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What did your parents not like you wearing as a child?

116 replies

TazzyDrunk · 22/12/2019 20:34

They didn't like me wearing make up at any time.

OP posts:
AlaskaElfForGin · 24/12/2019 11:58

Ankle bracelets (for reasons stated above)
Bare legs - common
Heels - you'll ruin your feet (she was right)
Hoop earrings - 'we are not a fortune teller' 😳

Apart from that she was pretty ok as long as my boobs and arse weren't hanging out. Teenager in the 80s.

EggysMom · 24/12/2019 12:34

Jeans
Slip-on shoes
Bare legs (common)
Earrings (common)
Anything remotely fashionable

MitziK · 24/12/2019 12:59

@QuickstepQueen No. None whatsoever.

There were also rules about makeup - everything had to be pink, no eyeliner or mascara - no plucking of eyebrows, no concealer or foundation/powder (but freckles were an awful thing - I got called one Sunday morning as an adult to inform me that she'd seen a programme where a woman 'had her freckles burned off with acid' and why didn't I save up to do that), no body hair removal, no moisturiser or body lotion/cream, that kind of thing.

Mind you, daily showers were an abomination perpetrated by foreigners and people with ideas above their station, a bath a week with a hairwash (no conditioner or detangling) was good enough for anybody, apparently. Children didn't have showers at all.

Her usual clothing was a straight skirt with a flowery or pastel coloured t-shirt, American tan tights, a cardigan and flat slip on shoes and a sour expression underneath the cauliflower perm from age 40. This morphed into saggy black leggings instead of a skirt and a fleece jacket instead of a cardigan. She turned up to her own son's funeral and a grandchild's wedding wearing exactly that.

I never understood - photos of her when she was 35 show her wearing red flares, a white poloneck and she had long, thick hair and shaped eyebrows/makeup. And it suited her. Five years later and she dressed like a colourblind pensioner and had the attitudes to match.

QuickstepQueen · 24/12/2019 14:40

@MitziK One of my friends in Sixth form thought mothers wearing jeans was wholly inappropriate - maybe your mum was of the same opinion.

Grumpbum123 · 24/12/2019 14:43

Puffball skirts and anything neon

autumndreaming · 24/12/2019 15:32

Denim shorts that showed your bum cheeks, which I for some reason desperately wanted when I was 15

Heels as a younger teenager

A bra that I wanted when I was 9Grin

Coniferhedge · 24/12/2019 17:44

Back in the late 70’s, early 80’s when I was little I loved Clothkits clothes and I envied a lot of my friends who had crafty Mums who would make them virtually their whole wardrobe. My Mum didn’t have an arty/crafty bone in her body and flatly refused to buy them and make them. Always annoyed me!

frugalkitty · 24/12/2019 19:03

Does anyone remember the knee length nylon socks with little pictures on them from the late 70s? I always wanted them but my mum said they're weren't good for your feet and I had to wear cotton ones. Fair point but I didn't like it at the time.

MitziK · 24/12/2019 19:22

The nylon socks were comfortable right up until the first boil (done in the same saucepan that was used for boiling eggs). Crispy, eggy, and the pictures came off.

I can only assume that they were cheaper in Mothercare than decent socks - or tights. I loved woollen tights, much nicer than blue knees with chilblains on them by January, but I only had one pair (red) given to me by my big sister when I was 4. They were also boiled - and then binned.

Hellokittymania · 24/12/2019 19:26

No restrictions… I wasn’t very mature, and I didn’t like a lot of the teenage clothes my classmates were wearing… I was also very, very small for my age. I loved gymnastics, and I lived in leotards for many many years.

raspberrymolakoff · 24/12/2019 21:46

Anything remotely fashionable or adult.

As PP suggested "Ankle bracelets (anklets?)" I was told they were only worn by prostitutes!

SapphireSeptember · 25/12/2019 04:58

Thankfully my mum didn't care, I became a Goth at 14 and she encouraged it. As a younger kid I didn't dress very well and she encouraged me to be trendy (this was the late 90s.) I'm still a Goth now (aged 31) and I still have the cross necklace she got me for Christmas when I was 15. (It was from Claire's and I have treasured it for years.)
Luckily I wasn't into skimpy/trendy/expensive clothing when I was a teenager, I just liked whatever. My mum has good taste and found nice things in catalogues that I liked.

Deathraystare · 28/12/2019 09:09

Wasn't given much choice - parents got my clothes. Whenever I mentioned getting a blouse/jumper etc it was "Oh yes it is x colour for school isn't it?" Still I didn't go anywhere so did not need much in the way of separate clothes!

Deecaff · 28/12/2019 09:54

Anything fashionable, anything that wasn't cheap. Having more than one of anything- eg 1 skirt, 1 pair of jeans Hmm.

I remember Clothkit clothes- a friend's mum made her them . Was not highly envious tbh.

SlightlyStaleCocoPops · 28/12/2019 09:57

My mum wouldn't let me wear a skirt to school. Had to be trousers.

IrmaFayLear · 28/12/2019 10:00

Wedges. In the last year of primary school some girls had wedges from Freeman Hardy Willis . I was frogmarched as usual to the fusty independent shoe shop and could choose between the two approved sensible shoe styles. I remember one was called "Cordelia" and was especially ugly.

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