What did you wear?

We used to have new party dresses for Christmas each year. I remember a pink one from C & A with little rosebuds on the front. I was forbidden to go out on Christmas afternoon (I had to stay clean for tea time), but decided to get out through a window and ripped the dress on the peg of the window catch.

Sunday School and going out to the shops (town shops that is) I always wore coat with velvet collar and matching bonnet.

Long socks in winter with a garter to hold them up. Of course liberty bodices etc - why did they go out of fashion? or more to the point why did we wear them along with woolen vests, petticoats woolen jumpers?

Coming from a Cornish Methodist background - we were never allowed to play out on a Sunday that included the garden! Sunday was the most boring day of the week.

I remember being 13 and my mum buying me the following items of clothing.

bras that did up at the front (I hated them)
A suit or costume as they called them (quite liked it)
A straw bonnet with artifical flowers on the side (hated it.)
A pair of kitten heeled shoes,(not too bad)
And of course the horrible American Tan stockings.

I wore the suit, shoes, stockings and costume to church and felt like a right sight. Couldn't wait to earn my own money and buy my own clothes.

With my first wages I bought black lingerie from marks and a skinny rib jumper - heaven.

Pompa! I presume you didn't wear them?!

oops, is my secret out ??

So what did boys wear then - just a vest, shirt and jumper? Blimey we had 2 more layers than that!!

Not sure what the boys wore but I guess as well as the above they had the shorts and I seem to remember boys at Primary School wearing blazers and caps or balaclavas. Don't think they had to endure the liberty bodice.

Have asked DH what he wore as a child and he assures me that 'whoever was up first got the vest!' Think he's kidding, so it was vest, shirt, pullover, always short trousers, socks and garters. He remembers the balaclavas fondly as his used to freeze on the walk to school, always had a runny nose apparently!! Oh, and a coat of course. The boys certainly don't seem to have been quite so wrapped up as us girls, perhaps their kidneys weren't as important. Strangely enough he can't remember what kind of coat he wore but can remember coats being put on the bed as extra insulation when it was very cold. There were nine children in the family so beds were shared and they all survived. Nobody died of hypothermia, nobody starved to death. Ah! 'The good old days!'

DH says he had to wear shorts to senior school as hadn't grown out of them over summer holidays and no way would his parents have 'wasted' them (he was the only one in shorts).
His father wore an ancient demob suit jacket for years (I don't think it was ever cleaned either!), we binned it after he died 6 years ago, at arms length

loopyloo same here DH had to wear shorts at senior school until the fourth year so he'd be 14. It was part of the uniform, he says he always envied the boys at the other schools as they could wear long trousers from the off. It must have been seen as character building. All those chapped knees.

MIL said it saved on torn trouser knees, very hard woman.
DH tall and skinny when young said he stuck out in school photos , hated it. Apparently chapped knees and chilblains were 'to be endured, it's God's will'!

Talking about runny noses. I wore a navy school mac or coat and remember wiping my nose on the sleeves with the obvious result!

Remember satchels? and those wooden two tier pencil cases. Loved the satchels so much better than what is used today.

I loved having a brand new leather satchel! We used to take our cookery ingredients to school in a gondola basket. At secondary school we would roll our skirts up to make them shorter (we all did that I think) and use hairgrips to fix our berets to the back of our heads so as not to ruin the high backcombed hair

And being ' ink monitor' and the ink staining fingers, clothes (permanently) blond hair, blotting paper.... I digress.....
School glue had similar effect too whitewave!
Aertex tee shirts for PE, only rescued from PE bag and end of term.....

games skirts to go with the Artex tee shirts. We had to wear straw boaters with our summer dresses. I loved them (at first). My poor mother could scarcely afford all this stuff. Thank goodness for Provident/Co-op cheques.

I had forgotten the Provident Clothing Club. A woman used to call in every Friday Evening to collect the money. I can't remember how much it was exactly. Can anyone remember - I have a memory of 10 shillings but that seems a lot for the 1950s.

Remember the school gym-slip? (It was worn all day, not for gym.)
It had wide pleats front and back, with buttons on the shoulders. The colour was navy or bottle green, and there was a sash type belt to tie around your middle. Usually worn with a hand knitted woolly jumper underneath.
I remember how itchy tickly the fabric was against my legs. I hated wearing them, and remember my mum's neighbours telling me how very smart I looked. (she had obviously told them to tell me I looked 'smart'.)

My school gaberdine reached my feet. Bought to last, I was told I would grow into it. I was so self conscious about it being so huge, and envied girls whose clothes actually fitted! I don't remember getting another gaberdine, so it probably did last until the sixth form, just in time for the new 'mini' length!

When I started at Secondary school age 11 my games skirt reached down to my knees.

By the time I was 15 it was extremely short. It was the same for all the girls and fun for the boys who used to watch us walking to the Games Field.

mrsmopp Oh I remember the gym-slip well I hated mine it was navy blue and went down to my calves.
When I was small I had a red coat & hat trimmed with velvet it came with a hand muff which went around your neck and you where supposed to put your hands in and look sedate,not a chance my mum said I used to swing it everywhere and use it as a sort of catapult,not very ladylike.

Do any of us have photos of these amazing outfits?

I wore a liberty bodice, a vest, 2 petticoats and then a blouse then a hand knitted cardigan, I was not allowed a jumper until I was about 14 as they were not considered feminine. My skirt was always mid calf length and I wore knee socks, my duffel coat was always too long and although warm I felt embarrassed as the other kids had more fashionable clothes but mine lasted (too long).
In summer I wore less peticoats and a check gingham school frock with the usual hand knitted cardi. It was not till I was a teenager I was allowed to wear trousers and jumpers and the reason given was that as I was getting 'older', boys could not see my legs or be tempted to touch them if I wore trousers and the same reasons given for high necked jumpers.
I went a bit mad at 15, when I got a Saturday job and saved to buy my own clothes and I got a smock (1968) and a pair of denim jeans and went to town on Saturdays with friends wearing my new outfit-no more liberty bodices.