Nostalgia Lane

[Horace12]

5 minutes ago, Kawika said:

Who remembers these?... we were a Borax household (in fact I still. use it) Never tried Calgon.

Ancient Chinese Secret

Rosemary DeCamp 20 Muleteam Borax

I remember the commercials well!

[Brucex]

Mum used Omo washing powder in the 1960's. I wonder if it was a subliminal influence on me😀

[Steve]

[Horace12]

2 minutes ago, Steve said:

Each of my grandmothers had one.  Exactly the same.

[Kawika]

20 minutes ago, Steve said:

My grandmother had this... it was around for a long time... it was real work to operate these successfully.  Modern sewing machines are a breeze in comparison.

[teddy0012]

20 minutes ago, Horace12 said:

Each of my grandmothers had one.  Exactly the same.

My sister still has one that our dad restored for her.

[Kawika]

I don't make very many fashion mistakes.... but when I make them... I go big... the 70's into the 80's were my biggest lapses in judgment... starting with the suede fringed vest I was wearing when I was arrested at Berkeley protesting the Vietnam war, to the Famolare Wave shoe (mine were navy blue)... to Nik Nik polyester shirts... and moving into the 80's with Willi Wear jackets with big shoulder pads... nothing really wrong with them but I have rather broad shoulders and the shoulder pads in jackets in the 80's made me look like a cartoon character... my last big mistake was a Gianni Versace ensemble I bought in Rome to wear to a wedding I was invited to while visiting Italy...

[cdadbr]

3 hours ago, Kawika said:

I don't make very many fashion mistakes.... but when I make them... I go big... the 70's into the 80's were my biggest lapses in judgment... starting with the suede fringed vest I was wearing when I was arrested at Berkeley protesting the Vietnam war, to the Famolare Wave shoe (mine were navy blue)... to Nik Nik polyester shirts... and moving into the 80's with Willi Wear jackets with big shoulder pads... nothing really wrong with them but I have rather broad shoulders and the shoulder pads in jackets in the 80's made me look like a cartoon character... my last big mistake was a Gianni Versace ensemble I bought in Rome to wear to a wedding I was invited to while visiting Italy...

My fashion faux pas was more in the upscale area rather then the higher-priced area.  In the earlier 1970s, Levi-Strauss had introduced their "Nuvo" line of jeans.  The brown hopsack weave pants were good in darker brown, but they had some which would make some later golf pants blush.  Yes, I had a pair of them.  When I looked at them in the 1980s, I wondered "What were you thinking?"  But they were in style when I wore them.  All of this was after the "Bell Bottom" and later "Flare" styles.  Those were the days!

[larry]

4 hours ago, Kawika said:

I don't make very many fashion mistakes.... but when I make them... I go big... the 70's into the 80's were my biggest lapses in judgment... starting with the suede fringed vest I was wearing when I was arrested at Berkeley protesting the Vietnam war, to the Famolare Wave shoe (mine were navy blue)... to Nik Nik polyester shirts... and moving into the 80's with Willi Wear jackets with big shoulder pads... nothing really wrong with them but I have rather broad shoulders and the shoulder pads in jackets in the 80's made me look like a cartoon character... my last big mistake was a Gianni Versace ensemble I bought in Rome to wear to a wedding I was invited to while visiting Italy...

Those shoes look just like the ones I had(truthfully I miss those shoes sometimes).

[Kawika]

1 hour ago, larry said:

Those shoes look just like the ones I had(truthfully I miss those shoes sometimes).

They were amazingly comfortable!

[JackFTwist]

14 hours ago, Kawika said:

I don't make very many fashion mistakes.... but when I make them... I go big... the 70's into the 80's were my biggest lapses in judgment... starting with the suede fringed vest I was wearing when I was arrested at Berkeley protesting the Vietnam war, to the Famolare Wave shoe (mine were navy blue)... to Nik Nik polyester shirts... and moving into the 80's with Willi Wear jackets with big shoulder pads... nothing really wrong with them but I have rather broad shoulders and the shoulder pads in jackets in the 80's made me look like a cartoon character... my last big mistake was a Gianni Versace ensemble I bought in Rome to wear to a wedding I was invited to while visiting Italy...

 

10 hours ago, cdadbr said:

My fashion faux pas was more in the upscale area rather then the higher-priced area.  In the earlier 1970s, Levi-Strauss had introduced their "Nuvo" line of jeans.  The brown hopsack weave pants were good in darker brown, but they had some which would make some later golf pants blush.  Yes, I had a pair of them.  When I looked at them in the 1980s, I wondered "What were you thinking?"  But they were in style when I wore them.  All of this was after the "Bell Bottom" and later "Flare" styles.  Those were the days!

Men's fashions from the late 1960s through the 1970s and early 1980s represent an era perhaps best forgotten.  What. Were. We. Thinking? 🤯  Did these wardrobe items serve some functional purpose in the era's discos?  Although I somehow managed to miss owning any real bellbottoms, I had my share of flared slacks and jeans, patterned polyester shirts, platform-heeled shoes, and even a Nehru-collared jacket.  But even in up-scale department stores, it was difficult to find a standard, solid-white or -light blue dress shirt with a button-down collar, much less a pair of straight-legged casual slacks.  (Except maybe in Brooks Brothers, but that was out of my income range.)

Then in the very early 1980s, seemingly out of nowhere, Izod short-sleeve polo shirts and khaki slacks became fashionable again, and The Preppy Handbook came out.  It was a hilarious satire on the dress and habits of the prep school set, but suddenly preppy fashions became widely available in men's stores.  (I still have my first pairs of Bass Weejuns and Sperry Top-Siders.)  By the 1990s, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger had brought that clothing style back with a vengeance.  For professional businessmen, John T. Molloy's Dress for Success (1945) became a runaway bestseller by the early '80s that restored the three-piece suit; rep, polka dot, and foulard ties; and traditional dress shirts to corporate offices and boardrooms.  Our short national fashion nightmare was over.  So let's absolve ourselves of our past fashion violations based on the almost universally accepted grounds that when we were young and foolish, we did things that were young and foolish.

Edited February 19 by JackFTwist

[cdadbr]

2 hours ago, JackFTwist said:

 

Men's fashions from the late 1960s through the 1970s and early 1980s represent an era perhaps best forgotten.  What. Were. We. Thinking? 🤯  Did these wardrobe items serve some functional purpose in the era's discos?  Although I somehow managed to miss owning any real bellbottoms, I had my share of flared slacks and jeans, patterned polyester shirts, platform-heeled shoes, and even a Nehru-collared jacket.  But even in up-scale department stores, it was difficult to find a standard, solid-white or -light blue dress shirt with a button-down collar, much less a pair of straight-legged casual slacks.  (Except maybe in Brooks Brothers, but that was out of my income range.)

Then in the very early 1980s, seemingly out of nowhere, Izod short-sleeve polo shirts and khaki slacks became fashionable again, and The Preppy Handbook came out.  It was a hilarious satire on the dress and habits of the prep school set, but suddenly preppy fashions became widely available in men's stores.  (I still have my first pairs of Bass Weejuns and Sperry Top-Siders.)  By the 1990s, Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger had brought that clothing style back with a vengeance.  For professional businessmen, John T. Molloy's Dress for Success became a runaway bestseller that restored the three-piece suit; rep, polka dot, and foulard ties; and traditional dress shirts to corporate offices and boardrooms.  Our short national fashion nightmare was over.  So let's absolve ourselves of our past fashion violations based on the almost universally accepted grounds that when we were young and foolish, we did things that were young and foolish.

There were Leisure Suits for EVERY pocket book!  Leisure Shirts, too!  The pre-cursors of the 1980s Disco Era when dressing up to look good at the clubs was fashionable.  The discount store items would not work there, but let commoners keep up with the styling trends.

In the 1990s, with the increased emphasis on physical fitness, can't forget the "parachute pants" in all sorts of colors and patterns.  Fashionably baggy, of course.  Pre-cursor of "yoga pants"?

While watching some videos on YT this afternoon, there was an ad for some Lululemon pants where the men in a major downtown area suddenly took notice of some sort of dog whistle signal.  Stood up from where they were, yanked off their slacks in stripper fashion.  Then ran toward the Lululemon store several blocks away.  In one segment, all of these guys in their normal shirts and underwear (pantless) are running across a golf course.  One guy in a foursome sees it and comments "Rookies".

What might the next cycle be?  A return to high-waisted pants of the 1950s?  Or low-rise flares (which allow over-weight men to have a smaller waist size as their "abs" hang over their belt?  LOL

[Ludwick]

15 minutes ago, cdadbr said:

There were Leisure Suits for EVERY pocket book!  Leisure Shirts, too!  The pre-cursors of the 1980s Disco Era when dressing up to look good at the clubs was fashionable.  The discount store items would not work there, but let commoners keep up with the styling trends.

In the 1990s, with the increased emphasis on physical fitness, can't forget the "parachute pants" in all sorts of colors and patterns.  Fashionably baggy, of course.  Pre-cursor of "yoga pants"?

While watching some videos on YT this afternoon, there was an ad for some Lululemon pants where the men in a major downtown area suddenly took notice of some sort of dog whistle signal.  Stood up from where they were, yanked off their slacks in stripper fashion.  Then ran toward the Lululemon store several blocks away.  In one segment, all of these guys in their normal shirts and underwear (pantless) are running across a golf course.  One guy in a foursome sees it and comments "Rookies".

What might the next cycle be?  A return to high-waisted pants of the 1950s?  Or low-rise flares (which allow over-weight men to have a smaller waist size as their "abs" hang over their belt?  LOL

Ugh - leisure suits. The color of the ensemble my parents bought for me is best described as "rust". Most of what I had to wear otherwise were hand-me-downs from my older brothers. One of them had a pair of "elephant" flare bottom jeans - no way was I ever going to wear those ridiculous things. I did at least get a proper three piece suit (custom fit) during my senior year of high school, and somehow a pair of Jordache jeans. I really miss those jeans. I basically have no ass, but that pair of jeans fit me perfectly. 

[Ludwick]

15 hours ago, Steve said:

Similar to my grandmother's. Mom was still using it on occasion until she got to the point where she could no longer live on her own. 

[teddy0012]

5 minutes ago, Ludwick said:

Ugh - leisure suits. The color of the ensemble my parents bought for me is best described as "rust". Most of what I had to wear otherwise were hand-me-downs from my older brothers. One of them had a pair of "elephant" flare bottom jeans - no way was I ever going to wear those ridiculous things. I did at least get a proper three piece suit (custom fit) during my senior year of high school, and somehow a pair of Jordache jeans. I really miss those jeans. I basically have no ass, but that pair of jeans fit me perfectly. 

@Ludwick The leisure suit was an abomination!  It should be expunged from history and never spoken of again😆 - "so let it be said, so let it be written" to quote the Charelton Heston movie "Moses".

I was a bit luckier than you, as I had no older brothers, so no hand-me-downs.  But I do remember in the sixties (when I as a little kid) my parents insisted I wear "buster brown shoes" with knee high socks.  I have a few photos of me at that time, and they still make me want to gag.  In the 1970s and 1980s, I wanted  platform shoes, just like al the other guys but my parents thought (rightly) that they were bad for your feet so no go.  I did have some rather wide flaring jeans - looking back they were like flags and super silly.

[Ludwick]

8 minutes ago, teddy0012 said:

@Ludwick The leisure suit was an abomination!  It should be expunged from history and never spoken of again😆 - "so let it be said, so let it be written" to quote the Charelton Heston movie "Moses".

I was a bit luckier than you, as I had no older brothers, so no hand-me-downs.  But I do remember in the sixties (when I as a little kid) my parents insisted I wear "buster brown shoes" with knee high socks.  I have a few photos of me at that time, and they still make me want to gag.  In the 1970s and 1980s, I wanted  platform shoes, just like al the other guys but my parents thought (rightly) that they were bad for your feet so no go.  I did have some rather wide flaring jeans - looking back they were like flags and super silly.

I always wanted to be taller, but no platform shoes for me, either. A guy at a local shoe store once told my parents I should be wearing custom-made shoes after measuring my feet. Think wide toes but a deep instep, and prominent ankle bones. Pointy-toed shoes are the bane of my existence, as is anything without padding around the ankle. My parents couldn't be convinced that I needed special shoes, so I soldiered on with regular ones, blisters, and scraped ankles. Last year a bout with plantar fasciitis forced me to get orthopedic shoes. Which means I finally got my wish to be at least a little taller. Apart from that, I would call having shoes that actually fit nothing less than life-changing.  Take care of your feet, people!

[Brucex]

Izal toilet paper and similar brands used to be popular with British schools and other public institutions because its sheer nastiness was thought to discourage excessive use and pilfering. It was hard, unabsorbent and decidedly fanny( British meaning) and fundament-unfriendly. It did however provide generations of school children with free tracing paper and it made excellent comb and paper kazoos, provided you didn't mind the whiff of pine disinfectant.

Edited February 19 by Brucex

[JackFTwist]

12 hours ago, cdadbr said:

There were Leisure Suits for EVERY pocket book!

12 hours ago, Ludwick said:

Ugh - leisure suits. The color of the ensemble my parents bought for me is best described as "rust".

OMG -- leisure suits!  I'd completely forgotten those, maybe because I never owned one, perhaps out of some remaining vestige of fashion common sense.  But my light-colored Nehru jacket combined with a dark pair of flared slacks might have passed for the sport coat and slacks counterpart of a leisure suit.

I forgot to mention two other forgettable features of the late-1960s through early-1980s era:  Earth colors and shag carpeting, which was often in olive green and burnt orange.  @Ludwick: I think the latter was a close relative of rust.  People are fully entitled to their own tastes and preferences about color, of course, but olive green and burnt orange/rust were at the very bottom of my list.  Fortunately, my school and office floors were various nondescript and inoffensive shades of brown vinyl tile (which, in retrospect, was probably laced with asbestos) or neutral gray carpeting in muted patterns, not olive-green or burnt-orange/rust shag carpeting.  My least favorite office of that period did have blindingly bright-orange fabric on the cubicle partitions, though. 

I read several years ago that shag carpeting had made a comeback in home decor.  Those people will also probably be wondering what they were thinking 30-40 years from now! 😂  I can't imagine what shag carpeting looks like in "real-estate" beige or gray. 🤔 

Edited February 19 by JackFTwist

[cdadbr]

3 hours ago, JackFTwist said:

OMG -- leisure suits!  I'd completely forgotten those, maybe because I never owned one, perhaps out of some remaining vestige of fashion common sense.  But my light-colored Nehru jacket combined with a dark pair of flared slacks might have passed for the sport coat and slacks counterpart of a leisure suit.

I forgot to mention two other forgettable features of the late-1960s through early-1980s era:  Earth colors and shag carpeting, which was often in olive green and burnt orange.  @Ludwick: I think the latter was a close relative of rust.  People are fully entitled to their own tastes and preferences about color, of course, but olive green and burnt orange/rust were at the very bottom of my list.  Fortunately, my school and office floors were various nondescript and inoffensive shades of brown vinyl tile (which, in retrospect, was probably laced with asbestos) or neutral gray carpeting in muted patterns, not olive-green or burnt-orange/rush shag carpeting.  My least favorite office of that period did have blindingly bright-orange fabric on the cubicle partitions, though. 

I read several years ago that shag carpeting had made a comeback in home decor.  Those people will also probably be wondering what they were thinking 30-40 years from now! 😂  I can't imagine what shag carpeting looks like in "real-estate" beige or gray. 🤔 

Shag carpeting was considered "upscale" as it was "conspicuous consumption" of more yarn than needed to make a suitable carpet.  Had to rake it (there were carpet rakes) before vacuuming it.  Olive green (in the right shade) is a color I like.  Same with the "burnt orange" color (in the darker shades).  Perhaps, though, they were in more places than they should have been, as they tended to be popular and more-upscale than "utility tan" or the current light grays and off-whites.  Darker colors didn't show dirt as much as darker colors did, as my mother would say.  Shag carpet was softer and nicer to lay on, if the need be.  It was a more COLORFUL time back then, unlike now when all vehicles are shades of white, black, and silver!

[Kawika]

There are a lot of stores no longer in business... but one of them that I really miss is Woolworths... you could find absolutely everything you needed and could stop at the luncheon counter for a quick bite if you started feeling a little peckish while you were shopping.

Edited February 19 by Kawika

[teddy0012]

3 minutes ago, Kawika said:

There are a lot of stores no longer in business... but one of them that I really miss is Woolworths... (you could find absolutely everything you needed and could stop at the luncheon counter for a quick bite if you started feeling a little peckish while you were shopping.

We had a Woolworth's about 10 minutes walk from home and as a kid/young teenager, I loved sitting at the lunch counter, having a club sandwich and a large chocolate milkshake (they made great milkshakes).  It closed years ago and in now a branch of HSBC. 

[larry]

Leisure suits 

Aaaarrrggghh 70's flash back.

[teddy0012]

25 minutes ago, larry said:

Leisure suits 

Aaaarrrggghh 70's flash back.

So much of fashion in the '70s should be buried and never spoken of again. Like leisure suits🤮

[larry]

1 hour ago, teddy0012 said:

So much of fashion in the '70s should be buried and never spoken of again. Like leisure suits🤮

Yes that is so true.

[cdadbr]

28 minutes ago, larry said:

Yes that is so true.

One part that should return is the 1" inseam denim cut-offs which some guys wore back then.  Nicely showed thighs with nice musculature.  Looked HOT on the right guy!  Otherwise, 3" inseams were great, too.