Remember how we used to dress? LOL

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GeorgiaXplant

Well-known Member
Location
Georgia
Didn't want to hijack SB's thread about blue jeans so I'm starting this one about what used to be the acceptable way to dress.

My mother wouldn't have dreamed about going "downtown" or even just to the grocery store without putting on a dress. If it was a shopping trip downtown, then seamed nylons, high heels, dress, hat and gloves were in order. If only to the neighborhood grocery, then just what we called a "house" dress was okay, provided that it was freshly starched and ironed. Starched!

If there was an occasion to be at our school, a dress/nylons/heels were fine unless it was for something like a PTA meeting or a school play or other performance of some kind. Then the hat and gloves were added to the ensemble.

Going calling? If it was a very dear friend, then the freshly-starched house dress is usually what she wore, but if it was for bridge club or visiting with friends of my grandparents, for instance, then it was the "downtown" costume. When my mother was going calling and took me along, I was dressed up in one of my "good" dresses and got to wear my MaryJanes, which was only allowed for special occasions and church. Calling on people was usually done in the early afternoon so after lunch it was bath time for me, then dressed, then admonished to "sit down and don't do anything to get dirty!" until it was time to leave.

And for church...well, nothing but the best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes were donned. Hat and gloves, too, of course.

Nowadays I don't even own a dress. Truly. I don't own a dress and probably won't ever own another dress. Don't own any heels, either, or a hat and gloves.
 

I know what you mean GeorgiaX, my mother used to wear a starched and ironed housedress around the house, and may visit with a neighbor wearing it. I don't ever really recall her wearing pants, maybe shorts a few days in summer when we vacationed at the beach. For church or anywhere else, she had her good everyday dresses to wear.

I currently own one black dress, which I only wore once around 15 years ago, and two pairs of black heels, one regular height and one low. No hats and gloves either, only a wool cap and winter gloves for snowy days. Looks like we'd get along just fine together! :cool1:
 
Not to leave out the guys...have you seen film clips of people in the stands at a ball game from way back? The men wore suits. To a ball game!

And come to think of it, if we were going calling in evening (rare but not unheard of), my dad might not wear a suit but did at least wear a dress shirt and tie and dress pants. If we were calling on very good friends, he'd wear a sport shirt and slacks, no tie.
 

I was just laughing about this tonight. The old movie "Airplane" was on TV and our son and DIL were here. She had never seen it and was cracking up. I told her I remember going up to San Francisco with a friend to see it back in `73,I think. I remember what I wore-a pretty dressy dress and a very expensive coat that my sister had given me. Nylons,of course. I never did wear gloves-not sure how I escaped that one. But wow,dressed like that just to go to a movie with a girlfriend. Too funny.
 
My mother insisted her four daughters were elegantly dressed for church on Sunday, I am still rebelling as I HATE dressing up. I would have worn jeans and T shirt for my own wedding if I could have got away with it!:D I think the last time I wore a dress was for my father's funeral in 2005. It was a very formal affair, even a representative of the Queen attended it, as he had been a senior politician in his time. As the eldest child and therefore the chief mourner, I had to look the business. I now avoid social situations where I would have to dress up, as I dislike doing so intensely.
 
I remember an Easter Sunday, I was a teenager, had on my new blue Easter dress, white gloves and white straw hat, walking up the steps of the church with many people looking on and me thinking how cute I was, the wind blew my hat off and I had to go chase it down...
 
Remember when your school teacher wore a jacket and tie to teach school? Have you seen how teachers and professors dress today? Have you seen how the store clerks in some retail outlets dress? We occasionally shop at our Penney's here in York. The clerks wear jeans and t-shirts. At the Penney's in Florida where we shop, the clerks dress no different than the clerks at Dillards., which is very nice. I know they don't get paid much and their clothes must cost a lot, so I do understand why some store managers allow their clerks to dress down.

I wear a suit almost every Sunday to church, unless we are having a service outdoors. I also wear a suit to the theaters and sometimes to a restaurant.
 

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