Clothing/Cosmetics Archives
The Bikini Boomer ladies, I'm sure that if I cross the chauvinistic line in today's piece, you'll be more than happy to let me know. What would a beach party movie be without Annette Funicello in her bikini? Fortunately, the world of the 60's didn't have to find out. That's because the...
The Miniskirt In the 1960's, America turned its eyes east for inspiration. Specifically, we looked to England. We were very impressed indeed with what the British had to offer. There was the British Invasion in music, there was the suave and immensely popular James Bond, and there was also the fashion world....
Burma-Shave I was a kid who was whisked down Interstate highways at 75 MPH. Billboards had to be huge in order to be noticed. But my older brothers were able to experience a more relaxed and charming way of travel: Being driven down two-lane motorways that passed through rolling countryside that...
Iron-on Denim Patches on Your Jeans Aargh, the frustration. Despite the fact that I spent my youth wearing jeans with knees patched, not one photo! Oh, well . . . Playing was hard work for us Boomer kids. A typical day would involve creating roads in the grassless dirt under the shade tree with our Tonka...
Platform Shoes One thing about the good old human race. They're not afraid to cripple themselves in the name of fashion. Victorian ladies would deform their bodies with corsets that would tighten their waistlines down to an extreme degree. African ladies of culture still shove their shoulders down several inches with brass...
1970's Polyester, Part II Polyester has become the Mark McGwire of the textiles world. Once prized, it has fallen into disfavor. But it has accomplished a comeback, although the very term "polyester" will conjure up mental images of bright blue leisure suits for years to come. In 1950, the Du Pont company introduced Dacron...
1970's Polyester, Part I If there's one thing we Boomers have in common, it was the fact that we likely donned clothing made of the chemical composition known as polyester circa 1973. Once upon a time, feeling the urge for a career change, I fancied myself becoming a full-time freelance writer. But it's a...
The Wet Head Is Dead The Wet Head is dead. Long live the Dry Look. Even though I now comb my hair with a washrag, circa 1976, I must have bought a can of The Dry Look at least once a month. It took a lot of hairspray to hold my baby-fine blond hair...
Nehru Jackets Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, served from 1947 to his death in 1964. He was a good friend of Ghandi, saw his country through the first difficult years of independence from the British, and also tried hard to eliminate the Indian caste system, which assumes that if you are...
Beatle Haircuts It's impossible to overstate the influence the Beatles had on us Baby Boomers. Well, I guess it IS possible, if you mention a certain Son of God ;-). But much more than their mere music affected us. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and within weeks of their arrival...
Joe Namath Wears Panty Hose If ever a sports personality was perfect for selling stuff on TV commercials, it was Broadway Joe. Men loved him because he was a pretty darned great athlete, one who put the AFL on even ground with the NFL by beating the Colts in Super Bowl III. And the ladies...
Coonskin Caps One day hundreds of years ago, a Native American had a close look at the raccoon he had just killed. It may have been a wintry day, and his head may have been cold. As he skinned the creature in preparation for cooking, he may have noticed the the furry...
Leisure Suits Ah, the 70's. It was a decade following the most tumultuous social uprisings in the 20th century. There was a real fear of anarchy breaking out from the protests, as well as the continued fear caused by the Cold War. By the middle of the decade, though, things had settled...
PF Flyers The ultimate shoe for a second-grader to have on his feet in 1967 was the PF Flyer. It was a known scientific fact that we learned from its endless TV ads that you could simply run faster and jump higher with a pair of these beauties on than with a...
Lucky Tiger Hair Tonic Today, I'm known as the bald guy. In fact, when I incorporated my website design business, it became known as The Bald Guy Enterprises, Inc. But go back to circa 1968, and when I got spiffied up, my luxuriant blonde hair was coated in a generous slathering of Lucky Tiger...
Bell Bottoms Ah, bell bottoms, those monstrously impractical yet completely irresistible flared pants. This fashion statement came straight from the good old U.S. Navy. Supposedly, the reasoning behind them was that the flared opening made the trousers easier to jettison in case you fell overboard. Then, they could be filled with air...
You may use any images you find on my site on your own personal site. COPY the images to your own server, PLEASE. If you link directly, you will likely get a logo encouraging others to visit I Remember JFK instead of the graphic that you expected. In return, I request that you include a link back to I Remember JFK. Fair enough?
Boomer Review: Scrambled Leggs:
My kind of book is the type that grabs you and forces you to read it when you should really be doing other tasks. I would say that perhaps one out of five books I read affects me this way. The ratio is that high because I stick with the...
Recent Posts
Recent Comments