Children of the 70s - was your mum a Barbara or a Margot (sartorially speaking) and have you followed her?

[Tollergirl]

Just daydreaming having read a passage in a book about adult women "wafting" around in their dresses, and watched some old Good Life dvds with DD. My mum was definitely more of a Barbara but had friends who seemed very glamorous to me (definitely Margots). I have such fond memories of wearing long dresses to birthday parties when I was little and can vividly remember choosing my first new outfit when I was 5 (having only worn hand me downs until then) - it was a long tiered skirt with an orange tshirt with daisies round the neck. Seemed overwhelmingly wondrous to me at the time but my close friend had chiffon with puffed sleeves which was so much more chic (her mum was French!). I think I've always been a Barbara and am now happy with that as when I've tried doing a Margot I've never really felt like me - she did have some fabulous clothes but somehow I'm more of a jeans/dungarees woman.

This has become somewhat of a nostalgic ramble but I'd love it if anyone else wanted to share ...

Mum totally a Margot, save that she was (and still is) a mad keen gardener so most days at home she dressed exactly like Barbara. The moment she was out of the house though it was Penelope Keith all the way!

I have followed suit in that I like dressing up more than down, but my mum would say I'm far too casual for her tastes. Times change!

My dad was also Jerry. Basically M&J were my parents

What a brilliant thread! My parents were total Margot (and Gerry??) They revolved three couple friends most weekends and got very dressed up and just sat around with wine discussing TV and news etc. It just seemed so easy, uncomplicated but glamorous at the same time, and I'd so love to replicate it now!!

My mum was a Margot morphing into a Margaret (Thatcher). Lots of work suits, expensive clothes (always bought in sale)
I have never been a Margot. As pp I vow once a year to do things like wear lipstick and a dress and even get round to buying them. Then the lipstick dries up and the frock gets ebayed.

My Mum, grandmother and I were/are all Margots. Though I'm a lot more casual than they were.

Was telling a colleague I liked her outfit and said the highlight of a management meeting we both have to attend regularly is checking out her clothes. Some people are just so stylish.

My mum was a Barbara. My parents even dug up their front garden to grow potatoes - only they didn't do it for middle class self-sufficiency reasons, they did it because they were poor. it was however apparently the talk of the street

She never wore makeup, made a lot of her own clothes and wore a lot of bright colours. She made her own wedding dress for £8. I can remember making myself a dress out of our old curtains.

I'm more of a Barbara too - no makeup, not that fussed about clothes either, love crafts. Still like bright colours.

Recently my mum has told me her love of colours came because in her country, after the war everyone wanted something bright so colours were very fashionable after a childhood of worn out clothing.

Hmmm.... definitely not a Margot but not entirely Barbara. Definitely down towards the Barbara end of the scale though. I probably am too although I can Margot if required!

I suspect I am more Tom though 🤔

DM was a Barbara when it came to growing veg, making clothes etc; but definitely a Margot almost an Audrey fforbes-Hamilton the rest of the time. Very proper attitudes. Always wore make-up and had impeccable nails.

I'm definitely a Barbara

Mum was Barbara-ish except that she always wore a bit of makeup. She did have a couple of fabulous Margot frocks for my father’s frequent black tie work do’s.

My father was a total Tom, both in devil may care bloody minded attitude and ability to DIY almost anything.

Rewatched a few recently. They’ve held up pretty well and the detail of the characterisation is wonderful but how Barbara didn’t murder Tom on multiple occasions I will never know.

Definitely a Barbara. I'm more of a Margot, but my sister is a Barbara.

My Mum was a Barbara as well - homemade wine, yoghurt, she made my clothes, was a quilter etc etc. Oddly now she dresses very well but in a very safe way (a lot of navy etc) and barely wears make up. I was dressed very well growing up (think like a small French child) which obviously I hated as I was desperate for things like pink puffball skirts.

On the other hand, I like to think that I'm a Margot, but revert to being a Barbara in my own environment.

More of a Margot dress wise anyway. She had w lot of long floaty frocks, mainly made by my gran

My mother was a Margot in the way she thought of herself as living better than the masses, but we weren't rich so there was a lot of behind the scenes Tom and Barbara penny-pinching. We even grew potatoes in the garden at one point. We had a greenhouse and grew tomatoes as well.

my mum is a margot, she used to dress me as a mini-me, my favourite outfit was purple hot pants and a tabard with a gold sparkly trim and white knee length boots, she is now in her 80s, a mad keen gardener who I have found digging and weeding in designer gear as she has got too distracted to go and change - I too am a margot, never leave the house without full slap and a thought out outfit, I guess my mum just rubbed off on me, my dd is also a margot although I would say that none of us are 'safe' dressers, there is usually a quirk to our style as we all love dressing up and we often look slightly bizzarre when out together.

Margo?

My parents were
Tom and Barbara everyone at the time said so!

I’m much more Margo.

My mum was definitely Margot.
In the '70's early 80's she had a job with a £100 a month clothing allowance which was massive back then. I am a complete clothes addict and definitely take after her.
I can remember her hosting a leather party when I was about 8 and there was a leather a-line patchwork mini skirt which fitted me. It was £££ so I wasn't allowed it but it stayed with me forever
I wish she still had some of those clothes. She always looks lovely even though she's in her 80's now and has Alzheimer's so doesn't go out much, but when she does she still makes an effort.
Her advice to me is to sod it and spend it on clothes while I'm still young enough to enjoy it, my heaving wardrobes would say Ive taken that advice to the extreme!

Neither. My mum couldn't afford nice clothes so wore what she could afford. The 1970s ( and the 50s when she married and the 60s when she was chained to the house) were a very impoverished time. We didn't have a working TV for most of it and although we ddI see the good life it was in black and white!

Mum definitely a Margot. Back in the 70s, my Dad and her used to regularly go to dinner dances. She would wear long, chiffon dresses and clouds of perfume, my Dad had a velvet dinner jacket. You never saw my Mum without full make up and hair styled.

I'm a bit Barbara because I love my jeans, ankle boots and chunky jumpers. But I wear make up & perfume every day and my jumpers are usually cashmere

DD is taking after me. Dresses very casually but expensively, Gant sweatshirts, skinny jeans and £100+ trainers. But she also wears make up every day and rocks a carefully styled messy bun.

My late mother was a very stylish Margot. She always had her hair done every week and always more makeup. She chose her clothes very well and was usually the most eye catching woman in a crowded room.

I am a frumpy Barbara and was probably a great disappointment! But I do make some effort for work.

This is a fab thread 🤩
Mum was a Margot - impeccably dressed hair perfect - never went anywhere without lipstick - looked in mirror every time she passed one 😆
She had a pair of shoes especially for driving in & a "car coat" and driving gloves.
She made amazing clothes for herself & with left over material she would make outfits for me & we went out dressed the same 🙈
She & my father went to cocktail parties regularly and held them at home
We ate casseroles not stew - vol au vent were a staple food as was creme caramel
Not allowed to watch ITV only BBC
She was very slim - yoga and swimming
Couldn't wait for me to be old enough for Nursery School so she could get back to her coffee mornings she told me in later years 😵
I'm an outdoor person - horses & dogs are my passion (and son & hubby obv)
Live mostly in wellies with trainers for work - Nursery School teacher - the irony 😅
But.... I love dressing up - have a ridiculously large jewellery collection and a wardrobe full of maxi dresses
I have to coordinate even when in casual and riding clothes and I too have to stop myself from looking in every mirror on the way past 🤣

No, my mum worked full-time and dressed in a ‘mumsy-but-smartish’ way from fairly young.
I do remember wearing long dresses with frilly yokes for parties, though.