| Cruisin' the Past |
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| Cruisin’ the Past by Ed Dooley |
What We Looked Like
I mentioned in my October column that a friend of mine here in Lexington recently
looked at our senior photos in the 1960 TORCH and said, “These kids look so
old.” His comment took me by surprise, but when I looked more closely at our
photos, with all the boys dressed in coats and ties and all the girls wearing
sweaters and pearl necklaces, I had to agree with him: we did look “old,” or at
least “mature.” Now, I must add that we don’t look as “old” as the high school
seniors in a 1923 high school annual I inherited from a departed family member,
but we definitely look “old” for our age. We were, after all, still teenagers, mostly
18 years old. But then I thought to myself that those senior photos do not represent
what we really looked like. To see us in our normal attire, you have to look at the
informal photographs in the back of the TORCH, or in the Junior Class section of
the 1959 TORCH, or in the photographs that appear in editions of The Trojan
Trumpeteer. Our senior class photos show us in a kind of costume or “uniform”
that school officials considered appropriate in those days for graduating seniors,
but – as they say – “That wasn’t us.”
A look at our informal photographs reveals the actual fashions of our day, and
those styles rarely included coats and ties, although they often did include
sweaters and pearl necklaces. When it comes to attire and appearance, as with
so much else in that transitional period of the late 1950s, the styles were
changing. During our four years in high school, there was a gradual change from
the dress of the early Rock ‘n Roll 1950s to the “Ivy-league look” or what we
sometimes called the “Joe College look” of the final years of that decade. Pegged
black slacks, pink shirts, cardigan sweaters, poodle skirts, and bobby socks,
although still around, were going out of fashion. Coming into fashion was a
decidedly more conservative, preppie, and “buttoned-down” look.
In fact, it can be argued that teenage fashions in our part of Tucson had always
been on the conservative side. “Back East,” there was a clear divide between the
50s extreme “Greaser Look” -- with its emphasis on Elvis Presley style pompadour
and “Duck Tail” haircuts, black slacks or denim jeans, “glitter shirts,” and
motorcycle jackets for boys, and tight, straight skirts, cardigan sweaters, and
exotic hair styles for girls -- and the more conservative “Nifty Fifties” look of slacks,
colorful shirts, loafers, and white sport coats (with a pink carnation) for boys, and
pleated or poodle skirts, pullover sweaters, and more subdued hairstyles for girls.
The “Greaser Look” never caught on with us, probably because we lived in a
conservative community and we were more influenced by laid-back California
styles than those emanating from “Back East.” As styles evolved in the late 50s,
the conservative look grew stronger, at least among us.
Movies had some influence on how we dressed, especially the many Pat Boone
movies and other early Rock n’ Roll movies, although James Dean’s “Rebel
Without a Cause,” Marlon Brando’s “The Wild One,” and “Blackboard Jungle” didn’
t create a sensation with us at Catalina High School. Perhaps music had more of
an influence on the fashions we chose. By 1958, early Rock n’ Roll, and the
flamboyant styles that went along with it, was being replaced by less frenetic music
like the ballads of the Fleetwoods, a smoother sound called Chalypso, and
something that developed later into “folk music.” Clearly the leader in this category
was The Kingston Trio, who hit the charts in 1958 with “Tom Dooley” and
continued well into the early 1960s. They became the poster group for the time,
not only for their songs but for how they dressed: chino slacks, madras button-
down shirts, loafers, and short haircuts. For the girls, there were many more
influences because of the prevalence of fashion magazines and spin-offs of high
fashion of the houses of Dior and Chanel. And who knows, perhaps even TV’s
“American Bandstand” had an influence.
What, then, do we see when we look at the informal photographs from those
times. Let’s start with the girls. They seem to be evenly divided between those
who wore full circle-skirts or A-line skirts with varying layers of crinoline, and those
who wore column skirts (known to us as straight skirts). The straight skirts could
be of a solid color but seem most often to have been of large plaid patterns. The
circle-skirts and A-line skirts no longer were as exuberant as the older poodle
skirts with crinolines and appliqués, and like straight skirts they were often of a
plaid pattern. Girls wore blouses, sometimes with small shawl collars and
sometimes with cardigan sweaters or back-to-front angora or cashmere
sweaters. Pleated skirts were also very popular and often in the plaid pattern.
(Plaid was definitely “in.”) There were dresses, as well, mainly A-line, and in many
different patterns: stripes, checks, solid. Scarves, as accessories tied around the
neck or over the head (very useful in convertibles) were also popular. Shoes might
include saddle shoes, penny loafers, and sometimes low-cut sneakers, but mainly
they were low heel “flats.” Bobby socks were still seen from time to time, but they
were on their way out. High heel shoes and formal dresses were reserved for
proms and other dances. Hairstyles were generally short; the ubiquitous 50s
ponytail had disappeared. What you don’t see are photographs of girls in blue
jeans (denim jeans), except when Catalina celebrated “Rodeo Week” and girls
were permitted to wear “Levis.” Nor do you see any Capri pants or “peddle
pushers.” Life in high school was still too “formal” for those fashions.
And now to the boys. Here there was more “uniformity.” Haircuts were short, but
the old 50s crew-cut had just about disappeared. The standard dress was dark or
tan chino slacks (a cotton fiber characterized by a sheen) with flapped back
pockets and sometimes a small sewn-in belt and small buckle in back. These
slacks were referred to as “California slacks” or as “Ivy-league slacks.” Some of
the boys regularly wore blue jeans to school, but this was still not commonplace.
Shirts were often short-sleeved or long-sleeved with the sleeves rolled up to the
elbows (not unexpected in a desert climate). As the 60s approached, these shirts
were increasingly made of madras, a lightweight, plain weave fabric, with a muted
striped, plaid, or checkered patterns. Shirts also came in solid colors (usually earth
tones), sometimes in pastels, and occasionally even Hawaiian inspired. Shirts
often had a feature that lends its name to this period: the button-down collar. The
latest fashion was the shirt with buttons on the wings of the collar and a button
centered on the back of the collar. Because of the neat appearance that this gave
and the conservative image it created (“hoods” turned their collars up in the back!),
this period is sometimes referred to as the “buttoned-down age.” There were a
number different shoe styles including standard black or brown leather oxford-style
shoes, but also white and brown saddle shoes, tan suede shoes, and very rarely
white buck shoes (a hold-over from the early 50s) were worn. No one wore blue
suede shoes. Sometimes white socks were worn with black shoes, but this was a
style that was passing. And occasionally, perhaps more on a lark than for any
other reason, boys would wear Bermuda shorts with knee-length socks. When
they did, they drew attention. Needless to say, ties (skinny knit ties were still
popular) were never worn except with a suit or sport jacket, and those were almost
never worn to school. The most prized garment, of course, was the letter jacket,
worn by varsity athletes and, as part of a declining dating ritual of the time,
sometimes given to one’s “steady date” to wear as a symbol of the relationship.
It’s a truism that clothes say a lot about us, and so it was with the Class of 1960. If
you can get past the formal senior class photos that make us look old beyond our
years in outfits that could have been worn by any group of graduating high school
seniors in the 1950s or 1960s – or even in the 1940s for that matter – you may get
a clearer picture of the Class of 1960. Our attire in those old photographs seems
to reveal a conservative and buttoned-down group of 18-year olds possessing a
general sense of optimism about the future and confidence in facing it. I say
“seems,” of course, because we are, after all, just speaking of appearances.
In the next column in this series, I’ll take a look at how we sounded: the language
we used as teenagers. See ya later, alligator…
I mentioned in my October column that a friend of mine here in Lexington recently
looked at our senior photos in the 1960 TORCH and said, “These kids look so
old.” His comment took me by surprise, but when I looked more closely at our
photos, with all the boys dressed in coats and ties and all the girls wearing
sweaters and pearl necklaces, I had to agree with him: we did look “old,” or at
least “mature.” Now, I must add that we don’t look as “old” as the high school
seniors in a 1923 high school annual I inherited from a departed family member,
but we definitely look “old” for our age. We were, after all, still teenagers, mostly
18 years old. But then I thought to myself that those senior photos do not represent
what we really looked like. To see us in our normal attire, you have to look at the
informal photographs in the back of the TORCH, or in the Junior Class section of
the 1959 TORCH, or in the photographs that appear in editions of The Trojan
Trumpeteer. Our senior class photos show us in a kind of costume or “uniform”
that school officials considered appropriate in those days for graduating seniors,
but – as they say – “That wasn’t us.”
A look at our informal photographs reveals the actual fashions of our day, and
those styles rarely included coats and ties, although they often did include
sweaters and pearl necklaces. When it comes to attire and appearance, as with
so much else in that transitional period of the late 1950s, the styles were
changing. During our four years in high school, there was a gradual change from
the dress of the early Rock ‘n Roll 1950s to the “Ivy-league look” or what we
sometimes called the “Joe College look” of the final years of that decade. Pegged
black slacks, pink shirts, cardigan sweaters, poodle skirts, and bobby socks,
although still around, were going out of fashion. Coming into fashion was a
decidedly more conservative, preppie, and “buttoned-down” look.
In fact, it can be argued that teenage fashions in our part of Tucson had always
been on the conservative side. “Back East,” there was a clear divide between the
50s extreme “Greaser Look” -- with its emphasis on Elvis Presley style pompadour
and “Duck Tail” haircuts, black slacks or denim jeans, “glitter shirts,” and
motorcycle jackets for boys, and tight, straight skirts, cardigan sweaters, and
exotic hair styles for girls -- and the more conservative “Nifty Fifties” look of slacks,
colorful shirts, loafers, and white sport coats (with a pink carnation) for boys, and
pleated or poodle skirts, pullover sweaters, and more subdued hairstyles for girls.
The “Greaser Look” never caught on with us, probably because we lived in a
conservative community and we were more influenced by laid-back California
styles than those emanating from “Back East.” As styles evolved in the late 50s,
the conservative look grew stronger, at least among us.
Movies had some influence on how we dressed, especially the many Pat Boone
movies and other early Rock n’ Roll movies, although James Dean’s “Rebel
Without a Cause,” Marlon Brando’s “The Wild One,” and “Blackboard Jungle” didn’
t create a sensation with us at Catalina High School. Perhaps music had more of
an influence on the fashions we chose. By 1958, early Rock n’ Roll, and the
flamboyant styles that went along with it, was being replaced by less frenetic music
like the ballads of the Fleetwoods, a smoother sound called Chalypso, and
something that developed later into “folk music.” Clearly the leader in this category
was The Kingston Trio, who hit the charts in 1958 with “Tom Dooley” and
continued well into the early 1960s. They became the poster group for the time,
not only for their songs but for how they dressed: chino slacks, madras button-
down shirts, loafers, and short haircuts. For the girls, there were many more
influences because of the prevalence of fashion magazines and spin-offs of high
fashion of the houses of Dior and Chanel. And who knows, perhaps even TV’s
“American Bandstand” had an influence.
What, then, do we see when we look at the informal photographs from those
times. Let’s start with the girls. They seem to be evenly divided between those
who wore full circle-skirts or A-line skirts with varying layers of crinoline, and those
who wore column skirts (known to us as straight skirts). The straight skirts could
be of a solid color but seem most often to have been of large plaid patterns. The
circle-skirts and A-line skirts no longer were as exuberant as the older poodle
skirts with crinolines and appliqués, and like straight skirts they were often of a
plaid pattern. Girls wore blouses, sometimes with small shawl collars and
sometimes with cardigan sweaters or back-to-front angora or cashmere
sweaters. Pleated skirts were also very popular and often in the plaid pattern.
(Plaid was definitely “in.”) There were dresses, as well, mainly A-line, and in many
different patterns: stripes, checks, solid. Scarves, as accessories tied around the
neck or over the head (very useful in convertibles) were also popular. Shoes might
include saddle shoes, penny loafers, and sometimes low-cut sneakers, but mainly
they were low heel “flats.” Bobby socks were still seen from time to time, but they
were on their way out. High heel shoes and formal dresses were reserved for
proms and other dances. Hairstyles were generally short; the ubiquitous 50s
ponytail had disappeared. What you don’t see are photographs of girls in blue
jeans (denim jeans), except when Catalina celebrated “Rodeo Week” and girls
were permitted to wear “Levis.” Nor do you see any Capri pants or “peddle
pushers.” Life in high school was still too “formal” for those fashions.
And now to the boys. Here there was more “uniformity.” Haircuts were short, but
the old 50s crew-cut had just about disappeared. The standard dress was dark or
tan chino slacks (a cotton fiber characterized by a sheen) with flapped back
pockets and sometimes a small sewn-in belt and small buckle in back. These
slacks were referred to as “California slacks” or as “Ivy-league slacks.” Some of
the boys regularly wore blue jeans to school, but this was still not commonplace.
Shirts were often short-sleeved or long-sleeved with the sleeves rolled up to the
elbows (not unexpected in a desert climate). As the 60s approached, these shirts
were increasingly made of madras, a lightweight, plain weave fabric, with a muted
striped, plaid, or checkered patterns. Shirts also came in solid colors (usually earth
tones), sometimes in pastels, and occasionally even Hawaiian inspired. Shirts
often had a feature that lends its name to this period: the button-down collar. The
latest fashion was the shirt with buttons on the wings of the collar and a button
centered on the back of the collar. Because of the neat appearance that this gave
and the conservative image it created (“hoods” turned their collars up in the back!),
this period is sometimes referred to as the “buttoned-down age.” There were a
number different shoe styles including standard black or brown leather oxford-style
shoes, but also white and brown saddle shoes, tan suede shoes, and very rarely
white buck shoes (a hold-over from the early 50s) were worn. No one wore blue
suede shoes. Sometimes white socks were worn with black shoes, but this was a
style that was passing. And occasionally, perhaps more on a lark than for any
other reason, boys would wear Bermuda shorts with knee-length socks. When
they did, they drew attention. Needless to say, ties (skinny knit ties were still
popular) were never worn except with a suit or sport jacket, and those were almost
never worn to school. The most prized garment, of course, was the letter jacket,
worn by varsity athletes and, as part of a declining dating ritual of the time,
sometimes given to one’s “steady date” to wear as a symbol of the relationship.
It’s a truism that clothes say a lot about us, and so it was with the Class of 1960. If
you can get past the formal senior class photos that make us look old beyond our
years in outfits that could have been worn by any group of graduating high school
seniors in the 1950s or 1960s – or even in the 1940s for that matter – you may get
a clearer picture of the Class of 1960. Our attire in those old photographs seems
to reveal a conservative and buttoned-down group of 18-year olds possessing a
general sense of optimism about the future and confidence in facing it. I say
“seems,” of course, because we are, after all, just speaking of appearances.
In the next column in this series, I’ll take a look at how we sounded: the language
we used as teenagers. See ya later, alligator…
A White Sport
Coat and a Pink
Coronation
Coat and a Pink
Coronation
