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Thursday, August 23, 2012

Thoughts on Thursday...

School days...then end of summer is near and it's time to go back to school.

My 2 daughters are going back to college and my husband is a teacher, so it's back to school for him too.

One memory for me of going back to school is clothes shopping. It was just the best feeling. You wanted to wear those clothes as soon as your mom bought them for you.

I can clearly remember one outfit in the mid 1970's...a pair of corduroy farmer jeans or overalls. Oh my gosh, I am laughing as I am typing this. What in the name was I thinking.

I found this image on google of a vintage pair...mine were brown too!




What outfit do you remember from your "going back to school days"...

Happy Thursday,
~Karen~

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38 comments:

  1. My mom made me a purple jumpsuit and I just loved it--same era as your overalls, the 70s. :)

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  2. We were in the communism era and we all had blue uniforms- I always hated them. But I remember a lime green coat and green sandals.

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  3. I got blue jeans when I started first grade in the mid-sixties. This was in Norway, and jeans were not at all common back then. Did I ever get disappointed when my mom told me they were not good enough to wear to school!

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  4. The one that stands out in my mind is a plaid dress with a white collar. The plaid was shades of red and navy. It was my favorite dress and I wore it whenever I could. I guess not too often because it was handed down to my sister who is two years younger. I am pretty sure I got the dress when I was eight and started the third grade. That would have been in 1960. (Good grief I am old!)

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  5. I remember those overalls. Does anyone remember something called "sizzlers"? It was a tunic type top only short with side slits and you wore short shorts underneath. I made my own....one for every day of the week! LOL this was in the 70s.

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  6. Early 80s I wore overalls almost every day. In the summer I wore them with a tube top!!

    What I remember were "designer jeans". There was a shop in the next little town that sold only jeans. I had one pair that had a tag advising you to lay on the dressing room floor to fasten them. All of them were supposed to be TIGHT! I bought my own clothes. I had a pair of Loretta Lynns and a pair of Willie Nelsons that had a guitar embroidered on the pocket.

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  7. This one dress that was a hand me down from a cousin. I must have been third or fourth grade. It was sleeveless with the little round band that goes around the neck and the arm holes were slanted. Wish I knew what that was called. Anyway.....I wanted to wear it every day.I LOVED that dress. My Mom was not happy and insisted I wear something else too. Isn't it funny, later I would have died if I wore the same thing in one week. :-)

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  8. My first day of eighth grade I had black and purple striped leggings with a matching long-sleeved top, plus a big baggy button down black shirt worn open over it. The cuffs on that shirt had a purple satin-y material when you rolled them up. I loved that outfit, and don't think I would be too embarrassed over it now. However, this was in Phoenix where the temperatures in September are often still in the mid to high nineties. The sacrifices we make for fashion!

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  9. When I was little mom took me to sears and bought me some cute little dresses and some toughskins. We always dressed up the first day! My best friend susan lived next door and we often had matching dresses. My favoite was a blue on with a soft kitty appliqued on it.

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  10. I'm still wearing those overalls! They are the absolute most favorite piece of clothing I wear!

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  11. I remember grade 6 (86) I had pale yellow pants, a floral yellow blouse, and yellow sneakers to match. I loved it. I probably looked like a banana! :)

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  12. I wore my brother's Levis all throug high school. I do not know why I did not buy my own. I guess I wanted to spend my money on shoes. Why he let me wear his jeans is also a mystery. He has always put up with a lot fromme!

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  13. Oh your post brought back such wonderful memories Karen!!! I remember in particular for my fourth grade "Back to School" special outfit, my mom made a sailor dress for me. It was just gorgeous, with all the beautiful trim work and buttons... I was in LOVE! She hung it on the back of my door to wait for the first day of school, and every night I would just stare at it as I fell asleep, waiting with such anticipation to put it on and become oh so beautiful :*) Thanks for the sweet memories today!

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  14. I remember paging through the Penney's catalog in search of the perfect school outfit. Since my mom and I made most of my clothes, it was off to the store to find a pattern and fabric to match my catalog dreams.

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  15. I got hand me downs from my cousins and one school picture from the midsixties time era showed me in my cousins sleeveless jumper: cream back ground with hideous hot pink and gold large plaid design. I did not like it.

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  16. One of my favorite back to school outfits was one of my mom's creations. The waisted underdress was a tiny print with puffed sleeves and the white apron overdress had hand-appliqued mushrooms and rickrack. Oh, I loved it and was so proud that my mom could sew like that! You can probably tell my advanced age from this description!

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  17. Oh I went to parochial school for 12 years and it was a never ending parade of bad uniforms that permanently warped my fashion sense - LOL But I do have fond memories of a floral jumpsuit I sewed one summer - wide bell bottom legs and a gold belt of round links -it was 1970! I thought I was sooooo cool!

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  18. I used to love farmer jeans, but never wore them to school.
    They were great when I was pregnant, could just loosen them as I filled out, lol.
    We had to wear dresses and in the 70's I got to wear pants.

    Debbie

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  19. I had a pair of tapered jeans where the ankle was so tight it had a zipper in the back just to get them over your feet. They were awesome! LOL I also remember having jeans with wider legs that I could fold the hems over and roll up tight that I wore with a tee shirt cincher buckle. My friend had a tee shirt that I wanted so bad but never got. It was fringed on the bottom with pony beads strung on the fringe pieces.

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  20. I wore denim overalls in high school and on into college and absolutely loved them. In fact last night I was looking at the Duluth Trading catalog and wondering if I should order a pair since they now make them to "fit" women - haven't worn them for many years.

    Judy

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  21. It was 1988. I remember being so excited that my mom let me get a pair of skin tight light stonewashed jeans with a with a white zipper that went down the sides, the entire length of the jeans. They were my favorite. They looked awesome with my hi top reeboks!! NOT!

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  22. I remember a brown pleather skirt and vest outfit I thought I was really something - Mom made most of my clothes! I can also remember my Twiggy lunch box when I was in 3rd grade :)

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  23. I graduated in 1985. While I don't really remember any particular outfit, I do remember the shopping and getting all those fun clothes and wanting to wear them the first day, and it was so hot, I wished I worn cooler, summer clothes. (Although we weren't allowed to wear shorts at all.)

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  24. Oh man, this brings back memories of getting new clothes to start the new school year... some years my parents could afford more than others, but we always got at least one new outfit.

    I remember one year, I had a multi-colour jacket with a hood... it sort of looked like patchwork. The reason I remember that jacket is that was the year that Dolly Parton had the hit song Coat of Many Colors.

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  25. Having a mom who sewed and three older sisters, I wore a lot of homemades and hand-me-downs. So the year I got three store bought dresses stands out in my memory.

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  26. my all-time favorite outfit was when I was in 3rd grade (1975). It was a pant suit with matching jacket in baby blue. It snapped (I think) down the front and had a blue braided trim down the outside of the long-sleeved arms and pants!

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  27. Entering high school and the all important "need" to be "cool" and "with it", whatever that entailed in the early 1970's, clashed head on into my family's lack of income. My dad wasn't working at the time beyond working the farm which wasn't producing enough of an income to support the family. My mother's parents, who were divorced, stepped in to buy us school clothes. Well, the "us" isn't quite true. As the oldest, I needed to "understand" that the youngest ones couldn't be expected to wear my hand me downs, but I was expected to wear stuff from my cousins.
    I remember sitting on the floor next to the dressing room door while my sister squealed with delight at the new pants, tops and dresses she was getting. My brothers had jeans and shirts for 6 months. I got socks and underwear.
    For "new" clothes, we went to the resale shop and I was handed a bunch of clothes straight off Haight/Ashbury. "Ooooh, they look so good on you!" my mother and grandmother cooed. Awash in embarrassment, I remember picking a couple of tops and a pair of pants just so we could get out of there. I decided I would never, ever wear these to school and would just try to get another year out of stuff that was getting too small and was very out of fashion.
    My great-aunt, my grandmother's sister, came over for dinner later that day and there was a parade of "see what I got". I went outside and sat on the stoop, too upset to let anyone see me cry. I said I wasn't feeling well and the fresh air helped. It wasn't too far off a lie and I simply picked through dinner.
    The next day, we were supposed to go home but Irene showed up at my grandmother's and asked to take me for a ride. My grandmother, ever careful to not be one-upped, was suspicious of her sister's motives and reluctant, but my mother said sure, if we got back by noon.
    Irene took me to the best department store in town. With a trained eye, she scanned the racks and hauled out 2 pair of pants, 3 shirts and 3 vests, all mix and match. We were back in 60 minutes. I handed her the resale stuff. She handed my mother cash for those items and I went home feeling like a million dollars.
    One pair of pants was a green, blue and gold pattern. The other was navy blue; practical for everything, doncha know. I got a white, a navy blue and a cream color shirt and navy blue, forest green and brown sweater vests. I remember wearing the print pants until I simply couldn't zip them shut anymore. The sweater vests wore like cast iron and I think my youngest brother wore them for a time.
    I have to laugh now. At my age, the stuff I wore then is considered "vintage" and would command a pretty penny.

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  28. Oh my gosh! I had a pair just like that! LOL.

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  29. I remember my first day, first grade dress. It was green with flocked tiny dots with a full skirt and huge petticoat! Yes, it was the fifties and yes, I felt absolutely beautiful. I think my Mom probably made it and it's good it's embedded in my mind because there are no pictures of it.

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  30. It was a green plaid jumper...2nd grade!
    But what catches me out is the urge to buy school supplies this time of year and its been over 40 years since I "had to buy" them lol

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  31. Saddle shoes - hey, I am of the older generation and we had to get them appropriately dirty. We always loved to get our new notebook and school supplies - Kinda a blue-grey canvas - so we get get it "personalized" before opening day. Never wore the new clothes until school officially started - that was the 'rule' but some things just had to happen. Judy C

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  32. This was so fun to read. Brought back so many memories. I remember getting a plaid wrap around skirt with the large safety pin holding it together. It was navy and green plaid. I had a navy cardigan sweater and white blouse to go with it. I loved that outfit. And penny loafers too!

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  33. My most memorable favorite outfit was a cream colored button up shirt with a brown bow on it with brown corduroy knickers. I LOVED that outfit so much!!!

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  34. my memories from grammar school were the petticoats that were scratchy and I hated them. Of course in those days girls could NOT wear pants. On cold days we had to wear those stupid dresses and freeze.

    I would put pants on under my dress, walk to school and then get yelled at to take them off when I got to the playground!

    Glad times have changed!
    glen

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  35. Karen, I went to parochial school, so had to wear a uniform. I loved getting new blouses in September. The jumper could be let down to make it last longer, but my parents bought me new blouses! Plus, I had to wear a tie with one of the styles, so I'd get a new one of those every other year.
    Thanks for the memories.

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  36. There are 2 outfits that stand out..one good..and one I'm not sure WHY my mother let me out of the house! My grandmother bought me a soft brown wool cape with a faux fur hat. The hat was white with brown tips that matched the cape. I thought I was the cats meow! The other was White painters overalls. They shrunk after the 1st wash. I was devastated..and then added a RED RUFFLE on the bottom of each leg. I'm sure I looked like a clown, but I wore them! Wonder if my mom remembers those? We have a picture of me in the cape and hat...

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  37. I bought a Pendleton plaid pleated skirt: loved it for as long as it lasted. But, overalls, I wear them all the time now. They are so comfortable and come in great fabrics and colors.

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  38. I remember the fuss I caused at school because I wore jeans to class not a pretty dress. Girls did not wear pants and especially not jeans to the high school I was sent to. High school was one of those schools that had a pedigree and prestige that I got bussed to by accident of where the bus route ran. My father went to bat for me.........letter writing and phone calls to say they were to educate me as the law required anything else was immaterial, unless of course they supplied a uniform for all students to wear. I wore blue jeans every day I went to high school. Usually I got them at the Army Surplus and Hunting store as they had not yet made it into high fashion.

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