Those heavy polyester double-knits! Blecchh! -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Suzanne Sent: Saturday, July 04, 2009 12:14 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [h-cost] 1960s hippie fashions
I lived in Ann Arbor, Michigan, from 1963 to 1976. As I remember it, skirts got progressively shorter from 1966 to 1969 but the local culture still didn't accept trousers on women. IIRC, the first "pantsuits" for women were greeted with derision on this side of the Atlantic. Anyhoo, I *loathed* mini-skirts with a deep, abiding passion so I made my first maxi skirt (without a pattern) in 1968/1969, specifically to wear to school (9th grade). It was ankle- length, and I'm proud to say that I was one of the first to wear one in my social circle <g>. By the time I graduated in 1972, we were all routinely wearing those long dresses with the elastic under the bust (as mentioned by another list-member)--made in wild floral prints and using commercial patterns--when we weren't wearing jeans. While other fashions had been banned at various times, the Ann Arbor schools never bothered to target "granny dresses". I do remember that it was a challenge to keep bra straps hidden under those wide necklines! So when I went to college I just stopped wearing the bras.... By 1974, I had given up wearing skirts entirely and bought pantsuits instead for occasions that called for something nicer than jeans. Anybody wanna talk about pantsuits?? Suzanne [who thinks it is true that the Sixties mostly happened in the Seventies] On Jul 4, 2009, at 1:00 PM, [email protected] wrote: > From: Hope Greenberg <[email protected]> > Date: July 4, 2009 11:44:14 AM CDT > To: Historical Costume <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [h-cost] 1960s hippie fashions > > > Ah, what fun. I know by the early 70s I had several long dresses for > casual wear, but when did the trend start? Well, here are two factoids > that might help: > > In the late 60s Laura Ashley introduced daywear that had a longer > length. (see any history of Laura Ashley, wikipedia will do) > > And my favorite kind of evidence--mention in contemporary literature: > In 1968 the popular writer Barbara Michaels published "Ammie, Come > Home" a ghost story set in Georgetown, MD. The key thing here is that > early in the book the protagonist goes shopping with her trendy niece > and is talked into buying one of those "new maxi skirts." (BTW > remember that the first "maxis" were mid-calf length. > Later the term was applied to ankle-length as well.) > > - Hope > >> On Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 12:06 AM, Sylvia Rognstad <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> >>> Anyhow, I'm trying to remember when long skirts and dresses came in. >>> I can only recall wearing them in the 1970s, but my legs, not being >>> what they used to be, definitely do not want to be seen in a mini >>> skirt, which is all I can remember wearing in the late 60s. >>> _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
