A couple weeks ago, I wrote about fads from my childhood. I described my memories of Beatlemania: the anti-war and flower-children movement with the beads and bell-bottom pants worn as a style trend for gals and guys. Also, part of my writing was my recollections of the 1960’s super model Twiggy’s ultra-thin, boyish-looks and mini-skirt fashion influence on girls and young women.
Looking back, I recall the struggles we young gals had wearing mini-skirts. We would never go out of the house without wearing hose or nylons in those days. Keep in mind that there was no such thing as pantyhose then. We tall girls wore our very short skirts in those days with the tops of our stockings showing, which, by the way, were held up with very plain attachments that dangled from matronly-looking garter belts. Once we got to school, we were sent to the principal’s office or to see the counselor who admonished us for dressing out of code. What did we do then? We unrolled our skirts that we had bunched-up at our waistbands and pull them down so our hems landed exactly three inches above our knees. At that point, we were sent back to our classrooms with instructions from the powers-that-be to keep our skirt lengths “where they belong.” Most of us would comply for a few days, roll up our skirts again and keep our eyes peeled for unapproving tale-tale teachers. Parents weren’t called to rat us out, instead, the schools did their best to handle things through administration. It usually worked.
After the mini days, we went through midi and maxi fashion trends which, looking back now, were pretty unappealing. From there, my mind goes blank and I fast-forward to the disco-days–– made very popular by the John Travolta movie, Saturday Night Fever and music by the Bee Gees and Donna Summer. Fellas wore shiny, polyester shirts, sported chains and bellbottoms (now skintight) were still the pants of choice. Women wore short or medium length flowy/sparkly outfits that glittered under the mirrored disco balls.
Next week, I will relay my memories of Madonna’s influence, Valley Girl fashion/slang and the newest… VSCO girls.
