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We had Home Economics in Grades 7th through 12th in the Northeast in the late sixties, early seventies. I learned to sew on a Singer and I still sew today although mostly just tailoring or accent pillows. In HS we had a project where the girls sewed a blazer from a Simplicity pattern, including facing in the lapels. The boys had Wood Shop.
I attended a small, rural high school heavily populated with farm boys who wore bib overalls, and girls who wore dresses everywhere. We were not fashion-forward by any stretch. Over the summer in 1984 some sort of invisible switch got thrown. When we returned from summer vacation, we were suddenly in parachute pants, torn sweatshirts, faux-leather miniskirts, and garish make-up. What a bunch of posers we were! I recall that girl in English class who went Full Madonna: bad dye job, finger-less gloves, high-top boots, etc. Her mama should have turned a hose on her. Maybe the cable system had added MTV around that time? Either that, or there was a chemical spill in our water supply that was kept secret from us.
No way was I going to become one of those fashion victims. Even as a high-school freshman I knew it would be...regretted later on. We did eventually came to our senses, but those school photos are forever. The trendiest thing I wore (and what I guess would be my 'favorite fashion') was a Members Only jacket...and it was a gift!
We had Home Economics in Grades 7th through 12th in the Northeast in the late sixties, early seventies. I learned to sew on a Singer and I still sew today although mostly just tailoring or accent pillows. In HS we had a project where the girls sewed a blazer from a Simplicity pattern, including facing in the lapels. The boys had Wood Shop.
I had Home Ec in middle school. We learned some basic cooking stuff, and basic sewing stuff. I made a hoodie, and a pillow. But it was not divided between boys and girls like that, boys were expected to take it, too. I also took a couple of shop classes, which I found FAR more interesting, as I'm an artist and sort of an improvisational maker, actually I think that all of those classes were useful to me. I have wished I had access to the big power tools to create things I get into my head as an adult...but at least I have an idea of how some things might be accomplished. And these days I sometimes hand-sew various projects, usually they are something between formal-wear and costume. Like an elaborate skirt I created for a steampunk ball event, and my own wedding dress which is also a bit steampunk-ish. The basic stitching techniques I first learned in Home Ec have served me well.
Location: As of 2022….back to SoCal. OC this time!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bpollen
Bootcut jeans (which are back in style). I guess I liked a lot of the styles from years ago. Things come back in style, with enough time, although w/a different slant.
Ita & I don't understand why older generations complain about the fashion of today........most of it is just reinvented styles of the past.........
AND....there are more different jean fits & styles than ever IMO....even more than in the 2000s.....but they don't like baggy or grandpa...they don't like slim or straight or ankle......& they don't like boyfriend jeans. How can you not find something you like....even the shoe styles that go with them from flats to heels to wedges to boots?
I had Home Ec in middle school. We learned some basic cooking stuff, and basic sewing stuff. I made a hoodie, and a pillow. But it was not divided between boys and girls like that, boys were expected to take it, too. I also took a couple of shop classes, which I found FAR more interesting, as I'm an artist and sort of an improvisational maker, actually I think that all of those classes were useful to me. I have wished I had access to the big power tools to create things I get into my head as an adult...but at least I have an idea of how some things might be accomplished. And these days I sometimes hand-sew various projects, usually they are something between formal-wear and costume. Like an elaborate skirt I created for a steampunk ball event, and my own wedding dress which is also a bit steampunk-ish. The basic stitching techniques I first learned in Home Ec have served me well.
I like that your school didn't differentiate between the sexes. Cooking, sewing, home repair and shop classes are valuable life skills for everyone. I taught my daughter the difference between a flat head screwdriver and a Phillips and my son knows how to sew on a button but neither one of them had those kinds of classes in their schools (they're in their early thirties now). When they were in school the public school system was cutting electives like Art and Music too.
I like that your school didn't differentiate between the sexes. Cooking, sewing, home repair and shop classes are valuable life skills for everyone. I taught my daughter the difference between a flat head screwdriver and a Phillips and my son knows how to sew on a button but neither one of them had those kinds of classes in their schools (they're in their early thirties now). When they were in school the public school system was cutting electives like Art and Music too.
I'm 41, so my school days were before programs like that were really being cut. My high school even had driver's ed, though sadly I was a stoner that year and it was first thing in the morning, and of course I had no concept of how much I'd regret not learning to drive when I had that chance. My sons' schools did not have driver's ed, and I have no idea if that is a program they once had that has been slashed, or if it's a difference between schools in Northern Virginia where I grew up, and Colorado where they went to school...
My fiance said, "imagine the liability" but...I mean, OK...but it used to be pretty common, and nobody was screaming about liability... I dunno.
Anyways.
Guess I could make slightly more of an effort to not wander away from the topic here. I honestly feel like my fashion expression, just like my taste in everything in life, has only grown as I've kept things I was once excited about, and just kept adding more. I don't do "fashion" in the sense of what is in style or not, I don't really believe in that. I don't think that a style was appealing because it was promoted by big brands, or becomes unappealing when you can no longer find it in mainstream stores. In fact, maybe I feel the opposite. When something I love becomes hard to find, but then I do find it, I get excited and it's like a rare treasure. But for the huge majority of my life, fitting in, in a general sense, hasn't held much appeal for me.
So I may have started out with classic rock music and wishing I could look like Star from "The Lost Boys" and then gravitated towards metal and my flannel shirts and combat boots and wallet chain, and then went to goth and the long leather coat... But I still love The Doors, I still love Sepultura, and I still love Rosetta Stone, and I would still wear bohemian clothes or grunge/metal styles, or goth stuff but now I also like Abney Park and jewelry made of tiny gears and wires. Bands known to frequent Burning Man, and clothing that mixes black and white stripes with red, or varying shades of brown.
I just keep on picking up new bits that seem fun to me, and adding them to the mix.
What I don't do, and never really did, was alter my basic appearance in obvious and hard to change ways, even though doing so does fit with most of my preferred fashions. Like shaving half my head, or getting facial piercings...would look fitting with bohemian, goth, metal, punk, grunge stuff, sure. But I have commitment issues. And the while fitting in gives me no personal joy, sometimes I think it's wise to get a job for instance. Even if I don't love it, I want to be able to do it.
I graduated in 1989 so in the 80's it was leg warmers, day glow sweatshirts and t-shirts, high hair, plastic bangle and rubber bracelets like Madonna wore. T-shirts that tied on the side, scrunchie socks, wearing a side ponytail, skin tight jeans, big hoop earrings,jean jackets, acid wash jeans. At the time I thought I was cool wearing this but now I look back and say what was I thinking?
*Oversized v-neck sweaters w/jean mini-skirts and Keds.
*Cropped jean jackets w/snug high-waisted Guess jeans.
*T-shirts tucked into snug jeans w/Docs and a flannel shirt tied around the waist.
*Black tights w/mini-skirts
*Large hoop earrings
*Black oversized Wilson Leather jacket. I loved that thing, but it felt like it weighed a ton, lol.
I went into a consignment shop a while back, and they were having a sale on "90s styles." One thing they had a whole rack of, bodysuits. Those tops with the low cut front, long sleeves, and they went under your pants and snapped in the crotch? Ladies remember those?
I remember them being heinously uncomfortable, for a very specific reason, and it's the same reason I cannot imagine buying them second-hand. No more than I want anybody's secondhand underwear.
But they sure looked good. No doubt about it.
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