Crimes of fashion in the '70's - did your Mum do this to you? Have you done it to yours, yet?

[snigger]

In an act that caused mental scars I carry to this day, my Mum sent me, and two younger siblings, to a party in matching ankle-length tartan nylon frocks, with interesting frills on the shoulders, and a large white ruffle down the front. This would have been fine, were it not for the 6-8 year age gap between us .... even now I shudder.

I was reminded of this today, as I sifted through some old photos and realised DD1 (then 1) and DSD (then 10) had spent the greater part of a family holiday in matching hairstyles - right down to the hair clips.

Is this some form of post-natal vision impairment? Is it correctable?

You have to embrace your past......
If it helps, I have similar photos, of a sort of electric-shocky nylon full length navy affair, with lighter blue flowers, and a beautifully contrasting pale blue crimplene "bib" sort of effect. God, I was a looker, even then.....

ah, there was nothing like being pinned into your new party dress by an over-zealous mother with a sewing machine!

Loving the electric-shocky nylon memory!

I have a particularly fetching school photo of me minus front teeth, in red nylon polo neck jumper, with red/yellow/black tank top over the top with matching hair clip. Nice.

And when I won Little Miss Pontins....(the Brixham heat) in about 1971 (you just didn't realise you were in the presence of such stardome, did you?) I was wearing these red heeled jobbies (except the heels were white) with hooooooooge golden buckles on the front, a puffy sleeved Mrs Thatcher style red and cream blouse with a full length waistcoaty thing over the top.

I wonder if our children will guffaw in the same slightly embarassed way about their Boden frocks?

(the prize, if anyone is interested, was a box of strawberry nesquick and a red plastic teapot)

Me and my mum had matching white crochet dresses with big flowers on them (gold and pink iirc). I'd have been 6 ish and she was 30.

Most of the time I matched with my brother. Same jumper, same Tshirts, same shorts, same short-back-and-sides smart haircut

I'm pleased to say my boys only ever had one outfit the same, when they were 8, 6 and 4. I made sure they never wore it on the same day.

I also have a photo of Bay City Rollers Red tartan flares and matching waistcoat.

I looked hilarious

ooh LFC I have one of those

Profile pics updated with matching jumper photo. Sadly don't have BCR photo here (or crotchet dress)

LFC My friend Jill had some of those flares, but I wasn't allowed.
It still hurts.

My mum didn't often dress my sister & I alike, largely because I always used to get my sister's castoffs.

I do remember one skirt and kipper tie set which my mum made for both of us - mine in a swirly yellow/orange pattern & my sister's in blue - we were only 18 months apart in age and, as the younger, I was better pleased than she was when people asked if we were twins.

I don't think I've done it to my two much, though DD did inherit a pair of tartan trousers from DS & he liked them so much I bought another bigger pair for him.

And there was one occasion when my mum had knitted rainbow striped jerseys not only for my two but for their older cousins which led to this picture... (My two are the ones on the outside)

Rustybear.

I had lots of lovely M&S frocks with swishy skirts when I was little (we had no money but my mum wouldn't buy 'cheap' clothes ), but my favourite was a kilt 'effect' skirt with bizarre thermal vest/liberty bodice attached that I sometimes wore with a good stout aran sweater. However, more often than not, I just wore it as it was. My mum cut my hair and my head looked like a coconut.

My brother's best was the very vibrant and rather too baggy orange pullover my granny knitted. He looked like a withered and mis-shapen pumpkin.

Your mum is a sick (in my boys' sense of the word as superb) knitter, Rusty.

My granny who was handy with a sewing machine also made me a skirt once made from 2 tea towels sewn together. She washed it one day when we went to stay and put it on top of her grill to dry and it unfortunately
got singed

My mum bought some frilly nighties from a catalogue and persuaded my sister and I that they were party dresses! DOn't think I have ever done that.

When ever I went shopping with my mum and I saw something I likes her mantra would be "That's very nice but not very practical is it..." which usually resorted in her buying me something "sensible" (brown) and "easy to wash" (nylon and more than likely to give me repeated static electicity shocks!)

You can imagine what she said when I bought DD(then aged 7) a white coat for school!

Grumpy.... bwwwaaaaaah haaaaa haaaaa - at you looking like a coconut due to your hairstyle and having a brother who looked like a pumpkin on account of his sweater!!

Seriously - DH rushed through to find out what all the snorting was about only to find me close to tears in sheer delight at the image!!!!

Rustybear - actually I really love those jumpers - dh's Mum made him ones like that all through his twenties - they really come in useful in the cold evenings in January!!! The whole family wonder round in them feeling toasty. Unfortunately, on the comical value side of things, none match quite as beautifully as yours did.

I recently bought dd and her cousin matching dresses that my Dad immediately labelled their Mary Quant style dresses....

...
Eeeeeeek - They are really going to rebel badly now, aren't they????

I have a school photo of me in some middle aged looking maroon, nylon trouser suit. Mmmmm
At my sister's 1st wedding in the seventies my brothers wore matching maroon [theme here?] velvet suits with big bow ties.
My two bothers and I had matching royal blue tracksuits in a man made fabric of some kind-think Jimmy Saville in the seventies, but without the cigar and gold jewellry.

Cringe/smirk/rofl at the frilly nighties as daywear

i had a grandmother who liked to knit and sew.
sadly, her eyesight, and skills, were failing her.

i won't go into details, but some of the scars were physical as well as emotional.