I can only offer anecdotal evidence:
I grew up in a firmly middle-class, Midwestern, WASP family... in
1968, when I was 13, we went to Europe for several weeks in the
summer because my father was attending a conference in Switzerland
and then visiting some colleagues in southern Germany, with a brief
stop in England on the way home. "Everyone" said that I should only
pack dresses and dressy accessories (anyone remember how awful
pantyhose were back then?) because no one in Europe dressed casually
as Americans do. And then I was miserable the whole time because I
was the *only* person my age who wasn't attired comfortably in
jeans! As I recall, the only other fashion victims we encountered
were middle-aged South Africans... it seemed like the entire world
had adopted my home dress code but I was prevented from being part of
it due to other peoples' assumptions about appropriate dress. I even
remember a German woman telling us that I should learn to relax and
wear looser clothing! I'll have to ask my mother what she remembers
from that trip.... By the time we hit London at the end of July I
was too grumpy to see what was "English" about the people around me.
(I just wanted to get home and ditch the patent leather dress shoes
and handbag. Shudder.)
If "The Gabriel Hounds" was published in 1967, as Amazondotcom tells
me, then I'm at a loss to know what the author meant! I don't
remember anyone in Michigan wearing Liberty prints but that's about
the only difference I can come up with. Maybe there was a difference
in acceptable skirt lengths?
That was no help at all, was it??
Suzanne
On Apr 26, 2009, at 1:00 PM, [email protected] wrote:
From: "Claire Clarke" <[email protected]>
Date: April 26, 2009 7:16:58 AM CDT
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: [h-cost] Dressing like an American
Hi all,
Some of you who were alive back then might not consider this historic
costume, but I thought this was a good place to ask this question.
I was
recently reading 'The Gabriel Hounds' by Mary Stewart, which is set in
Lebanon in, I think the '60's (1960's that is). The narrator is
English but
has been living in America and at one point describes herself as
'dressing
like an American'. I was curious how differently American and
English women
might have dressed at this time. Is this another way of saying that
she
dressed informally? Or wore trousers a lot?
Claire
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