Which decade is the worst in terms of style?

[jamespowers]

three of my uncles were hippies in the seventies...

now they are lawyers.

still makes me smile.

Oh yes. One of my college professors (who was previously at Stanford) talked about how the grungy hippies cleaned themselves up and straightened out when it came time for graduation so they could fit in and make money like everyone else. Love may have been free but they sure wanted to get paid in the long run.

 

[rue]

I just finished reading this thread, so I hope you don't mind if I put in my two cents.

I was born in 1969 (in Los Angeles County), so I remember most of the 70s quite well and I have to say that I don't remember anyone dressing like those pictures. My mom was a flower child (not a hippie) for about a year in 1968 during high school, but by the time I was born she just wore normal clothes and trust me, she always bathed. Obviously bellbottoms jeans were all you could buy, but she never wore the extreme bellbottoms or polyester and neither did my dad. In fact she was always beautifully dressed, even for the time. Another example is my grandfather (her dad) who was born in 1908 and wore Brooks Brother suits until the day he died in 1985. He never wore jeans in his entire life. I'm not defending the 70s, but it wasn't the same decade for everyone.

I vote for the 2000's until now, because as a child and on until the 1990s it was still expected that you would dress appropriately to go to a wedding, a funeral and dine out at a restaurant. In fact I remember that certain restaurants used to have a coat and tie closet for those that would show up without them. Today, it doesn't matter where you go, even Morton's and you'll find some idiot in shorts. Back in the day, they would have been turned away and my husband wouldn't have gotten strange looks in his suit and tie.

Dressing down may have started with the hippies, but pride in dress is long gone today and I miss it.

Sorry for the long post...

 

[jamespowers]

I just finished reading this thread, so I hope you don't mind if I put in my two cents.

I was born in 1969 (in Los Angeles County), so I remember most of the 70s quite well and I have to say that I don't remember anyone dressing like those pictures. My mom was a flower child (not a hippie) for about a year in 1968 during high school, but by the time I was born she just wore normal clothes and trust me, she always bathed. Obviously bellbottoms jeans were all you could buy, but she never wore the extreme bellbottoms or polyester and neither did my dad. In fact she was always beautifully dressed, even for the time. Another example is my grandfather (her dad) who was born in 1908 and wore Brooks Brother suits until the day he died in 1985. He never wore jeans in his entire life. I'm not defending the 70s, but it wasn't the same decade for everyone.

LA was/is definitiely a different animal than we have up here. Hippes were/are everywhere. It took well into the 80s until they were of a diminishing number as they just seemed to keep getting replenished until then. You don't have a correlary of Berkeley near you and that is a good thing or you would have seen what I saw/see.
My parents were far from hippies---in fact they hated them as my father graduated from high school in 1948 and my mother in 1955. Talk about culture shock for them. They lived here all their lives and then this came along.:eusa_doh:
However, I know exactly what you mean about today. There are some really lousy styles. Ugg boots anyone? :eusa_doh:

 

[rue]

LA was/is definitiely a different animal than we have up here. Hippes were/are everywhere. It took well into the 80s until they were of a diminishing number as they just seemed to keep getting replenished until then. You don't have a correlary of Berkeley near you and that is a good thing or you would have seen what I saw/see.
My parents were far from hippies---in fact they hated them as my father graduated from high school in 1948 and my mother in 1955. Talk about culture shock for them. They lived here all their lives and then this came along.:eusa_doh:
However, I know exactly what you mean about today. There are some really lousy styles. Ugg boots anyone? :eusa_doh:

I know what you mean about SF. I used to go shopping there all the time when I moved up the coast later in life, before I moved to this side of the country about 12 years ago. The hippies were still there even then, especially in Haight-Ashbury and as you said Berkeley.

I am embarrassed to admit, I have Ugg Boots But it snows here! I don't wear them out shopping or in public, just to play in the white stuff

 

[jamespowers]

I know what you mean about SF. I used to go shopping there all the time when I moved up the coast later in life, before I moved to this side of the country about 12 years ago. The hippies were still there even then, especially in Haight-Ashbury and as you said Berkeley.

I am embarrassed to admit, I have Ugg Boots But it snows here! I don't wear them out shopping or in public, just to play in the white stuff

Ah, then you know about San Franfreako then.
They wear ugg boots here----in the summer!:eusa_doh: It is a fashion statement more than it is a utilitarian. [huh] Did I mention flip flops too? :eusa_doh:

 

[rue]

Ah, then you know about San Franfreako then.
They wear ugg boots here----in the summer!:eusa_doh: It is a fashion statement more than it is a utilitarian. [huh] Did I mention flip flops too? :eusa_doh:

San Franfreako lol
Flip flops should be for the beach only! As I recall, people were starting to wear them with formal clothing about the time I left.... yuck! That's what I'm talking about. The last decade was horrible and I don't see it getting any better. The people on this site sure give me hope though

 

[The Good]

Not so much style as function, but it just seems that these days, half of everyone doesn't dress for the season around here. On my community college campus, and even at the Inn-N-Out burger and grocery store, I'm seeing guys wearing just t-shirts or sometimes polos with shorts, maybe jeans or cargo pants, or a hoodie with shorts, and one guy even wore sandals, that I can recall. But the point is, there were a lot of folks not wearing jackets or long-sleeved shirts, and many wearing shorts instead of pants. These people have got to be cold, right? It's been below 60 degrees Fahrenheit all day in my area of southern California, and even rained a little, briefly. I for one, could not stand such temperatures if I did not have on the layers I did; t-shirt, light-weight cotton shirt over that, leather jacket over that, jeans, socks, shoes. For that matter, I was still somewhat cold, but still, it perplexes me as to why these individuals dress as they do as the fall starts to become winter. Is this supposed to be a "fashion" thing too, avoiding obviously warm clothing such as jackets and long pants, with such high winds and low temperatures?

Does anyone else see this phenomenon, or am I just a cold, cold person?

 

[Pompidou]

I'm not sure, but I think after you do it enough, you get used to it. Imagine moving from Alaska to Hawaii, and how the Alaskan would feel while the Hawaiians are chilly. Or the other way around - when Alaskans are starting to dress down, the Hawaiians wouldn't even notice a difference - still freezing like crazy. The people who always bundle up when it's cold are always cold when they don't. The people who wear shorts year round aren't noticeably colder. Everyone shivers about the same. Kinda like smokers - they're forced to freeze so often, they laugh at cold weather that leaves people like me absolutely miserable.

 

[The Good]

Hmm, interesting. You've got a point with that. But in my own experience, I'm generally "the coldest person in the group." I tend to dress somewhat warmer than everyone else. Even during the summer I'll wear pants and long-sleeved shirts, not to mention a felt hat... Now, I'm someone who has lived in southern California my entire life, if it means anything. It's generally not too cold down here, apparently.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Does anyone else see this phenomenon, or am I just a cold, cold person?

This is one of the many, many items on my list of Pet Peeves. Our box office is the old style -- you stand on the sidewalk to buy a ticket, and only then do you get to come inside. Between November and March, not a night goes by without some customer shivering in a windbreaker or a sweatshirt griping and moaning about having to stand in line in the cold. No coat, no hat, no gloves, and somehow it's my fault they're cold.

You live in Maine, stupid. Buy a decent coat.

 

[bunnyb.gal]

No different here in London; just this evening I catalogued 1)t-shirt and shorts, 2)more than one uber mini-skirt with thin tights and toe-cleavage baring ballerina flats ensemble, plus several of the hoody/jeans combo, with no other layers. What the...? I'm in my winter coat, with hat, scarf, boots and gloves. And still bloody cold!

On the plus side, I've not seen anyone shopping in their PJ's recently.

 

[Widebrim]

You live in Maine, stupid. Buy a decent coat.

lol

 

[jamespowers]

This is one of the many, many items on my list of Pet Peeves. Our box office is the old style -- you stand on the sidewalk to buy a ticket, and only then do you get to come inside. Between November and March, not a night goes by without some customer shivering in a windbreaker or a sweatshirt griping and moaning about having to stand in line in the cold. No coat, no hat, no gloves, and somehow it's my fault they're cold.

You live in Maine, stupid. Buy a decent coat.

You forgot no brains in that litany.
I am always cold here and I have lived here all my life as well. I have noticed through historical records that the temperatures here have gotten much colder over the last fifty years. I want my global warming and I want it NOW!
Today it was cold so it was pants, long sleeve shirt, Palace boot shop boots, Pendleton jacket, overcoat, felt hat and thick socks. I was still cold! :eusa_doh: There is only so much you can put on and still be able to move around. [huh]

 

[Widebrim]

^^And yet another reason to move to Southern California...lol

 

[jamespowers]

^^And yet another reason to move to Southern California...lol

It is colder there than it used to be in the past as well.:eusa_doh:
The less hippies reason is a pretty good one though.

 

[Widebrim]

It is colder there than it used to be in the past as well.:eusa_doh:
The less hippies reason is a pretty good one though.

But, then, we've got a ton of hipsters/emos down here, too...

 

[jamespowers]

But, then, we've got a ton of hipsters/emos down here, too...

I can stand them better than hippies. Hippies stink.:eusa_doh:

 

[HadleyH]

... still with bashing the hippies here? .... * yawn*

 

[Yeps]

Bashing current fashion a little...
When the weather gets cold it comes time to laugh at the girls going clubbing as they leave my campus. first, the clothes, or lack of clothes, that they wear are rather ridiculous in the first place, and manage to advertise their promiscuity without even being flattering in any way, and being incredibly shiny at that. But also, they never wear coats despite it being freezing by the time they leave, just because there is never somewhere to put coats where they go. It is a sad state of affairs.

 

[jamespowers]

... still with bashing the hippies here? .... * yawn*

Always.