Figure 1.-- Here my brother and myself are wearing our matching mustard Nehru shirts during a trip to Williamsburg, Virginia during 1968. Notice my brother's three corner hat. |
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I came across a family snapshot of myself and it reminded me of the downside of my mother’s attempts at keeping her children stylishly dressed. I had a chuckle remembering them. And it adds a little insight intgo trendy styles during the period for HBC.
I am not certain where to fit this in but thought it would be helpful and indicative of my mother and her attempt to be stylish (though my grandmother sewed clothes to stay stylish into her early-90s). I remember shopping with my mother for jeans sometime when I was around 12-14 years old. She would look around and present styles she thought I would like. On this occasion she chose denim jeans with a slight bell bottom and a drop front like a sailor pants. It seemed to fit and my mother was very pleased with it. It did not take me long to realize that unbuttoning 6 or more buttons to relieve myself was problematic. I was used to zippers or boxer style pants that you just pulled down so relieving myself was quick and easy. Not with these pants. I have a memory of near panic once or twice with these pants if I waited too long. After the second time, I wore the pants on fewer occasions except for when my mother would bring it out for me to wear. On one of those occasions a friend commented that I should wear the pants backwards as the drop front looked like a drop seat. The friend commented about it in front of my mother and when he left she said he was probably correct. She never asked me to wear those jeans again.
In the late 1960s Nehru styled shirts were becoming popular so my mother bought my brother and I matching shirts in a mustard yellow almost orange color. My mother was all enthusiastic about it and I liked that it was different but did not realize how impractical the shirt was. It was short sleeve with two buttons close to each other down the front. I remember thinking what a pain it was to button and unbutton the shirt when I wanted to put it on or take it off. I was glad when I outgrew that shirt.
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