Bill: London Observations--Corduroy Garments (1970s)


Figure 1.-.

As far as I can recall you either liked cords or hated them when I was a kid. I think I liked them precisely because my older brother didn't! It wasn't just that I was secretly glad when mum made him wear a pair in the Winter and he used to argue. It made a change as it was usually me who argued with her about clothes. He was pretty good that way. It was also because since he didn't like wearing them unless he had to they were mostly “mine” and not among the clothes we had to share. I was quite possessive about my favourite pair – the green faded ones that mum had bought me from the sisters' shop. He would sometimes say that he wanted to wear them if mum wanted him in cords. I used to go mad – and it seemed to me really unfair if mum let him wear them rather than one of the grey pairs. She thought that we were just arguing for the sake of it. She didn't realise that it was bad enough me not being able to wear my favourite cords, but then for him to be wearing them was almost unbearable. She wouldn't make him take them off though if he'd got them on first and it would normally end up with me being seen as the one at fault. I would be in a bad mood all day and couldn't even bear to look at my brother walking along in MY shorts!. I also then refused to wear them again until mum had washed them – at which point she used to go mad at me – saying one day I was complaining that I wanted to wear them and the next refusing to! The one thing we both agreed on as far as cords were concerned were that neither of us wanted to wear a brown pair that we had.They were dark brown – or “chocolate brown” as my mum used to call them (probably to make them seem more appealing by associating them with something nice!) - and if my mum had them out there would be a real fight over who was going to wear them. This would normally end up with the both of us getting smacked and then mum grabbing the nearest one – and I swear that nine times out of ten that was me but I couldn't prove it now – and putting the brown cords on to us without any further discussion. At least in this case we were both then in mum's bad books so we didn't try to make fun of each other.

My Brother and I

I think I liked them precisely because my older brother didn't! As a kid though I liked them as they were warm in Winter and they were comfortable to wear .I u! sed to find the cotton shorts we wore in the Summer much more uncomfortable. I don't know why he disliked them so much – maybe it was that he wanted to be different from me too the way I did from him . I never thought of that at the time.

Popularity

As far as I can recall you either liked cords or hated them when I was a kid. I'm not sure just what determined this. Actually, in fact other than me and my reluctant brother I don't recall that many boys wearing cords around London. My mate Michael never wore them for play as far as I can recall. He always seemed to be in jeans – long or cut down from his older brothers in Summer. It was different up in Yorkshire – where my mum was from originally - especially around Richmond where my cousin Robert lived. I know that he had cord shorts as I used to borrow them when I stayed with him.

Yorkshire

My mum used have us wear our best clothes when we went visiting up there and if I managed to persaude her to let me stay on with him for a few days I'd wear his clothes. Now I think of it his cords were different to ours. I don't know if the wales (I like that word now I've learned it!) were different but they did feel different when I put them on. They were certainly a bit more old-fashioned than what we had in London – a bit longer and wider cut but that was true for most of his clothes. Maybe that's why my mum bought them for us down in London - it was part of her Yorkshire heritage? - I don't know - I was certainly pleased with them anyway.

Argument

It wasn't just that I was secretly glad when mum made him wear a pair in the Winter and he used to argue. It made a change as it was usually me who argued with her about clothes. He was pretty good that way. It was also because since he didn't like wearing them unless he had to they were mostly “mine” and not among the clothes we had to share. I was quite possessive about my favourite pair – the green faded ones that mum had bought me from the sisters' shop. He would sometimes say that he wanted to wear them if mum wanted him in cords. I used to go mad – and it seemed to me really unfair if mum let him wear them rather than one of the grey pairs. She thought that we were just arguing for the sake of it. She didn't realise that it was bad enough me not being able to wear my favourite cords, but then for him to be wearing them was almost unbearable. She wouldn't make him take them off though if he'd got them on first and it would normally end up with me being seen as the one at fault. I would be in a bad mood all day and couldn't even bear to look at my brother walking along in MY shorts!. I also then refused to wear them again until mum had washed them – at which point she used to go mad at me – saying one day I was complaining that I wanted to wear them and the next refusing to!

Color

As I say my favorite was the green cord shorts. We also had grey ones. hey were alright, but we also had brown ones. The one thing my brother and I both agreed on as far as cords were concerned were that neither of us wanted to wear a brown pair that we had.They were dark brown – or “chocolate brown” as my mum used to call them (probably to make them seem more appealing by associating them with something nice!) - and if my mum had them out there would be a real fight over who was going to wear them. This would normally end up with the both of us getting smacked and then mum grabbing the nearest one – and I swear that nine times out of ten that was me but I couldn't prove it now – and putting the brown cords on to us without any further discussion. At least in this case we were both then in mum's bad books so we didn't try to make fun of each other.

Usage

Besides my green ones and the horrible brown ones ours were grey so I suppose some schools might have worn them. I didn't know it at the time, but sone schools had cord shorts s part of their school uniform. These were motly private prparatory schools. Interesting, our school didn't permit them. For us (or rather me mainly) they were for play.

Wales

I don't recall our cord shorts being anything other than a standard pattern – fairly narrow. I do remember those big chunky cord long trousers but I thought that was years later – and I never bought them as I grew out of my liking for cords. My brother used to claim that the wales (he called them ridges) on the cords' hems dug into his legs when he was trying to get out of wearing them. Mum used to call him her “poor wounded soldier” which drove him mad. I know for a fact that he used to pull the hems up against his leg and then run to show her the impression before it faded but she was never taken in and he used to try all sorts of other excuses.


Bill










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Created: 2:09 AM 7/21/2004
Last updated: 2:09 AM 7/21/2004