Oh pleeeeeease let me have one!!!

Annodomini - I loved my waspie belt which I'd bought in Paris on my first trip. It was never the same after a residential field trip 2 years later. Someone larger than I was asked to borrow it one evening when I wasn't wearing it. We didn't get on at all, she'd always made it clear that I was inferior to her and I normally kept out of her way. I was so surprised, and possibly thought she was being friendlier, we were 17 after all, that I agreed. It came back stretched ...

I also hankered after quite simply a pair of red shoes with maybe a tiny heel. something girlish instead I had to have strong leather 'school shoes' which were worn only for school and if they were still ok for fit I wore them when they were scuffed and old, as 'playing out' shoes. I never got anything remotely fashionable as it was likely to be to fragile to last so ugliness and strength were the order of the day

I would never have bought any, but does anyone remember the shoes with a hollow heel full of water, and goldfish swimming/hovering in the water? I only saw them in a newspaper, but thought what a cruel thing they were.

In infant and junior school days we wore clogs.Shoes were only worn on Sundays and special occasions.So glad when I passed 11 plus as we wore shoes every day at grammar school.
In my teens I loved the twirly skirts made from a complete circle of material.

I had a very wide, buckled waspie and a very tiny waist. Ahhhhh ......

Shoes with heels!
Because I have problem feet I was not allowed high heels until I was a bit older (after my friends anyway).
I think they were about 1.5 inches high with cuban type heels, black and boring. But I thought they were wonderful.
Of course, I later ignored all the advice and wore stilettoes with pointy toes!

First pair of 'grown-up' sandals - ie with peep toes and sling-backs - in dark blue. I was the bees-knees, about 13. I walked to and from the school fete and came home with my feet bleeding! The next sandals were soft, pale pink leather and I never had a blister with them. I wish I still had a pair as wearable as those!
Circular skirts were the fashion in the late '50s. Great for fast and furious rock 'n' roll, though I wasn't allowed to go to dance halls. Had to be content with watching 'Six-five Special' (remember that?) on our little black and white TV. And what about those 'waspies' - elastic belts to accentuate our tiny (?) waists.

I did laugh about the little girl boasting about her lovely jumble sale dress and mum feeling embarrassed. I can imagine mine would have had the same reaction. I think they were called circular skirts, Falconbird, cut on the bias if that's the correct term? I had one too and kept swirling it. Maybe this was earlier, in the 40s, but there was a thing called the clothing exchange where you could buy good used clothes in exchange for own outgrown ones. We went there once and I was exhorted not to tell anyone where my clothes had been sourced. Nowadays lots of people I know readily vaunt their charity shop buys and feel a sense of pride in how they've been clever enough to find great bargains. I often get children's toys from charities and feel very chuffed about my bargains.

I used to go to a lot of Jumble Sales with my mum and we found a lovely dress for sixpence. I was about 8 years old. The best thing about it was that when you twirled around the skirt went out. (Sure you grans all know what I mean.)

I loved this dress and was very fond of telling everyone that it cost sixpence.

Eventually mum said "don't keep on telling people that I bought the dress at a Jumble Sale."

It was my first understanding of my mum being proud and I realised that when we went to a Jumble Sale she hated seeing anyone she knew when she went in.

Don't see Jumble Sales anymore. I guess they have been replaced by Charity Shops. Jumble Sales were a wonderful resource and there would usually be a long queue of people waiting to get in. I bought a child's book about how to speak French and it gave me a bit of a head start when I went to Secondary school.

I remember the Sisters of Charity. They used to go from door to door hoping for donations. They were always silent.

I saw a girl the other day who was about 9 and she had proper heels on of about 3 inches. It looked awful.

Bellanonna No the sisters of charity didn't have those wings on their veils. The only part of the nun you could see was her face and hands. They had tight white things framing their faces, long black veils, heavy black robes down to their feet and a large white breast thing (sorry don't know what they are called) with a crucifix around their necks and rosary beads around their waists. Their convent was an ordinary house in a street near the church. I was always fascinated to know what went on in there and event more fascinated as a small child to see the nuns in Woolworths! I used to wonder what these saintly (?) souls could possibly want in Woolworths. Oh the innocence of children.

Around 14/15 I longed for a pair of slip on shoes having only ever had lace ups and sandals. And wellies of course,and the single pair of wooden soled leather clogs in the early 1940s. I got Clarks slip ons in a mustard leather. I loved them and found a bag and leather gloves to match for my first trip abroad a French exchange. Painful blisters from my precious shoes!
By 17 I'd got heels, of course, first black kitten heels and then my heart's desire: bright red stilettos. I thought them wonderful but didn't feel very secure especially in rain. One wet day I gave up and ran through the city centre in my stockinged feet hoping no one I knew would see me!

My first heels were lovely cream shoes with a rather pointed toe. I loved them, but they were rather uncomfortable and pinched my toes. I bore the discomfort because I loved them so. I think I was 16 and bought them with the wages from my Saturday job in Woolworths. I received the princely sum of 19s 6d., and when we got a pay rise £1.01.

Tanith. I desperately wanted some of those red shoes when I was 10 and after much pestering I got them! I felt so grown up with the little heel!

My first heels came from the late lamented Dolcis chain - red with a little bow, round toes and very little heels. I was so proud of them. When I was 17, I saw a gorgeous pair of cream shoes with what were then called 'Louis' heels and luckily my mum also thought they were gorgeous. They saw me through the first year of University.

There was a dress in the window of our local shop. It was white with deep pink roses over it, and it had a sash to tie at the back. It was the most beautiful one I had ever seen. I must have been 8 or 9 at the time. I needed a dress for the Sunday School Anniversary and pleaded with my mother to let me try it on. She would not, she said it wouldn't suit me and bought a similar style dress with little yellow roses on it instead. The dress disappeared from the window shortly afterwards, and I saw a girl from my school wearing it. I suppose the real reason for me not having that dress would be that we were three sisters, who all needed dresses, and it was too expensive.

My first pair of high heels came from good old Freeman, Hardy Willis. I'd saved up my Christmas money and was determined to get a smart pair of what were quite modest high heels; then came the dreaded moment of taking them home and showing my mother. Panic over, she was ok about it and said they looked sensible. Bit of a put-down, I must say, but I became bolder, and higher, after that.

I was put in Liberty bodices at primary school. I'm surprised at so many of you who mention them as I was sure I was the only girl in the school, in the world indeed, who wore the horrible things. I still managed to get lots of colds, or whatever it was that these evil garments were meant to keep us safe from. I can't imagine our little GDs agreeing to wear anything they'd rather not wear. I think some of our mums were either over protective or very domineering.

Oh I remember those fleecy lined knickers. Ours were navy. PE shorts were navy wool, and had to cover the knees for modestly. They were pleated too. Mine got a bit too short as I grew and a nun seeing me in them said they looked like " neekers" ( she was French) and I must get a new pair. I think mum managed to buy a pair at a school uniform sale. All our stuff had to be bought from the shop in Victoria Street and must have been a nightmare for those of us who were not well off.

Brings it all back, the tales of liberty bodices, cuban heels,net skirt petticoats, gondola baskets etc. We GN are all quite scattered but had very similar things that we remember so fondly. Mum took me to buy my first pair of heels, black cuban, and I thought they were the bees knees. But my first bra! disaster, it was an old one of Mum's, and it was a peculiar shade of pink. Oh the shame, I hated getting changed for PE. When I was old enough, I got a Saturday job in a shop called Shirleys. They sold all sorts of very old fashioned underwear, like long drawers with elasticated legs round the knees, nicknamed passion killers. My school knickers were dark green, fleecy lined and bought large to last, oh the horror

We had a slightly different saying, Falconbird - ask don't get, don't ask don't want.

I was thinking the same thing Nelliemoser. In my case the memories are mixed but on the whole I wouldn't change much of it. Maybe a Catholic education makes people communicative. Maybe another thread would be a good idea.

Going back to the shoes for 39/ll 49/ll and 59/ll I realise that they were quite expensive because my first salary was four pounds ten shillings a week and 39/ll was one pound ten shillings. Hopeless at maths but that sounds like a large portion of my wages, especially as I gave mum thirty shillings for my keep.

It was so great to be earning money and not having to ask my parents for things. There was a saying in the 50s and 60s

"Those that ask don't get."

It seems to me that on GN there are either a disproportionate number of Roman Catholics on here or there was something about the way catholic schools and churches etc, operated in the 1950s,60s and 70s (and long before) that sits very firmly and not always happily in the memory of those who attended them.

Probably a topic for another thread.

I was raised Catholic and when I was 13 my mother bought me an outfit to wear to mass.

It consisted of a tweedy suit, a straw hat with artificial flowers, American tan stockings and cuban heeled shoes.

I guess you will all understand that the shoes were the only part of the outfit I liked.

When I was earning money I bought myself a pale pink suit with a mini skirt and as many shoes as I could afford. Freeman Hardy and Willis sold high heeled shoes for 39/11. 49/ll and 59/ll.

nana I think Cuban heels were named after male (Cuban?) dancers' shoes.
katyK. Did the sisters of charity have those wide winged headdresses/veils ? I found them quite scarey. Our nuns were a French order, so they were mostly French with a few irish sisters. Detention was usually spent learning a French poem. Hence my fairly good repertoire !