As a kid, I didn’t care too much about clothes – apart from some notable exceptions. As long as my clothes weren’t scratchy or prickly, I didn’t really care!
It’s just as well in a way – being one of 4 kids with a single mum on a pension, we really couldn’t afford the latest fashion anyways.
It was only after I started high school that I truly started to become fashion aware.
On a couple of different occasions in Year 8, I missed the mark fashion-wise and was cut to the quick by comments from my peers.
Over the summer of Year 7 into Year 8, short board shorts were all the rage, for boys and girls. I eventually got a pair of pink ones with navy blue piping and decided to wear them to the school fete, where I learned a hard lesson about dressing appropriately for the occasion. One “friend” turned her nose up at what I was wearing – what would have been okay at the beach was apparently not what I should have worn to a school function (it was probably freezing cold too, but let’s face it when you’re young you have to “look” the part and to heck with the weather!)
Another day I was at the shops with my family (how embarrassment!) and I bumped into another girl, who looked me up and down before making some comment about “blue and green really don’t match”!
It was a bit of a rude awakening. From then on I started to save my meager pocket money to supplement my wardrobe, or asked for clothes for Christmas and birthdays. As a result I usually managed to look okay in Summer – as I had a January birthday – but Winter was much harder!
This photo shows my first ever fashion purchase – a tartan skirt. Very cool, back in 1980. I bought a grey tab shirt and a grey boucle sweater at the same time, and purchased some black espadrilles too – I felt like it and a bit when I wore them! Sadly, there’s no photo of the complete ensemble which was actually quite tasteful (even for that era). Because I was “at home” that day, I wore it with a t-shirt – yellow, never my best colour. But it “sort of” matched the mustard stripe in the tartan – yes, I was obsessively matchy-matchy even right back then. Oh, and it seems I’ve always been fond of kitties 😉 .
Now it’s your turn – when did you first become fashion aware? And what was the first fashion item you ever bought?!
I think it was high school and thanks to obnoxious up themselves girls for me too.
Yeah, what is it with catty girls at high school? Just coz their parents were rich and mine wasn’t!
I have to keep reminding myself to start using the new blog address when I comment. Where’s a post it note when I need it?
I know what you mean – that tripped me up for months when I changed my blog’s name!!!!
I used to quite like ‘nice clothes’ but never a dedicated follower of fashion.
Lurg! Welcome!!!! And on your birthday too!!! xxx
I started to become fashion conscious since starting high school. Unfortunately I’ve been listening to mom’s advise. It was only until when I graduated from uni I started to read Cleo and Cosmos I started to pick up fashion trend and start not to look ridiculous. It was then my friends started to tell me that I had ‘unusual’ fashion sense previously. Doh, why no one ever told me?
I can’t even remember what was the first fashion item I bought! Getting old…
Well, you’re making up for lost time now 🙂
I adored fashion from an early age and I used to sew my own outfits when I was a teenager. When I got my first job at 17 I think I just about blew my entire weekly wage on fashion. I had and still do have an extensive collection of clothing and shoes. Sad thing is I don’t have as many occasions to wear all this clothing these days!
Kathy, I would have been super jealous of you, I *wished* I could sew but failed home ec – I used to swear that as soon as I looked at our sewing machine it would snarl up …
I have always loved dressing up, to this day I find it hard to do casual. I now possess a pair of jeans from Sportscraft, stretchy ones that are really comfortable. So things are on the up x
Actually Rae, I was much the same and didn’t “do” jeans for years either!
Well we would have been good mates because I had no clothes when I was a kid. My mother just didn’t buy us much. It’s had an effect on me now because I still don’t have anywhere near as many clothes as my friends and I’m a cheapskate. We got a new outfit for the show and maybe on our birthdays. I remember friends coming over, looking in my wardrobe and asking where all my clothes were. I’d lie and say they were in the washing. Oh well, I suppose it didn’t kill me.