted to wear slacks with my dress in winter.  Both the leggings and slacks were removed once we got to school. 

I was was never permitted to own jeans.  I bought my first pair at about age 35.

[maestra]

uphill both ways in New England winters. I remember my mom consoling me that she couldnt give me a ride since she didnt trust the brakes on our old car.

[Carmie]

 I wore a uniform. In order to get to school, I had to walk down a flight of 104 stairs down hill.  My town had many of these hills and several sets of steps. In the wintertime, the steps were full of snow and sometimes they were slippery from being packed down by people who walked before me.  I used to hold on to the handrail and while my feet slipped to the next step.  It was even worse walking up,

i always had had a nice wool winter coat with leggings and hat to match, so I wasn't too cold, except for my feet.   Backing then, winter boots were made of rubber and you just pulled them on over your shoes.  They were good for rain, but did nothing in the wintertime to keep your feet warm,  Snow would also go down in the boots unless your leggings were tucked in.  I think I looked like Ralphie's brother, Randy in the Christmas Story movie.  I was really bundled up.

As I grew older, I just wore knee high stockings and my legs were bright red when I got to school.  Tights weren't invented yet.  FInally, long stockings made from a wool like fabric were made and I would wear a garter belt to hold them up, just like my mother's silk hose.  I felt so grown up wearing those.

In HS mini skirts were in.  So were maxi coats.  My mother would not buy me a maxi coat.  She said they would sweep the street and get dirty, so I froze my legs off.  

Pants were never allowed to be worn to school and boys had to wear dress pants and a collared shirt,,,,, even in the public schools.

[tototwo]

@maestra - uphill both ways?  surely at some point you'd have to go downhill. 

[CatsyCline]

yes, all through the 60s and early 70s we were forced to wear dresses to school . i walked to/from school .   i think i had one pair of leotards "tights" and they were all pilled and yukky and then we had those Danskin outfits for summer. they were matching striped sleevess tops and solid shorts made out of that hot nylon jersey. in the winter i would wear the shorts under the skirt and wear the top as an undershirt.

one year we had a ton of snow and it was super cold. i think it was 1969 i was in 6th grade. it was bitterly cold and my mother let me wear pants to school.  i was afraid i would be sent home but it was so cold, none of the teachers mentioned it.

i'm sure i had white and brown twill striped hiphugger pants like the Monkees wore in 1968 . they were boy's pants and my frieinds wore them too, but only on weekends, not to school.    i think it was 1971 when all the girls wore jeans to school to protest the "Dress" code.

[lulu2]

I always wore a school uniform.  We hated when we had to wear snow pants under them.  We thought only babies wore them.  The invention of tights was a god send.  Back then, they were heavier and when they ripped, they were sewn.  The worst was when we had to wear ankle socks over our tights.

[151949]

My long trudges to school in HS prepared me for later in life when I would have to ride the bus to work or later when I drove - I had to park off site and ride a shuttle. I would only have on thin scrub pants so I always bought a full length down coat from lands End to keep my legs warm.

[chrystaltree]

At 56, I make a consious effort NOT to tell stories about "when I was kid".  It just makes me sound like I am 100 years old...lol   And we tend to exaggerate without realizing it.  I don't want to be put in that "old lady" box.   However....we had to wear skirts and dresses to school and we walked to our neighborhood school.  When it was really cold or snowy, we wore pants or snow pants under our dresses and slipped out of them in the coat room.  Tights were always tights, they still are in my world.  Leggings were the footless or stirrup tights that we wore to dance class.  I never walked to class in a foot or two of snow...lol   Even in my childhood they had meteorogists and we got snow days...lol   

[maestra]

@tototwo  -yep, you caught me,lol.