Clothing Memories

Another Retro-Spective Reposting, with comments.

When I was a kid, I had a poodle skirt. It was hard to find one online in the same colors as the one I remember, but this looks pretty close. Mine was gray felt with a pink poodle.

I also had saddle shoes. I loved saddle shoes and still do. I've found variations over the years, but they're gone now either because they fell apart from heavy use or no longer fit. The best were the ones with the saddle part being a blue and greenish plaid.

A fun site is Fads, Fashions, Slang on the Fifties Web.

Now, I was born in 1953 and was fairly young when I wore my poodle skirt, and I really didn't have much fashion sense back then. But by the mid-to-late-'60s, mini-skirts, fishnet stockings, and white Go-Go boots were practically required. I had to have the boots because my mother's cousin, who's only 18 years older than I am, had them, and she was the closest I had to a real life role model, though I didn't get to spend as much time with her as I would've liked. M was a single woman with a cool job with a big-name record company, and besides, I had a serious crush on her boyfriend. So, when I saw M's boots, I simply had to have a pair. Which I got and wore to shreds because I wore them in the snow and they were decidedly not waterproof. My boots were short, coming to mid-calf, and flat heeled, and I can only find photos of thigh-high boots. Oh well.



Another fashion necessity for me, one that won't past muster with any fashion critic, was my denim blue Keds sneakers with orange shoelaces. Coincidentally, those are the Mets colors, but I wasn't a baseball fan back then. White sneakers were fine, too, once we got our friends to step on them to scuff them up.

Comments:

drizzlenightsky said...
Mymom was born in 1952 and she has a closet full of uber cool mini dresses and platform shoes which were hot in the 60s...my sisters and I wore them briefly when we were in high school even when they were decidedly an odd fit in the clunky fashion of the early to mid-90s...but yep, I had fun wearing authentic vintage stuff I just wish she had designer ones, too but she was so particular with the right fit that she had her own seamstress who made most of her clothes...:)

Shelly said...
That sounds like a lot of fun. I tried wearing platform shoes in high school, but kept forgetting to lift my feet high enough when I was walking up stairs. :)

carrie said...
cool stuff

Shelly said...
Thanks. :)

4HisChurch said...
Saddle shoes were part of my high school uniform. At the time we said we hated them, but they were VERY comfortable! The soles of the shoes were smooth and we used to write and draw on them--a little bit of individuality in a uniformed world!

mary said...
I wore saddle shoes all through high school. And bass weeguns. Go-go boots, I would have died for a pair but my Mom would not allow it.

mary said...
dang, I meant bass weejuns

Shelly said...
Heh, I knew what you meant, Mary. I didn't have Bass Weejuns. They didn't fit right. :)

Mama Mouse said...
I had a turquoise poodle skirt ... think the poodle was probably pink, but can't remember for sure. I also wore saddle shoes and LOVED them. I had been made to wear corrective shoes till then and they were ugly. For once in my young life I could wear shoes that were fashionable!
I'm a little older than you ... 7 years ... ahhh ... the good old days! Remember the crinolines we had to wear UNDER the poodle skirts to keep them looking right! I never had as many as I wanted ... but I think I had at least two and maybe three.

Shelly said...
Oh gosh, I do remember crinolines for a while, but then they were blissfully gone. They were hard to sit in.
I wore corrective shoes for a while. Well, actually, shoes with metal inserts because my feet turned in. I walk nice and straight now, so I guess it was worth it. Even my early saddle shoes probably had the inserts for the arches, but I don't recall for sure.

Mama Mouse said...
My saddle shoes had 'build ups' on the inside. My feet turned out and one day, not long after I started walking, I took off my shoes and refused to anymore. From then until I was a teenager I wore the 'build ups'.
My left foot walks straight now ... my right turns out. HeeHeee!! It looks weird!


Feeling:

vintage clothing