Anonymous wrote:We all had kids a lot later too. There's something to be said for being 45 and a mom of toddlers vs 45 and a mom of college kids.

Anonymous wrote:Example: Alice from the Brady Bunch with long hair and contemporary makeup. Crazy.

https://www.instagram.com/eilamell/p/C0Jf-PQunw8/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a 1992 millennial with Silent Generation parents who in turn were raised by parents who came of age during the Great Depression. They had some very aging ideas about appropriate fashion:

1. You must wear sheer pantyhose, no bare legs, even if it's super hot outside.

2. Clothing cannot cling to the body. Nobody can know you have a butt. Awkward darts on shirts, though, meant it was a good quality shirt.

3. They loved synthetic fabrics because they grew up having to iron everything. You cannot wear wrinkly clothing, this is a sin as bad as having a crooked part in your hair. (This is also why they loved canned vegetables and frozen dinners, it was seen as a wonderful time-saving invention.)

4. Jeans are only for children and adults who work in the trades.

5. Hair styles were a big thing, as others have pointed out. You only wash your hair once a week, and ideally you get it done at the beauty salon with a wash and set. Overnight curlers were a total thing, with the perm being a big time saver.

If you just washed your hair and let it air dry? Slattern.

Also, short hair after a certain age (30) was de rigeur because long hair was viewed as aging. Bear in mind that lot of actresses had very short hair (Audrey Hepburn) so it was chic, just as we'll all be wearing beachy waves in our hair at the nursing home some day.

What did my parents consider sad, old people clothing? those 1940s victory skirt suits. https://vintagedancer.com/1940s/1940s-victory-suit/

My mother often lamented that nobody wore hats and gloves anymore, and subsequently looked super sloppy. I guess we've all come full circle because I can't believe LL Bean sells jogger-style pajama pants that you can wear outside the house.

I'm 45 and recently went to a meeting with a European head of state in Athleta Brooklyn "ankle" pants, AND the protocol lady (whom I'd met before and was friendly with) asked where I got them because she liked them so much. Frankly, this is what I consider civilized--accepting people as long as they are in clean, presentable, affordable clothing without pretense. I did have heels on. Heels are what we need to totally get rid of next!

You cannot compare American political fashion and European politician fashion. In the photos where you see the Euro politician standing next to the Americans, they look so stylish and effortlessly polished in something like a fashionable jean, leather moto jacket, and casual sneaker--while the Americans are standing there in their Ann Taylor sheath dress, dowdy one inch heels, and their "It's an Important Meeting and I Must Look Like I Mean Business" Emotional Support Blazer. If you insist on dressing like a community banker from the midwest, at least take off your lanyards, people.

Anonymous wrote:Televised aerobics was hilarious and awesome. Anyone remember the Twenty-Minute workout? I used to do that with my mom.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a 1992 millennial with Silent Generation parents who in turn were raised by parents who came of age during the Great Depression. They had some very aging ideas about appropriate fashion:

1. You must wear sheer pantyhose, no bare legs, even if it's super hot outside.

2. Clothing cannot cling to the body. Nobody can know you have a butt. Awkward darts on shirts, though, meant it was a good quality shirt.

3. They loved synthetic fabrics because they grew up having to iron everything. You cannot wear wrinkly clothing, this is a sin as bad as having a crooked part in your hair. (This is also why they loved canned vegetables and frozen dinners, it was seen as a wonderful time-saving invention.)

4. Jeans are only for children and adults who work in the trades.

5. Hair styles were a big thing, as others have pointed out. You only wash your hair once a week, and ideally you get it done at the beauty salon with a wash and set. Overnight curlers were a total thing, with the perm being a big time saver.

If you just washed your hair and let it air dry? Slattern.

Also, short hair after a certain age (30) was de rigeur because long hair was viewed as aging. Bear in mind that lot of actresses had very short hair (Audrey Hepburn) so it was chic, just as we'll all be wearing beachy waves in our hair at the nursing home some day.

What did my parents consider sad, old people clothing? those 1940s victory skirt suits. https://vintagedancer.com/1940s/1940s-victory-suit/

My mother often lamented that nobody wore hats and gloves anymore, and subsequently looked super sloppy. I guess we've all come full circle because I can't believe LL Bean sells jogger-style pajama pants that you can wear outside the house.

I'm 45 and recently went to a meeting with a European head of state in Athleta Brooklyn "ankle" pants, AND the protocol lady (whom I'd met before and was friendly with) asked where I got them because she liked them so much. Frankly, this is what I consider civilized--accepting people as long as they are in clean, presentable, affordable clothing without pretense. I did have heels on. Heels are what we need to totally get rid of next!

You cannot compare American political fashion and European politician fashion. In the photos where you see the Euro politician standing next to the Americans, they look so stylish and effortlessly polished in something like a fashionable jean, leather moto jacket, and casual sneaker--while the Americans are standing there in their Ann Taylor sheath dress, dowdy one inch heels, and their "It's an Important Meeting and I Must Look Like I Mean Business" Emotional Support Blazer. If you insist on dressing like a community banker from the midwest, at least take off your lanyards, people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hairstyles for sure.
But also the idea of any sort of sex appeal was reserved for young, single women in their late teens and very early 20s.
In our mothers’ time, you got married at age 20-24 —and once you were a married woman, your manner of dressing and styling needed to fit in with your new role, which usually included role of mother by age 30. And social media was called TV. Who were the “mothers” on TV at that time? June Cleaver, Donna Reed, Carol Brady,…all women who had short hair set in rollers and wore dresses and “sensible heels” with a simple strand of pearls to the market for grocery shopping.
The era of late-80s nighttime soaps like Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Dallas ushered in a new brand of married woman who could be a mother AND have a spicy side that wasn’t quite so matronly. Even the mid-80s sitcoms brought mothers with a less matronly look and more style/flair like Cosby Show’s Claire Huxtable, Growing Pain’s Maggie Seaver, and even through the portrayal of hippie-turned-mom Family Ties’ Elyse Keaton that accompanied mothers being portrayed as career women.
In this way, I think one can argue that media was definitely driving culture rather than reflecting it.

So as a collective we all agree that short hair is elderly? Yes!

Anonymous wrote:Such an interesting conversation. Another aspect might be that 'aerobics' and working out wasn't really a thing for women until the 1980's. I remember how shocked people were when people like Jane Fonda showed up on TV in leotards! Again, I think it was the idea that women who weren't young weren't expected to be wearing revealing clothing like a leotard -- and in public! It was kind of scandalous! That's why they had things like Jazzercise and that other gym that was just for ladies. I grew up in the 1970's mostly and I remember all the moms seemed to have a pooch and to wear stretch pants. I don't remember either of my parents owning a pair of jeans -- but they were really conservative. Weird thing is that now that my mom has alzheimer's she seems to have forgotten how conservative she is 'supposed' to dress and last time I saw her, she had her eighty year old self wearing black jeans. And she looked good. And comfortable.