Fall-o-ween ~ Day 5

Groan.  Today's topic is clothes.  Fall clothes.  Back to school clothes.

Not the trendy stuff that kids shop for now, the topic is what we wore then... when we were young.  And easily led.  Gullible.  Dare I say it... a little dumb?

Anything to be cool, right?

 
Bell bottoms.  Really, really wide leg bell bottoms.  Hip huggers ~ almost as low as Britney's.  Levi 501s... actually, those were a lot of fun, especially if they were really broken in, super soft and worn at the edges.  Chukka boots.  Waffle Stompers.  "Railroad jeans" turned into skirts.  Prairie shirts and dresses.

Brownie uniforms.  Girl Scout uniforms.  Do you remember when it was exciting to be able to wear pantyhose?  Do you remember when girls couldn't wear pants to school?  It seems like a million years ago.  It probably was a million years ago. 

Can I be really honest here?  I didn't like "back to school" shopping for clothes.  That was for the cute, little petite girls who wore boots and size 3 bell-bottoms.  Not for tall, dorky girls who couldn't find pants or sleeves that were long enough.  While I did benefit a little bit from the "wear boy's jeans" trend that has thankfully disappeared, it wasn't enough to make clothes shopping any more fun.  If it wasn't from the Junior Department, it just wasn't happening.

And did I mention that we were living in Venezuela for some of my "formative years"? 

 
The Versaces had nothing on the Nelsons when it came to fashion!

Actually, this isn't too bad.  It doesn't come close to the horror that was the bright yellow ski jacket that I just had to have when I was in 8th grade.  Or the blue and white "granny dress" I couldn't live without in 7th grade.  Or the awfulness of wearing a dress with bell-bottom pants underneath.  That was high school.  Is it any wonder I'm not married?  But just so you don't think that all of my fashion choices were horrible ones ~ please don't forget that I was "of age" in the 1970s, the whole decade can be described as one big, long fashion mistake ~ I did have a really cute red wool jumper that buttoned all the way down the front.  It was short and when I wore it with a white shirt (yeah, like that's a shock), nylons or black tights and high-heeled shoes... well, I was a pretty cool girl.  For a dorky, tall girl, of course.   

Did I mention that I also wore ~ wear ~ size 11 shoes?  Zappos wasn't around then so when I was looking for "cute shoes", the only place to shop was in the city ~ San Francisco ~ at a shop that had more old-lady shoes than anything else.  And "professional shoes" for nurses and one of the "older" lines of work.  If that wasn't bad enough, don't you just know that not everyone buying ladies shoes in those sizes had two x-chromosomes.  It was San Francisco. 

All this probably explains why I now shop the way I do.  If I find something I really like, something that fits me reasonably well, I buy multiples.  And yes, that includes lots of white shirts.  I like white shirts.  I always have.  Carolina Herrera and Rod Stewart are my fashion icons because both of them are on record as stating that a person can never have enough white shirts.

I'll bet that Terry had all sorts of very cute back-to-school outfits so make sure you head over to see what great project she's conjured up for you, and don't forget to leave a comment!  You could win a terrific prize!

And Sandy.  She's still the coolest, trendiest girl around.  Same with Gudrun.  And Heather... she even knits cool stuff.  Add Kari, Linda, Roseann, Terri, and Pat and I'm back in familiar territory.

I'm still the tall dorky one.   

At least now my pants are long enough. 

 

Comments

[Rose Hunter]

Clothes from my era would be poodle skirts, saddle oxfords, circle pins - you get the point, I'm old!

[Stacey]

super cute! i liked postal pants when i was in high school

[Rosanne Derrett]

I'm in the same fashion era and I am soooo with you as I am another tall dorky one. In the UK until very recently (last 5 years) pants that were really long enough were a very rare species. I'm 6' have a 35" inside leg so jeans that are long enough are extremely hard to find. Even now, to get them in the right size, the right length and that fit around the waist is impossible. Well 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

PS - Hubby is another tall dorky one at 6' 5"!

[Sandy]

When very young (elementary school)there was no input from me on my cloths and I was just happy that my mother was not a freak and got me off the wall stuff. Then when I could chose we moved to Puerto Rico where they used uniforms so I STILL couldn't chose! I did get to chose my jeans and I remember wearing alot of Ditto Jeans that were so tight I could barely sit without destroying a kidney! lol. Then I moved into Jordache jeans (also too tight to breath in). Now, if i could spend my day in yoga pants I am blessed!

[Brandie]

This sounds just like the stories my Mother in law tells me about her shopping youth. She wears a size 11 shoes and is like 5'10. Glad there are more choies these days for everyone.

[Donna]

Completely understand. I was short, chubby, with naturally curly-not the style-hair. My mother's sewing machine did a lot of altering as well as made great knockoffs in my size. My mom was super!

[Karin]

My favorite thing to wear is a white blouse. I would wear one every day if I could.

[Anita]

My time was when Brigitte Bardot was a great star. So I had pink/white dresses with a petticoat.

[Wendy]

Those styles were the coolest!! I remember walking the excess length off my pants rather than hemming them. Sewing trim up the outside seam or around the bottom of the pants legs. Fringe leather belts! How cool we were LOL!

[Angie]

Cute, cute post! I can remember some 'horror' clothes of my own. :D

[Sue Bennett]

Mine were bell bottom pants that were really PLAID. OH MY

[Shawntel Parker]

Great, great clothes stories! I grew up in the 70's--early teen in late 70's so I definitely remember the horror of the "not so fashionable" fashions. I was unlucky enough to have a mother who gave me NO input whatsoever in what I wore and she happened to LOVE pink and lace...me...NOT so much. YUCK. Today, no lace and not much pink gets into my wardrobe--imagine that. HAHA! Thanks so much for your blog!

[Mama Spark]

I'm with you on the whole shopping experience. When I find something that fits that I like I buy multiples too!

[Jocelyn]

Oh wow Carrie, pantyhose and granny dresses! Yep that was my era too. And I LOVE white blouses, tank tops, shirts.......whew, it goes with everything :-) YAY!!

[Darlene B]

It's funny thinking about clothes we wore back in elementary school. I remember wearing skirts with shorts underneath in warm weather (to be modest) and with pants underneath in the winter (which had to be taken off once we got to school or back inside from recess). I think pants were finally allowed when I was in high school, but blue jeans weren't allowed until my junior or senior year. Times sure have changed! I still remember the plaid pants I wore in junior high - ugh!

[rebecca]

Bell bottoms and hip-huggers were all that when I was younger. Certainly not now!!

[shellie]

Leather then Neon... miniskirts and leg warmers... then the Madonna look. High hair and boots. Funny though it is coming back.
Fall and school shopping... fun.
Love fall

[Anya]

Oh yes, I remember....

[Cindy Carlson]

Back to school clothes? Hmmmm....

Have to admit, I loved when Mom took us "back to school" shopping.

My own kids - as they grew up - I made all their "back to school" clothes so I'm sure it couldn't have been as exciting.

Happy Fall.

[Winona]

I hated back to school shopping too, but because I was always too short for everything I bought. Everything had to be hemmed/shortened. Back then, I hated hand work. I have come a long way. (grin) Winona

[CaraQuilts]

Being the same height now as I was at 13 I can relate to having some trouble getting sizes, and it never happened in the kids section!

[Lynda M]

What a fun topic. I enjoyed it! I have pictures very close to those. Thanks for sharing! Will be back to visit. Love fall shopping.
Lyn

[Kathie L]

Great stories about your growing up clothes. Pictures of me in pedal pushers led me to avoid capris until just a year or two ago. Kathie L in Allentown

[Sinta]

I'm with you on the white shirts and a good pair of broken in jeans! We grew up in a "special" time of clothing evolution! Remind me to tell you sometime about how I worked in a Disco! That picture of John T always brings back memories!hehe

[Claire]

I have short legs and a long body, petites are too short and regular pants have to be taken up by at least 2 inches. As a child I was not allowed to wear pants, so I'm not complaining, at least now I can wear pants. I too love white shirt, they give everything a crisp fresh look.

[Cheryl Miller]

Recently took a blogoholic quiz. They asked if I had a blog crush. Here is my confession. It is you. I envy your flare and panache with the written word. I bet you got straight A's in essay writing while wearing those bell bottoms under your dress! Yet another enjoyable blog to read!

[Cheryl Miller]

And, Happy Birthday. Love people born in Oct. Psst! I was born in Oct.

[Misty]

I'm tall and dorky too. I feel your pain.

[Pauline]

Those were the good old days. Yes I remember no jeans allowed in school.

[www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawlc1o9EZpIS6duoQEXBIgyH30SKyxGCHgE]

Wow, I can so relate to your experience (other than living abroad). It's why I learned to sew, to make clothes that fit. The shoe thing still is a problem! I loved your whimsy.

[Gwendie]

I stopped growing at age 10 (I'm 5'3") so in my middle school years my feet reached full size - 5 1/2. They were so embarrassingly short! Till the day he died at 89, my father asked how I could walk on them. I remember telling the shoe store person when I was 12 that a size 7 actually fit. Oh the things we do for fashion! Actually, I'm going out for new clothes in a few days and really really want the old hippie look I wore in the '60's - all flowy and flowery. I still like those.

[Nicole]

I have always loved fashion, but it has taken many years to find my true style. When I was 13, I used my babysitting money to buy a pair of gold lame' ankle boots. I think I have gotten better as far as taste goes...

[Mary]

I was a tall girl growing up in the 60's and 70's and there was no such thing as tall sizes then. Pants were a nightmare, not that we could wear pants to school until I was in Jr. High, but you get my drift? That's most likely the reason I learned to sew...it was the only way I could get pants long enough!

[Janet]

Oh, how times have changed. Yes, I walked to school with pants under my skirt in the winter time. Kids have it so much easier now days and so do we. I was a dork too. lol

[Mary Ann]

I did grow up in the era when girls couldn't wear pants to school, even my first 2 yrs ocf college. Imagine Milwaukee in the middle of winter walking to class in a skirt..and long coats weren't in yet either.

[Lovie Ball]

I can relate: at 6foot and wear size 10 shoes. I was lucky enough that my mom sewed our clothes, so most of mine fit. The styles today make me laugh. My great nieces saw a photo of me in hiphuggers and scarf/bandana shirt and were impressed at my fashionable attire, and couldn't beleive the mini-skirt my sister (their Granny)had on.
They could not have been happier when I pass along a box of old earrings. I knew if I held on to those big dangly earrings they would come back in style. Just wish I could still fit in my clothes from back then. But hey - I still fit into my earring from high school

[Rhonda Perez]

I was so ready to get rid of the 70's clothes

[robin]

I remember an especially lovely (?!?) pair of red, white, and blue plaid bellbottom pants that I adored! Wonder where those pants are now . . .

[Patrcia L.]

I remember mini skirts. Sitting down in a desk and not having any skirt hardly to sit on so your legs stuck to the desk because there was no air conditioning in school or at home for that matter!
My birthday is Monday so add mine to the list of this month's year older and better crowd.
Love to win the rulers!

[AnnieO]

I was also the tall dorky girl, skinny and with braces. Any wonder I never dated in school? And always high water pants when it was coolest to have pants that covered your wedge shoes. We must be pretty close to the same age because memory lane smacked me in the face reading this post! Luckily I can wear 9.5 or 10 shoes so I had more variety.

[Krist Van Os]

I so remember the large bell bottoms. I think we called them elephant pants. I bet there was a yard of fabric in each pant leg.

[Maria G]

Thanks for the stroll down fashion memory lane! The prairie skirts and ruffled shirts are especially close to my heart. And of course, the Farrah (may she rest in peace) hair, which was quite impossible to achieve for us Scandanavian types with abosolutely no natural wave whatsoever.

[Shelley C]

Sounds like we are from the same generation, but I loved school shopping...being the only girl with 5 brothers, I got new clothes both spring and fall. Not a ton like kids today, but a few well chosen outfits...I lived in bellbottoms and sweatshirts for a few years inthere. Bought a skirt one year and had people's jaws drop to the floor! haha.

[Dana]

Funny, I don't even want to tell you how much of that I related to.

[Francine A Warren]

I feel your pain, but for the complete opposite reason. I graduated high school in 76'. The first pair of pants I learned to sew were plazzo pants. low hung & legs wide enough to put an elephant into them. Unfortunatley we had to alter the pattern down as I was soooooo skinny, so the leggs were even more odd! Don't have that issue any longer, but cloths in the 70's were not fun. And I remember the year they let us wear pants to school- I mean girls- My Dad wouldn't let us unless they were dress pants! He burned the only pair of jeans- hand me downs from a brother-I owned back then. But I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I quilted a pair of very worn out jeans & years later my daughter actually wore them herself to school! They were so in!

[Our Busy Little Bunch]

My elementary days were neon colors and jelly shoes, and highschool was belly shirts and platform runners ~ I wonder what trends will reappear when my girls hit highschool!
ourbusylittlebunch(at)hotmail(dot)com

[Diane F]

Oh, this just make me think of school shoping. Not much choice in the matter. I wore a uniform to school.

[Little Bits and Pieces]

It funny how many of us really don't like shopping for clothes isn't? I was there for those bells the first time around and the 2nd time they came in fashion. I hope they don't make a 3rd time around - I'm too old for them now! :-)

[Kay]

I think we're from the same era & I shudder to think of some of the clothes I wore & thought were cool.

[Sandie ~call me crazy]

LOL, now that explains why I don't like to shop! My size 9's aren't much fun to shop for either. ;-)