Wildwood Press

For special events at school we dressed up to the hilt! A band concert was a reason to go shopping at Krom’s Department Store, Scott’s Smartwear or Irene’s Dress Shop for that new fancy dress. My favorite find was an iridescent blue-grey-pink full-skirted ankle-length dress. That dress went with me not only to a band concert, but also to a Christmas dance at the Youth Center in Iron River and even a Valentine’s Day ball in Chicago.

Girls, what were your favorite “duds?” A white blouse or black sweater with a flared skirt decorated with a poodle on a leash? Or, like me, did you have a flocked fabric skirt under which you wore at least two, maybe three, crinolines (can-can type petticoats) to “poof” things out? (How did we ever manage to fit into our desks in school?) But these were mostly for “dress up” and we wore other clothing to school. Pencil-slim skirts with sweaters buttoned down the back, a silky scarf tied around the neck and a couple of “scatter pins” tacking the ends of the scarf to the sweater. Saddle shoes or white bucks were a must for this outfit! What about weekends? Capri pants or pedal pushers? Levi’s or “ranch pants?” Striped, boat-necked T’s? Peter Pan collared blouses? What were you wearing?

And guys, what were you wearing? Seems your closets were a lot smaller and a lot simpler. Jeans and a t-shirt under a leather or denim jacket was pretty much all you needed to get wherever you were going most of the time. But for special occasions, most of you had a reserve pair or two of some very nice gabardine slacks, which you wore along with a white shirt or a turtleneck sweater underneath a smooth cardigan. And, of course, Elvis popularized the white sport coat and a pink carnation right along with his blue suede shoes. So…the question is, “What were you wearing?”