'60s and '70s fashion - or is that an oxymoron?

By Paulette Tobin (1/16/00)

The other day I was visiting Central High School here in Grand Forks when I was stopped dead in my track at the sight of a pretty young girl coming down the steps towards me. There was something oddly familiar about her. Then I realized what it was. She was wearing the exact same hairdo that half the girls at Eureka High School wore in 1968.

You remember that 'do. It was short, with bangs (sometimes swept a bit to one side) and a spit curl on each side, with the crown teased and curled. It just goes to show you that mother was right. All fashion does recycle itself after 20 years.

Our own Emily had a haircut several weeks ago that was a total throwback to the 1960s. The sides were tapered to a point that fell below her chin line while the back was layered and cut very short. I thought it was really cute, just like I thought it was really bitchin' the first time I saw it when in junior high school.

I, too, wore my hair short in junior high. At night I would set the top with Dippity Do gel and roll my hair onto huge brush rollers secured with plastic pins (ouch, ouch, ouch) and then tape a side curl to each cheek with Scotch tape. We actually slept in these get-ups, and, yes, it was painful. Sometimes I still had tape marks on my face when I went to school in the morning. I can't remember why I thought this was attractive or necessary.

There are some fashions that no one really wants to see again, like girdles, for instance, and really high high-heeled shoes, nylons that required garter belts, or elephant-leg pants. Really, what were we thinking when we wore these things?

Do you remember any of these styles from our high school days?

--Wigs. Remember the year, I think it was 1971 or 1972, when about half the girls at Eureka High School owned a short-haired acrylic wig? About 99.9 percent of the girls at EHS were wearing their hair long, straight and parted in the middle in those days. I guess the short wigs became popular because they were different. Many girls secured their wigs to their heads by wearing brightly colored head scarves like head bands.

--Poor boy sweaters. These were in when I was in junior high. They were a solid color, with short sleeves and a round neck, and were often paired with an A-line skirt in a tiny print fabric.

--Minis, midis and hot pants. Skirt lengths were all over the place in the early 1970s. I believe I wore all three of these styles - the minis and hot pants only when Mom wasn't looking. My mother sewed about everything I wore and one time she made me a gaucho skirt, a split skirt that ended about six inches above my ankles. I thought I was SO stylin'. Minis and hot pants often were worn with knee-high vinyl boots that were so tight you had to zip them up the side.

--Long coats. I had one in my senior year. It was double-breasted and brown and hung below my knees. Remember the coats that had a zipper so you could detach the bottom one-third of the coat in case you ever wanted to wear a shorter length?

--Peasant dresses. Admit it, you had one. Mine was dark blue with little flowers, floor-length with a big ruffle at the hemline, and had an empire waist, cap sleeves and a scoop neck. Granny boots were optional. If you were really, really hip, you had granny glasses, too. I used to braid my hair wet so it would dry all kinky the next day. This must have been my attempt at being a hippie chick.

--Double-knit pants suits. Call the fashion police! The only good thing I can say about these is they were transitional wear, from freshman year, when we had to wear dresses to school, to senior year, when we mostly wore jeans to school.

--Leather dresses. Another mega fad in high school. I never had a leather dress, but I was totally jealous of anyone who did. Many were cut like A-line jumpers. I don't believe any animals gave their lives for these dresses - most appeared to be made out of vinyl.

--Saddle shoes. I think these were in when I was a senior. I can't remember if I ever had any. Again, it was a throw-back to the 1940s and 1950s.

--Bell bottom blue jeans and elephant leg pants. Some of those bell bottoms and especially the elephant legs must have been about 30 inches around the bottom. In the summer I went barefoot a lot and the back hem of my pants always dragged in the dirt and got all ripped. How attractive could this have been? Also, remember the guys who wore bell bottoms that had vertical stripes?

--Hip huggers. Made for navel gazing.

--Smocks. These were big when we were seniors, and once again it was double-knit polyester rearing its ugly head. Ironic in those days when a girl who admitted being pregnant had to leave high school, half the girls at EHS looked like they were wearing maternity tops.

--Fur coats. Any girl who could get her hands on that old raccoon coat (or any other animal fur) hanging in Grandma's closet was very "in" during our senior year. No one worried about PETA in those days.

I also remember shag hair cuts, CPO jackets, windbreakers, really big huge pointy collars, Air Force parkas, crocheted vests, and guys in wildly patterned and colored nylon polyester shirts or in dark shirts and white ties. Remember how on game days the men teachers would wear red shirts with white ties, our school colors, to support the Trojans? Now that was a real fashion statement.

(Paulette Haupt grew up near Eureka and graduated in 1973. You can email her at [email protected])