# How we dressed back in the day.



## GAlady (Aug 28, 2021)

I was 10 years old in 1956 and could have been one of the girls on the back row.


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## horseless carriage (Aug 28, 2021)

London's Portobello Market 1948. Wartime rationing still existed but not ice cream.
Many years later I had a copy of my father's suit made. I still wear it.


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## Aunt Bea (Aug 28, 2021)

I remember lots of ric-rac, too much ric-rac!

I was much more comfortable when we moved into the old worn jeans, t-shirts and flannel shirts.

We went from the excitement of getting new school clothes in grade school to happily wearing old worn out clothes in high school.

I have no idea what it’s like for kids these days.


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## MrPants (Aug 28, 2021)




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## senior chef (Aug 28, 2021)




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## fmdog44 (Aug 28, 2021)

I watch TCM a lot and the hairstyles and hats women wore in the 40's can only be considered bizarre and comical.


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## horseless carriage (Aug 28, 2021)

fmdog44 said:


> I watch TCM a lot and the hairstyles and hats women wore in the 40's can only be considered bizarre and comical.



Comical? I find that the fashions worn then had a timeless elegance.


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## fuzzybuddy (Aug 28, 2021)

Never mind the dress, but the hairstyles. In the early 70s, I had a friend, who had hair like Mary, of Pete, Paul & Mary. She was forever ironing her hair.


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## hollydolly (Aug 28, 2021)

They say it was a decade that fashion forgot, but I disagree entirely.. I was a teen in the 70's, and wore hot pants.. as well as mini skirts.. platform shoes , and then later in the 70's maxi dresses and coats...and high knee boots with 5 inch heels


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## fuzzybuddy (Sep 1, 2021)

What gets me is how dated the clothes look, now. I don't know how the trends got started, but within a couple of years, we were all wearing 'em. Then three years later, we wouldn't be caught dead wearing 'em.
I just wonder, who the guy was that started the frayed knees on jeans look. It amazes me how we all want to look "cool".


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## SmoothSeas (Sep 1, 2021)

That's my grandma on the left, scowl and all...



​


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## CinnamonSugar (Sep 1, 2021)

My disco dress from the late 70's that I made myself.  (Pic was taken about 10 years ago for Halloween party at work)


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## jerry old (Sep 1, 2021)

Nehur shirts


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## jujube (Sep 1, 2021)

Mini skirts in the '70's, worn with chunky platform shoes so you looked like a long-stemmed flower planted in a pot.

Have to pick something up off the floor?  Knees bent to the side, legs pressed together, back straight, absolutely no bending over.  Then when you got down there, you had to get back up gracefully.  

Hot pants.  Oh, please say it wasn't so.....  It was.


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## PamfromTx (Sep 1, 2021)

1960s, elementary school ~ not sure of the grade. Yep, we wore those cottony dresses ~ starched.


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## PamfromTx (Sep 1, 2021)

I'm in the front row with the boots.   High school 1970s.   LOL!!!   Lawd, what a getup... what was I thinking?!?   The poncho is killing me.


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## Ruth n Jersey (Sep 1, 2021)

My mom made all my school clothes in the 50s. She was a great sewer but back then the patterns were different than clothes bought in the store and I wasn't happy wearing some of them. 
The worse part was standing on a chair which seemed like hours as she hemmed my dresses. Sometimes I had to put it on inside out so she could adjust the pins before sewing.
This photo was taken when I was 10 in my Easter dress she made. I did like this one.
I sure wish she was here today so I could thank her for the hours she spent on my dresses. Back then it was just a pain.


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## CinnamonSugar (Sep 2, 2021)

Boy, @Ruth n Jersey, do I ever empathize!!  My mom also made all my clothes… some were more of a success than others.   Then (bless her) she taught me to sew. That sewing machine hated me!   And the three dreaded words…”Rip it out!” when darts puckered or a seam didn't lay right.


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## Shero (Sep 2, 2021)

Organdie that itched. My favourite was voile, so soft and cool.


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## Ken N Tx (Sep 2, 2021)

1950's


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## Fyrefox (Sep 2, 2021)

Well, we won’t talk about _leisure suits _in the 1970’s!  I worked part-time in a clothing store then, and customers would come in and ask if leisure suits were going to be a lasting fashion.  They were even supposed to replace jackets and ties for men…_Hah!  

_


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## Manatee (Sep 12, 2021)

Back then shorts were "little boy pants".   In 1960 we vacationed in Bermuda and I was introduced to Bermuda shorts.

Now I wear them for half the year.


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## WheatenLover (Sep 12, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


> I remember lots of ric-rac, too much ric-rac!
> 
> I was much more comfortable when we moved into the old worn jeans, t-shirts and flannel shirts.
> 
> ...


I was in 10th grade before girls could wear pants to school. I liked jeans, too. A lot of the girls still wore relatively fancy dresses. The jeans-wearing girls were part of the hippie/pot smoking group, which was made up of about 10% of the kids. I was not in the hippy/pot group ... some of my friends were, though.

At first, when the rule changed, my mother bought me a wardrobe of pastel (Easter) colored pants with matching tops that pulled in those (to me) hideous Easter colors. And my daughter thinks the 70s retro look is really cool ... until I described some of the clothes we wore. Elephant bell-bottoms, lime green background with big daisies splashed all over the fabric, with matching top, anyone?


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## dobielvr (Sep 12, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> View attachment 181592I'm in the front row with the boots. High school 1970s. LOL!!! Lawd, what a getup... what was I thinking?!? The poncho is killing me.


LOL...I still have my poncho from high school in my closet.  I wore it a lot in 10th grade.  Love that thing.

Love your boots Pam!


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## WheatenLover (Sep 12, 2021)

hollydolly said:


> They say it was a decade that fashion forgot, but I disagree entirely.. I was a teen in the 70's, and wore hot pants.. as well as mini skirts.. platform shoes , and then later in the 70's maxi dresses and coats...and high knee boots with 5 inch heels


I wore clothes like that, too. My favorite was a burgundy and winter white herringbone midi skirt that fit like the pencil skirts of today. I couldn't believe my mother bought me hot pants and mini skirts, so I kept my big mouth shut. That was totally out of character for her. The hot pants had dresses or long tunics or something that went over them so we could wear them to school.
My homeroom teacher in junior high used to make the girls kneel on the floor so he could make sure our clothes were not too short to meet the dress code. Mine all passed muster, exactly.


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## WheatenLover (Sep 12, 2021)

fuzzybuddy said:


> What gets me is how dated the clothes look, now. I don't know how the trends got started, but within a couple of years, we were all wearing 'em. Then three years later, we wouldn't be caught dead wearing 'em.
> I just wonder, who the guy was that started the frayed knees on jeans look. It amazes me how we all want to look "cool".


Frayed? Now jeans have big holes. I told my daughter the companies are saving money by turning the fabric from the holes into pockets.


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## WheatenLover (Sep 12, 2021)

Fyrefox said:


> Well, we won’t talk about _leisure suits _in the 1970’s!  I worked part-time in a clothing store then, and customers would come in and ask if leisure suits were going to be a lasting fashion.  They were even supposed to replace jackets and ties for men…_Hah!
> 
> View attachment 181644_


My boss always wore leisure suits to work. He had a whitish one that had some kind of beige swirls all over it. I asked him what the suit was made of, and he said it was his rat's ass suit.

So my mom, who worked in a scientific research section of the medical school, got some actual rat tails from one of her scientist friends, and wrapped them up real pretty in a long box that must have once held a necklace or something. She inter-office mailed this present, clearly labeled to go with his rats ass suit, to him. Everyone loved it. Med school people have weird senses of humor.

PS The poor rats were already dead from the science stuff when their tails were cut off to play this practical joke.


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## Lawrence (Sep 12, 2021)

When I went to see friends my favorite was leather shoes, socks, blue jeans, white t shirt and a crew cut to help stay cool in those hot Iowa summers. At home, we lived outside town limits, so I would wear next to nothing there just baggy colored shorts. For school we had the dress code shoes, slacks and shirt.


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## jujube (Sep 12, 2021)

Girls wearing pants to school?  Never happened at my school. Also, no wrap-around skirts or cullottes, either. God forbid!

We didn't even wear jeans to class in college and I was at a large state university.  Dresses and skirts for the ladies, please.


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## Pappy (Sep 12, 2021)

In the 50s I wore mostly Levi’s, with my belt buckle turned to my hip, a nice button down shirt, pink was popular then, white buck shoes and a Fonzi black leather jacket. I would have been right at home in Happy Days..


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## Pinky (Sep 12, 2021)

'67 .. flower-patterns and colour mixes like green/pink paisley:


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## Sassycakes (Sep 12, 2021)

In my teen years, I loved wearing mini skirts. I never liked jeans so when I wore pants they had to be tight. I went to a Catholic school and the nuns would make you kneel down and your uniform bottom had to touch the floor. What the nuns never knew was that when we got a block away from the school we would hike up our uniforms and then they would be short


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## Lewkat (Sep 12, 2021)

SmoothSeas said:


> That's my grandma on the left, scowl and all...
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 181512​


Looks more like the 1930s.


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## Butterfly (Sep 12, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


> I remember lots of ric-rac, too much ric-rac!
> 
> I was much more comfortable when we moved into the old worn jeans, t-shirts and flannel shirts.
> 
> ...



My mother used ric-rac to cover the old hem wear line when she had to let down our dresses.  You could tell how many times a dress had been let out by the number of lines of ric-rac.  I haven't thought about ric-rac in years and years.


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## oldpop (Sep 12, 2021)

In my early teen years it was Boone's Farm Apple Wine T shirts, brown corduroy pants and dessert boots.


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## PamfromTx (Sep 13, 2021)

Did anyone wear these plastic, vinyl or whatever coats?   I had one in my Senior year.  Strange coat.


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## Pinky (Sep 13, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> Did anyone wear these plastic, vinyl or whatever coats?   I had one in my Senior year.  Strange coat.   View attachment 183671


I had one in madras .. it made me perspire.


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## PamfromTx (Sep 13, 2021)

I am in the back row; 5th from the right.   Uggh, that coat.


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## PamfromTx (Sep 13, 2021)

dobielvr said:


> LOL...I still have my poncho from high school in my closet.  I wore it a lot in 10th grade.  Love that thing.
> 
> Love your boots Pam!


If I ever see a poncho, I'll send you one.  lol


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## Pinky (Sep 13, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> View attachment 183673
> 
> I am in the back row; 5th from the right.   Uggh, that coat.


Wow, you had big classes!
The coat is cute


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## PamfromTx (Sep 13, 2021)

Pinky said:


> Wow, you had big classes!
> The coat is cute


That was the Spanish Club.


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## Pinky (Sep 13, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> That was the Spanish Club.


aaaah, I wondered why so many students


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## Remy (Sep 13, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> View attachment 181592I'm in the front row with the boots.   High school 1970s.   LOL!!!   Lawd, what a getup... what was I thinking?!?   The poncho is killing me.


You looked cool. Embrace it.


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## feywon (Sep 13, 2021)

PamfromTx said:


> View attachment 181592I'm in the front row with the boots.   High school 1970s.   LOL!!!   Lawd, what a getup... what was I thinking?!?   The poncho is killing me.


And to think in 1963  i got detention for jeans under my.knee length skirt to walk about 1.5 to 2 miles on a very cold winter day. Headed straight for girls restroom 20 ft inside, took of the pants, and walked out to a male teacher who'd had in for me for year. I did the time. But Mom called the school and said she didn't want hear any nonsense about how much i was out sick if i wasn't allowed to dress for the weather.  (I had a crappy immune system, caught any respiratory thing i got exposed to as it was.)


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## oldiebutgoody (Sep 13, 2021)

SmoothSeas said:


> That's my grandma on the left, scowl and all...
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 181512​





In Brooklyn we called those types neighborhood  "yentas".


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## win231 (Sep 13, 2021)

senior chef said:


> View attachment 180874


Groovy.


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