Did your mother wear slacks?

[grazhina]

OK, if you were born after 1960 you're saying what the heck is she talking about? Of course mom wore pants.

I've been scanning some pages from the April 1942 issue of Good Housekeeping, and there's an article about women wearing slacks, and tips from men on how they should be properly worn. It said also, that the guys were grumbling about the whole thing.

My mother hardly ever wore slacks before the late 60's. My father didn't like her wearing them. Mary Tyler Moore had to fight to let Laura Petrie wear slacks once in a while on the d*** van Dyke show in the early 60's. Of course, once things changed, they changed quickly, and all of a sudden by the late 60's, women in pants were everywhere.

Oh, here's the link to the magazine pix on Picasa.

http://picasaweb.google.com/grazhe

[jujurodgers]

LOLOL i love this question!!! I was born in 61 but i was the youngest of 5 and my mom had me when she was 39....sooo I know what you are talking about! I remember as a child her always telling me how her mom would NEVER wear slacks!!! She died in her 90s and not sure she ever did? LOL but my mom did wear slacks! She was born in 1922

[minifan]

I will say, I am too young to have not worn slacks, but I do remember the Mary Tyler Moore debate...I used to watch the Nick at Nite program when I was younger, and Lucy, Ethel, etc. did not wear slacks until much much later too...Lucy was not even allowed to use the word pregnant...they used the french enciente....

Sorry...I'm a HUGE Lucille Ball fan!!! :angry:

[Shy Spirit]

My uncle is quite old-fashioned - he still thinks women shouldn't wear pants! :angry:

[bookmarm]

I remember my mom going through a "pantsuit" time period.

[pin1056]

I remember my mom going through a "pantsuit" time period.

ewwwww yeah i remember mine wearing 'safari suits' they were all the rage in the UK but i must say I dont think my Dad liked it :angry:

[bookmarm]

there have been some hideous fashion eras in the last 40 years! Maybe longer, but those are the main ones I remember. 57-70 I don't remember as much (except the "gypsy" thing we went through with Fleetwood Mac in my HS days)..

[KathieB]

My mother (1916-1989) never wore anything but a dress or skirt. When I was in college (1959-63) we were permitted to wear slacks under our skirts on campus, but only when the central Illinois winter was at its worst. And slacks were not acceptable in the classroom when I started teaching in 1963, although if I remember correctly, 64-66 or so seemed to be a transition period, where slacks were controversial but more widely accepted (tolerated?).

Ask me how many times a year I wear a skirt now. Ummm ... thinking hard ... maybe a half dozen?

[havanaholly]

My DM (1915-1976) was a bit of a rebel, and I remember her wearing slacks every once in a while, especially when the weather was cold. Later on she was very much into pantsuits when they were in fashion. Living in FL, whenever she wasn't going to work, or staying home, and the weather was warm, her UD was shorts and a halter top! My grandma, on the other hand, wasn't dressed if she didn't put on her corset, drawers, stockings, slip and dress, and then put up her hair.

[lmgervais]

When I was in high school (1980-1984), we had uniforms and had to wear wool skirts every day. BTW, it was an all-girl's school.

My grandmother wore pants eventually, as did DH's grandmother.

[Sherry]

Mine never wore pants in her life. I wore slacks in high school some, but never had a pair of jeans. She wouldn't allow it. The first thing I did when I got to college was go out and buy Levi's!

I do however, have two dresses in a closet, somewhere!

[heidiiiii]

My Mother had me when she was 46 and she was born in 1923 (passed 2001) and she wore slacks. I also remember finding a belt in her underwear drawer that wasnt really a belt..LOL

I wont get into it but I bet you all know what I am talking about.

[jujurodgers]

hey Heidi, you and i are just about the same with moms having us at an older age, and they being born about the same year.....belt? LOLOL My mom passed in 80 when i was only 18

oh and i remember that when i went to regular school, not catholic school anymore, in the 4th grade they had apparently recently changed the rule that you could wear pants...and that was california!

Personally....i love skirts and dresses! not great to work in when i do outside building or animal stuff (goats etc) but I find them so comfy! LOL

[Selkie]

Growing up it was totally against the rules to wear pants to school. Young children could wear ski pants on top of their dresses and skirts for recess but never, ever regular pants.

I never owned a pair of jeans until I was close to my 30's. I don't think anyone in our town did except boys who were doing outdoor work and then they couldn't wear them to school. I never even had penny loafers or sneakers either - only good "sturdy" shoes.

In my growing up family pants were acceptable for gardening and kids playing but they had to "match" your outfit even then but you never went anywhere with them on. Now, I own a couple long black skirts (in different sizes) for when I absolutely "have" to dress up but otherwise it's dress for comfort and cozy - pants only !!!!

Oh and Heidi - that belt - I had my own !!!

[lmgervais]

I remember learning about, but not using, those belts in the mid-1970's!

And, come to think of it, my uncle's wife (originally from Germany) almost always wears a skirt to go out unless she is riding her bike, and she was born in 1936.

[havanaholly]

When I attended UF coeds weren't allowed to wear jeans at all, and only dresses or skirts to class (unless the prof expressly demanded "suitable" attire for fieldwork). Pants were allowed outside the classroom in the library or dorms. In HS & lower grades, absolutely never under any circumstances except PE were girls to be seen in pants, much less shorts! I think the dress-codes were relaxed some time in the late 60s, along about the time dorms went co-ed. Judging by what I was seeing in the public schools around here when I retired, there are no more dress codes; although some of the charter schools are requiring simple, inexpensive uniforms for the kids to wear (plaid skirts & jumpers for the girls, all you Catholic School grads!lol).

[Sherry]

My parents just didn't believe in girls dressing like boys. My Dad's father was English, and even during WWII when nylons were hard to get, he didn't allow his girls to go without them anywhere. They may have been mended, but they at least looked 'decent'. I wouldn't be caught dead in the stuff girls wear now. I don't wear low cut necklines anyway, not suitable for a teacher, but some of these teens are falling out of their shirts and what's not coming out the top, shows at the waistline-even if it is a bulge, not a waist. Blecch!

[CheckMouse]

My mother never wore pants until long after I was married. I finally talked her into trying the pant suits (not masculine) -- and now I think she owns one or two dresses which hang in the closet "just in case" She wears pants all the time, dressy or casual.

[uppitycats]

My mother (1913-1997) never wore pants in her life, and hated it when her rebellious daughter (me) went to college in 1965, came home wearing pants, and gave away all her dresses.

Girls certainly could not wear pants to school in our elementary years (I was born in 1947, so mid-fifties to early 60's). We did have jeans to wear as "play clothes" but would never consider wearing them anywhere but for play.

For that matter, my college hated it that girls (we were "girls", then, not "women", or "young women") were beginning to wear pants everywhere. This was the mid-60's when rebellion was in the air. We "girls" felt oh-so-outrageous when we started wearing jeans every day, even to classes!! gasp!!

At my first real jobs, though -- first clerking in a k-mart, then as a library clerk, it was back to dresses or skirts, nylons, even in Wisconsin winters. Some of us pressed hard to move to pant suits -- Hillary Clinton is a contemporary of mine and was a leader of the movement! and won the battle, so long as the pant suits were "proper suits", coordinated if not matching, with nylons underneath (we discovered knee-lengths pretty quickly! ) (and yes, I know what belt you're talking about...I wore one...the alternatives weren't acceptable for "proper women" either!)

Now I don't own even one dress or skirt. I have dress slacks, but mainly wear jeans, "new" jeans for "dress", "used" jeans for everyday. Fancy blouses for dressing up, t-shirts the rest of the time. And when I look around, mostly that's what I see here in my rural area!

[Silvyr]

I'm rather young, but I've been blessed to have many long-living family members whom I able to spend quite a bit of time with, at least when I was younger!

Both of my grandmothers have worn pants for as long as I can remember. I don't ever recall seeing either of them in skirts or dresses except in pictures - my mother's mother at my parents wedding, and my father's mother when my father was a baby! My mother's mother also has four sisters, three surviving, who all wear slacks and jeans.

My father's mother's mother passed away in the 90s, in HER 90s, but I remember her wearing slacks in her last years.

My mother's mother's mother also passed away in the 90s, but once again I don't ever remember her wearing anything other than slacks.

Finally, my Great-Great Aunt Edna, who I believe turns 97 this year, has only worn pants since she became unable to wear high heels. Aunt Edna has always been incredibly short (a little over four feet, I believe) and wore 4" heels and skirts for much of her adult life.

This is a very fascinating topic, I had always just taken it for granted that all the women in my family, regardless of age, have worn pants for as long as I've known them

[kathyk18]

My mother (1929-2009) didn't wear slacks until the late 60s. I never saw her mother in pants, always little shirt dresses with an apron. My paternal grandmother always wore dresses also, she was a school teacher.

My sisters and I were never allowed to wear slacks to school except under our dresses for warmth when the weather was bad (and we went to public schools). My rather unconventional (in some ways) mother divorced my dad in the early 50s and she raised 3 girls by herself. We didn't have much so mom sewed most of our clothes and dresses were the norm.

Now, I, like a lot of others here, have a couple of dresses in my closet, just in case; but I wear slacks to work almost every day and jeans or sweats when I get home in the evening.

Kathleen

[butlerestates]

This entire thread is hysterical. Man how times have changed. When I was a kid all the women I knew wore pants by then. The big thing in my childhood was women going without bras. My mother never did this and I figure the ones who did regretted it a few years later! :lol:

[Shy Spirit]

I just realised how many people in this thread rarely, if ever, wear dresses/skirts! I wear pants a lot, yes - mostly in the cold weather - but in the summertime, I much prefer to wear skirts and dresses. I hate to wear pantyhose (or bras :lol: ) but there are times when these items are necessary. To me, you can't beat wearing a long flowing skirt for comfort and just to feel good.

[havanaholly]

I do sleep in a nightgown, not jammies... when my feet get cold I can tuck them up inte a fold of nightgown & go back to sleep!

[grazhina]

I own two dresses, the one I wore to my son's first wedding and the one I wore to his second one. The first one doesn't fit. Unfortunately, I gained some weight, rats.