What did you wear in your youth?

Ok, I've smartened up now, put some trousers on. Disrespectful to watch Cenotaph in my boxers.

The iamges of what you ladies wore in the 60's 70's bring back many memories of those times, I had forgotten CND.

In the fifties I made circular cotton skirts.

No pattern needed, just bought 4 or 5 yards of 36 in wide material, and cut two large semicircles from it with 40 inch radius which it was not quite wide enough for, so bits had to be added to get the length in places. Then did some maths and calculated the size of the semicircles to cut out at the top, to give the right circumference for the waist, remembering to allow for the seams. Waistband cut straight across the fabric, and Bob's your uncle. The leftovers made triangular headscarves/neckerchiefs.

Worn with a longsleeved thin jumper, I looked the bees knees. I saved up and bought a waist slip with layers of lacy frills, which made the skirt stand out like a lampshade and frothed becomingly when I danced, displaying my (rather good) legs to advantage.

A problem with circular skirts was the way the material stretched unevenly as it hung, so after a while the hems had to be redone to get rid of the droopy bits.

I too had circular skirts, Elegran, though I didn't go the length of making them myself. 'Paper nylon' petticoats or hooped ones which were a bit hazardous when the hoops started to slide out and tangle round my ankles. And what about those 'waspies' - elastic belts, some of them about 4 inches wide! Pride and joy in the 60s was a black and white checked mini pinafore skirt worn with white polo neck, lacy black stockings and kitten heels. My navy bouclé coat with pink collar and pocket trims was very 'Jackie Kennedy'. I made lots of shift dresses when I went to spend 5 years in Africa, generally worn with Scholls sandals or flip flops.

My favourite item of clothing when I was in my 20s was a mini dress with matching hot pants. I remember spending £11 on it and feeling endlessly guilty at the huge extravagance.

I also used to wear very short mini-skirts with those tight knee-length boots - anyone remember them? They had a firm foot section then skinny shiny floppy PVC tops that you zipped up your leg. I had a white pair and loved them. The matron of the hospital where I was working stopped me in the corridor and forbade me to go on the wards with so much leg showing! But I think it cheered up the male patients!

Jeans, t-shirts and trainers- as we had no uniform. Then I moved to London and discovered Carnaby Street and the markets- mini skirts and dressed (my favourite mini was suede) and flares- hoppy tops.

Yes, I had a Davy Crockett hat too, NanKate and loved it!

At the age of 12 I had my first 'grown up' style dress - a cream and maroon op art dress from Wallis which I wore with white lacy tights and white Courreges boots.

In the mid sixties my mum made me a baby doll type mini dress in tiny flower print, complete with pin tucks and little puff sleeves. It had matching 'bloomers' with lace around the bottom of them and they were longer than the dress. I always wore this outfit with cream tights and black patent Mary Jane shoes. I had my hair cut in a Mary Quant style and thought I looked fabulous! Eeek!

I loved Biba and was very proud of my black felt floppy hat.

Happy times.

Pompa Your description of your hand-made suits just reminded me of Arthur Seaton in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning - one literary hero I would have loved to meet in real life

Knitted tank tops and mini-skirts with white boots and lacy stockings or tights,bright coloured duster coat in orange & yellow big patterns all over it,I must have been visable from miles away ?
Back combed hair and half a can of hairspray thick black eye-liner and nearly white lipstick didn't we all look amazing.

I hit Nairobi in yellow PVC mac, hat and matching wellies. Definitely the bees knees. Oh, it was the rainy season at the time.

This thread has brought back many memories. Often wish I had kept some items, especially a pair of very high, blue metallic, platform boots; the Biba tops with the huge sleeves and loon pants. I also wore a fitted jacket which my mum had had in the 40s.

I had a male friend in the amateur dramatics who wore a bright red duffle coat. I never realised why my mum was happy for me to spend so much time with him, I realise now that he was gay. I was such an innocent then.

pompa, I used to go to Tottenham Royal in the mid-60's. So it was you in the sharp suit! I was the skinny girl with back-combed blonde hair wearing my cousin's high heels that were too big for me.
My friends and I couldn't afford the bus fares so we used to walk the length of the High Road there and back, in the dark. Not sure I would do that now.

Oh NanKate you have just reminded me of my Davy Crockett hat 1955/56 aged 5/6.

I loved it too. I could never make up my mind whether I wanted to be a cowgirl or and Indian squaw .

I remember wearing the Mary Quant Op Art black and white with white patent boots or top hose. Then the Twiggy look. False eyelashes and fake freckles on my nose. I wore mini skirts/dresses before tights were around and had to wear suspies until tights were available. When they did appear I wore bright coloured woolly ones with hot pants.

I was pleased when, in the 70s smocks were fashionable and I bought some Laura Ashley/Chelsea Girl dresses and smocks. I also remember a favourite pair of yellow clogs which I wore to death.

Forgot to add re smocks. This was when I had both DDs and the smocks passed for maternity wear.

Who remembers the Afgan Coat's that smelt like "cats-p--" and the fact that my mum wouldn't let me in the house with mine,it had to stay in the out house.

In the late '60s/early 70s - mini skirts, as short as was decent, cheesecloth shirts, knee high white plastic boots, skinny ribbed jumpers, hot pants I had a flowered trouser suit, then bell bottoms, platform shoes and boots, maxi dresses

Oh, so many of the above at various times - cheesecloth smocks with hand-embroidered yokes and huge sleeves, purple panne velvet hotpants, teensy tiny micros, minis, then maxis with 20+ pearly buttons down the front, then midis, red velvet loon pants. I had a gorgeous mini fun fur that would be bang on trend now. Also a military double-breasted maxi coat that would have passed on a soldier in WW1. My friend and I cut up a beautiful late Victorian crepe dress of her gran's - one of us would wear the long skirt and the other the high-necked pintucked top, with whatever we saw as appropriate. White lips, painted on freckles and black spikes drawn below the bottom lashes. Does anyone else remember alternating cake mascara with layers of flour to make your eye lashes look like fake ones? It's no wonder my eyesight is so bad now! I went to live in Hamburg in the early 70s and it was a fashion desert. All the teenagers there dressed very sensibly and looked askance at me in my red/blue/yellow striped suede ankle-strap platform shoes. I felt like Zandra Rhodes.

Where to start? As an art student I lived in jeans. We sewed up the thighs to get a bell bottom effect because you couldn't buy them in the shops. The cool thing was to wipe our brushes clean on our jeans, so after a few months they would stand up on their own under layers and layers of dry oil paint. I topped the whole look off with a black fake fur coat,

Once I got a job it was Biba all the way with dresses that barely covered my knickers. I loved Biba's rust coloured eye shadow and brown lipstick. Even today I tend to buy the brownest lipsticks I can find. In the 70's it was all platform shoes, Oxford Bags and tank tops. I did have a nice pair of green hot pants that I used to wear to work. (Luckily I had a "creative" job and was allowed to wear daring things like trousers )

Does anyone remember 'bloomer' dresses? That would have been about 1966 I think. It was a shortish smock with matching bloomers which were supposed to be visible. Much prettier than I've made it sound! I wore mine with black beads - Flapper style!

MiniMouse - Yes I remember going to a dance with my friend about 1966. I wore my flower power trouser suit (flared trousers and a sleeveless top) and my friend wore a bloomer dress

I posted about this yesterday, but have just realised it`s not there, so here I go again. I had a really, VERY, favourite bracelet, never knew the correct title, but I called it my "bashed in lead bracelet". It was made of very heavy, dark coloured squareish metal pieces, with a pattern knocked into them, joined together by bits of chain, and I LOVED it! This was late 50s to about 1962.

Oh all of these bring back memories. I remember making clothes-as students we couldn't afford the things we really wanted and it was so easy-little shift dresses that you could run up during the week and wear on Saturday. Even made flared trousers. I also had a blue tartan cape which I loved and later on a long maxi coat with a big fur collar and hem.

I knitted my husband to be a stripy tank top (in 1971). He wore it for years

I was married in a shift dress with shiny sparkly bits in it.
Later I made a maternity dress of white with silver printing on it - that was very short!
But - the thing I thought of first was a striped scarf I knitted when I was ill in bed for a week, used up all my mum's old bits of wool....it was 22 feet long.
Guess what TV programme gave me the idea?