Senior year in high school, I was voted the best dressed in my home room class. I think it was a pity vote as I sure wasn't a lot of the other things.

I always wore loafers, a skirt and a sweater set in the winter. In the warmer weather, it was dresses or skirts and you-wear-it-you-iron-it tops. No such thing as knit tees or wash and wear, and we couldn't wear slacks or shorts.

I guess all it took to be well dressed was to be clean and ironed. Oh, and ALWAYS a string of fake pearls and a charm bracelet.

can you remember a particular outfit?

1985, 9th grade (HS Freshman), North Dakota

• Tight, tapered jeans with weird pockets

• White high heels with a peak-a-boo heel topped of by a bow

• Fluorescent pink lace bobby socks

• Fluorescent pink lace tank top

• Off-the-shoulder white sweatshirt (so lace tank would show), sleeves pushed up, with big flourescent pink lettering on the front that said: "Y NOT?"

• Fluorescent pink lace gauntlets (short, fingerless gloves)

• Fluorescent pink lace bow in my BIG hair

• Mismatched earrings, one of which was a giant cross in a circle

  Y Not? Let me count the ways!
  

  

  P.S. I never claimed to be an artist. Please don't ask what my left leg is doing bending at an impossible angle like that. I just wanted to show the back of those shoes...

Naw...they all looked the same. Just different colors. We were still getting over WWII and clothing and fashion took a back seat to producing other things. We all wore the same things. It was almost a uniform. The girls dressed the plain sweaters with jewelry. It was either penny loafers or dirty white saddle oxfords. I know the South was 'waaayy behind the style front. Heck, we were still suffering from the depression when WWII started. I did have some snazzy suits for church. I shocked the ladies at church by wearing HIGH heels when I was only 14. I think that's when they started praying for me. LOL I was headed for the gutter!!

I did have one favorite summer skirt. An aunt made it for me. It was red with white stripes going from the waist to the hem. The problem was that between the time that she started and finished, I had grown about two inches and it was too short. She added on a strip with the stripes going the other way. No one had a skirt any where like it and I got a lot of complements on it. i think I liked it because it was so different. I wore it with matching red blouses.

Think about it. Rayon and Nylon were the only synthetics. Rayon had to be dry cleaned and Nylon caused enough static electricity that no one could be sure what the clothes would do when you moved.

1962, January, 4:00 AM delivering the Des Moines Register.
nylon, orlon socks
cotton socks
wool socks (the grey with white and red toes that Mom made monkeys with)
tennis shoes laced loose
buckle up boots
Long Johns thermal
Long Johns quilted
jeans
t-shirt
long sleave thermal
flanel long sleave
sweat shirt
hooded zip up sweat shirt
2 scarve around face
stocking cap
parka with fur in split zip up hood
brown cotton gloves
insulated mittens

Delivered 90 papers inside each storm door on a 5 mi. route. Saw one thermometer at -40. Ice would form on the scarves from breathing. I was 12 years old. You could roll me down the hill with no injuries and it would be hard to get up. Now there is a fashion statement.

rofl. OMG....for a Luddite, I didn't do poorly in my younger years before I turned my back on the corporate life.

1971. Black ribbed hot pants. Leather knee high granny boots, and black lace body stocking with silver waist cinch. I even have a picture of me in this outfit that was on the front page of the local newspaper when I wore it on a float in the Christmas parade. I wore this to a company party and was dancing with one of the managers when the zipper on his pants fly got caught in my body suit. The slow dance ended and he was in the middle of the dance floor working on the fly of his trousers and we couldn't get seperated........gracefully or otherwise.

September 1963, 8th grade:

Burgundy skirt and jacket in the newest double knit cotton-polyester, skirt was A-line with a 'jeans' style yoke at the waist, jacket had long sleeves and a similar yoke as the skirt, fake chest pockets with a button on each, dress shirt style collar, button front with silver lions like on hearldry, both had white topstitching around seams to accentuate the lines. Worn with a white button down collar blouse. Stockings not pantyhose and brown loafers.

1956
Cheerleading Uniform
Purple skirt lined with gold.
White blouse, white v necked sweater with the NWH letters in purple and gold.
White sneakers or tennis shoes until we decided to dye them purple.
No make-up except some lipstick.

We wanted to wear short skirts but the school powers that be
said NO. Our skirts were longer mid calf or maybe a bit longer.
It was a full skirt and underneath it we wore a pair of
purple panty like garment made of the same purple and gold
fabric

Summer, 1958, a Saturday, black patent high heels, white cotton gloves, black linen sheath dress, 20 minute makeup job, hair curled and nails polished. My destination? The newly opened mall. But I'd have dressed the same for library or grocery run. We didn't leave the house without makeup...and flats were for the beach or a barbecue (although I remember patio cocktail parties in heels). josh

September 1982, junior high.

I was taller than all the other girls and most of the boys. I wore a pair of straight-leg, slim burgundy cords, a burgundy and gold slim belt, a white long-sleeved shirt with metallic-gold and burgundy threads striping it.

To top it off a pair of pointy-toed cowboyboot-style burgundy leather high heeled clogs. I topped out at 6'.

I loved those clogs...

Whew!

Early Fall, 1963: I had found a place where designers sold the clothing after it was "shown", and Pierre Cardin's models fit me perfectly. I took a second full-time job just to save the money for 2 suits in silk shangtun. Short, straight, above-the-knee skirt with a split hem in back, fitted vest with fabric-covered buttons, and boxy jacket, each lined in silk sateen. Worn with hose (held up with those d*m garters) and matching shoes in suede, 3" heels. A small handbag with a shoulder strap (I think shoulderbags were a newish style at that time). This was basic office attire, also with the requisite hat - remember Jackie's pillbox hats?- and gloves. Arriving at the office without hat and gloves was considered 'inappropriately attired' and you were warned once and fired the second time.

And, thinking of inappropriate attire, I can remember being lectured on those grounds [about July 1954], by a neighbor for wearing pedalpushers and a sleeveless blouse while delivering newspapers. During the preceding winter and spring, I had been wearing my older bro's jeans, jacket, and ballcap while biking the 5-mile route. I think the neighbor was horrified to discover his paperboy was a girl. He never tipped, either.

Fast forward from 1956 and jr. high in Connecticut, to 1967 and San Franciso.Went to a Christmas party with a silver paper mini dress and thigh high boots.Oh I loved the late 60s and early 70s. Great time to wear clothes if you had long legs and were skinny. How did my legs get so short after all these years? Must be because everything is sitting lower on them.

1964-Eighth grade...Catholic school so uniform most of the time but was getting to be summer and we had our class picnic coming up...begged my parents for a pair of wrangler jean shorts (hogwashers or so they were called) think they topped out at about $3.99 and took me many weeks to get them to agree and then the army green rubber hooded slicker think that was in about the same price range. I can remember wearing that slicker everyday no matter what the weather and being at our everyday Catholic Mass and the sweat just dripping down me but would i take that slicker off...noooooooooooooooooo. Oh and my first pair of British loafers they looked like penny loafers but high boot like, begged Mom and Dad for those too and ruined em about the third week hopping a fence, split the sole but wore em till it was time for a new pair of shoes like six months later. I remember you got maybe one outfit for the beginning of school and then had to wait for Christmas, Easter or your birthday for anything else. It sucked getting that winter coat or spring coat as a gift lol.

Marda, I loved the late 60s too.
Mini skirts and boots, my favorite outfit was a navy dress
with white leather trim and white boots.
I still have my little black velvet mini dress with the halter top.

1955, 8th grade at one of the square dances held in our school gym. I had on a white blouse and a red velvet full circle skirt with at least 3 crenolines (those triple full net petticoats which we starched and dried all spread out for maximum fullness) under it. And bright red panties which showed when I twirled. I was hot.

1956, high school freshman.The first football game of the season and I had on gray wool bermuda shorts (with a half belt in the back, a pink sweater and gray/pink argyle knee socks. I was cool.

2006, sitting at the computer, wearing a green fleece shirt, gray sweatpants and pink slippers. I am comfortable.

Michelle, I love your drawing!!

Oh Crinolines!!!!!

My oldest son came home from the first grade one day. Crinolines were the style for the little girls. Mommies thought they were just darling! So Cute! Anyway, Mike comes home just plain disgusted. He was tired of the little girls bending over the desks, the crinolines would pop up and no matter where he looked, there would be a face full of fannies and panties. He wasn't supposed to show his, how come they got to show theirs.

nora...our 1956 outfits were very similar,and I wore mine to football games too. and Janis...I had the exact same mini dress as you,except that mine was red trimmed in white leather and I wore white boots also. In retrospect I must have looked like one of Santa's helpers.