I was helping my friend the Old Bat pack up some basement boxes for donation, and we came across an outfit: light purple velvet Eisenhower jacket with very broad lapels and great big buttons, and MATCHING SHORTS!"Hot pants," she explained. "They had a moment in the early 70's, and I was on 8th Street at that moment."
"Er, um," I tactfully replied.
"They were called hot pants, and I guess you'd have to say they were part of the reason the 70's were called the decade that taste forgot."
She looked wistfully at the teeny shorts. "I had net pantyhose and tight knee boots for that outfit."
Couldn't stand it any more. "Where did you wear it?"
She smiled. "Out to dinner with my in-laws."
"Why?"
"Well, you know that t-shirt that says I'm the Irish slut your mother warned you about?"
"Yeah?"
"They didn't have those then."
Howling!!
ReplyDeleteI regret to say that I remember hot pants as well.
another great moment in fashion...
DeleteI did have a pair of hot pants, although in my defense I was 6...
ReplyDeleteI think the Old Bat is most definitely a kindred spirit!! My dear mother-in-law, when looking at one our Paris photos said to me: "You actually look quite nice there."
There was dead silence all around and I continued to read my book. This is the same woman who used to tell me every time I gained weight and would provide other tidbits of wisdom. I may have to go find one of those tshirts...
I saw one once in the window of a Celtic Gift Shoppe, but the store was closed, and when I called the next day the woman who answered the phone swore up and down that there was no such shirt. I wondered if her daughter-in-law had planted it... Anyway I am considering having some run off at zazzle.com if I can find the right font.
DeleteI just told your story at my Sunday night dinner. You have now achieved folk-hero status with my family. My children were absolutely hysterical!
Deletelooks like you'll be exploring the zazzle site next!
DeleteHello:
ReplyDeleteA wonderful response! But such a dreadful, tasteless decade in so very many respects. Doubtless it will all be retro fashionable before too long!
Hello, Jane and Lance! I'm afraid you may be right. Very, very afraid.
DeleteToo funny! I think I was still wearing Garanimals in the 70s and missed out on hot pants. I had a shag haircut though, would have been great with the hot pants if they'd stayed in fashion a few more years.
ReplyDeletehi, cate, I forgot about the haircuts, will have to discuss with Old Bat.
DeletePriceless bon mots. When I saw the title-the decade that taste forgot- I knew you were referring to the 70's. I remember begging my mother for a red leatherette maxi skirt and matching bag for my Easter outfit. Very Brady. Need I say more.
ReplyDeletehi, KnitYarns, leatherette? all those poor little dead naugas?
Deletea favorite outfit: 501's, gauzy white cotton blouse with long sleeves and band collar, and a man's suit vest from the thrift store, and whatever the sneaker du jour was. I also remember a black velvet shirt that mysteriously vanished from the back of my chair, still annoyed. Not that it would fit grown-up me now or anything, but still.
ReplyDeleteI would add a pair of blue flower jeans and earth shoes... wait... OMG - it is coming back!
DeleteHa!-- I had a man's vest from the Hadassah shop in New Haven, I think. I asked the shop lady if I could give her $3 for it; she rasped,"Honey, the price is marked". ($4). Wore that literally for years.
DeleteLOL I love this story, too funny! Although the 70s had really questionable fashion, I wish my mother-in-law would have saved her leather trench coat - we were looking at Super 8 videos last year and she was wearing that coat in some of the clips, turns out she got rid of the coat in the 1980s when the big explosive jackets with shoulder pads took over. The nerve! :)
ReplyDeletehi, LR, I think I love just about every 20th century retro look except 80's shoulder pads, and of course hot pants and pioneer clothes. So I probably would have loved that leather coat.
DeleteGoodness, Fred, that is a good story! I can't really remember hot pants, but what does come to mind?- huge bellbottom jeans and hairstyles spawned by Charlie's Angels. It seems there was also an explosion in the men's cologne business. I remember a couple of Christmases my dad was heavily gifted with various bottles that he never used-they were very strong and we were all very allergic!
ReplyDeleteyes, I'm still chortling over the picture of Old Bat calmly dining out in purple velvet hotpants, at table with infuriated inlaws. I also have olfactory memories, mainly of scented stuff bought at fairs. Who knew frankincense was a summer fragrance?
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