Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Fond memories of 90s fashion

Really this will be me remembering my favorite clothes from Jr. High and High School:

In 6th grade I had two pairs of striped jeans, one pink, one red. They had fairly high rises--not high like 70s, but not low low low like every single pair of jeans today. I loved them! I wore them with my pink converse high tops, a dark pink turtleneck with a ballet t-shirt (always with the neck cut off) layered over it.

I also had a pair of dark pink capris that I wore with an oversize sweatshirt and checkered vans. And I had a light pink sweatshirt with two bunnies on it that I really loved.

In 6th (or 7th?) grade I went to London and saw punks, and pink hair and all sorts of stuff I'd never seen before. I didn't become punk, of course, but I started weiring crazy tights--stripes were my favorite--under cuttoff jean shorts or sometimes with mini skirts.

My stepmother was the first person I knew who wore big boots and Levis, so I followed suit. Her boots were way to big for me, but I'd steal them and then wear them to school (with my stripped tights and miniskirts).

Anything with frogs on it: A t-shirt I bought in Quebec that said "CROC, Le magasin qu'on rit" (did I spell "magasin" correctly? I don't think so).

Highschool saw me more in a hippy/grunge phase, espeically when I lived in Maine. Boots, flannel, jeans, corduroy, cut offs, t-shirts, polyester skirts and dresses from the dollar a bag thrift store (oh, bless that place)! A pair of green doc martins that I still own. Army pants.

Lots and lots of floral dresses--a trend that began in middle-school. I wore floral to just about every concert and music competition I attended. Flutists were floral prints. Even now. It's a law.

I also wore shirts and ties, especially bowties--my dad wore them so I'd borrow his. I had a pair of what I called "English buckle shoes" that I wore all the time. A real vintage tuxedo jacket that I still have which is way way way to big for me. A top hat. All kinds of hats, really, but bowlers were my favorite. I collected them. They are all in storage at my uncles, waiting to return to me. Basically I liked to dress in drag. (I mean, have you all seen that picture of Colette dressed in a sailor suit? It's way hot)

I also wore my hair in a bun (ballerina thing), and then I'd wrap all sorts of scarves around the bun to make it look huge and let some off the scaves trail down my back.

I still wear lots of scarves, and suit jackets, though not so boxy. Still like boots, and interesting tights, though now I go for the more fishnet/embellished ones. Still wear floral. I've just accepted it as part of my destiny. Still cut the necks off my t-shirts. Still wear army pants. Navy ones with the buttons in the front and high waist.

I don't wear those big bunchy socks anymore. And I don't cuff/roll up my jeans--though I stopped doing that when Gap came out with "Ankle lenght" jeans and I went to New York and saw that no one there cuffed their jeans. As a rule, my clothes are less baggy.

4 comments:

Jessica Smith said...

oooh floral dresses! i still have all mine. they're still pretty even if unfashionable.

this inspires me to post pictures. i recommend you to do the same :)

i don't think i was nearly as funky as you though. i just had my own "style" until like 9th grade when the teasing got so horrible that i turned into an ordinary catholic schoolgirl.

Jessica Smith said...

lorraine, have you read Siri Hustvedt's book The Blindfold? I know I've recommended it to you before. These thoughts on dressing/cross-dressing make me remember that you must, must read it, esp. since you're writing SIE, you will like it. Or have you read it? I forget what other people have read. I forget what I have read. But I know I read that and it was fabulous.

K. Lorraine Graham said...

You have recommended it to me but I haven't read it yet. Maybe I will get it as a birthday present for myself.

It never occured to me that it was cross dressing, but I realize it now. I totally idolized my father, and every 19th century gentleman hero on screen...

Jessica Smith said...

it'slike $0.30 on amazon... well worth the money! i think that for myself i sprung $1.28 on the hardback when i got it...seriously, you'll like it. it's creepy in a great unique way.