Monday, August 29, 2011

A little fashion history

I organize by throwing things away.  We have so much stuff come into our house on a daily basis that if an object sits in the wrong spot unused for a few days, I will throw it away.    My mom is fortunately a "saver", because recently I found a bunch of old photos in her basement.  It was fun to go through them with her to not only hear the history of the family but also to look at how fashion has changed through the generations.

Here is a picture of my great great grandparents (on my dad's side) -




It was probably taken around 1920.  I can't believe my mom has a picture that old.  Actually my first thought was, "They could take photographs back then?"  So, I looked it up.  The first fixed image camera was developed in 1839.  Here's another from the early 1900's -




This was their daughter, my great grandmother, Maudie -


Of the same generation, but much later in life, here is my great grandmother on my mom's side (sitting in the middle of the 3 ladies) in church -




Front row Baptists.  A time when everyone still wore hats to church.

Jumping forward a generation, here is one of her daughters, my Aunt Lucile, in 1926 -




She may have been the most fashionable person in our family.  I remember going to her house and thinking she had a lot of jewelry.  It was her fur stole that I showed you in one of my previous posts.  It looks like someone "colorized" the photo, because I don't think color film was developed until the 1940's.


Here is my grandfather Doc.  They said that when he was young he wanted to be a doctor, so they called him Doc.  He ended up owning a gas station.  We probably appreciated the Cokes and bubblegum he gave us more than anything that could have come from a doctor's office.




I love the cars in the background.  The little one being held is my mother. 

Back to the other side of my family, this is my dad (on the left) with his brothers in 1960 -



Nice crew cuts.  It's actually a pretty cool picture with the car and the roses in the background.

And here is my dad's dad -



He's dressed like a farmer, but the only "farm" he had consisted of the racks of potted plants you see behind him.  He was a very sweet man.  One of my favorite relatives.


And here are my parents together (the two on the far right) at their friends' wedding - 


  
I love the dresses all of the ladies are wearing.  So cute and "60's" (although my parents think this photo was taken in 1971).


Move ahead to 1973 and here are the same friends lounging in our house -



My what a difference a few years can make in fashion.  I love the wide collar with the plaid suit that Peggy is wearing, and the striped pants on Dave are great.

Then here is a picture of me on the day my parents brought my baby brother home from the hospital -




I was not happy about having another child in the house, but I do remember loving this striped outfit.  Here's another picture around the same time.  Note the socks on both my dad and uncle -



I do like my dad's red and white checked shorts.


Finally, here are my parents around 1980 -




You could actually wear my mom's outfit today and look current.  When we found this photo, my mom said, "I wish I had kept that dress."

Well, I hope you enjoyed my family fashion history.  I don't think any of them would claim to be the most fashionable of their time, but they tried their best and looked pretty good doing it.

3 comments:

Francesca B. said...

Really cool post! I love old photos, I wish I had more of my own family. Enjoying your blog :)

shervinsworld said...

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Miss Lori Akin said...

love, love, love today's entry...(and love you too!)