I can remember when women had to wear dresses and skirts, no pants allowed, except on the farm. Riding the bus downtown was the worst, waiting at the stop with the cold wind whirling around those buildings was no fun, this was in the south, I can't imagine how those northern women handled it. Come to court with a pair of pants on and the judge would tell you to leave his court room and come back when your dressed appropriately.
We did not have that kind of thing where I grew up, which was in northern Idaho. Girls did have to wear dresses in school, and of course in church, but other than that, jeans or slacks were completely acceptable, and shorts in the summer months. We had side zip jeans back then, and the slacks either zipped on the side or in the back, there just was no such things as girls/ladies pants that zipped in the front, so people who wanted that daring look, wore mens jeans. Mom would never have let me do that ! In the winter, girls wore leotards under their dresses, or sometimes wore slacks underneath and took those off when they got to school, and most of us that lived in town had to walk to school. I didn’t have leotards, and refused to wear pants under my dresses in school, so I was always frozen walking to school in the winter time. We often went shopping in Spokane, the nearest larger city, and they didn’t have dress requirements either, so people up north didn’t have the same requirements as you had in the south, @Marie Mallery . I had no idea that happened anywhere.
Yvonne, I grew up in Atlanta.GA. so, I'm sure our culture and social etiquette norms were different. By the 1960s things started to change, but not as soon in the court, school or church systems. Also people who went downtown always dressed up, unless they worked downtown at service jobs. Men in dress suits, women in suits or dresses.
There were a lot more women wearing dresses back then, for sure. My mother always wore a dress, even when we went camping and fishing for the weekend, and I think that most of the older women wore dresses, but younger people often wore slacks , pedal pushers, and shorts, although probably not to work unless it was an outside job, or maybe even a waitress. We only had white people there, and I didn’t even see a colored person until I was a teenager, and that was someone who lived in Spokane, and not in Idaho. There are still very few colored people there, although now there are some Hispanics in north Idaho.
Also, most women wore hats to church, my Aunt Emily born in 1905 had a whole closet full of hats, I can still vision them walking to church in their hats and 'Sunday Best attire'.
Blacks in Atlanta in the 50s early 60s also dressed up to go downtown and wore hats too. And every Sunday the streets had lots of black and white walking to church with their kids who were also dressed up. Just reminiscing is all how much things change for every era; this was about the era of seniors now living.
Yvonne, you made me think about another thing that changed, up until the 60s downtown areas were also a place of amusement entertainment and enjoyment. Our parks had benches, walkways and ball fields and always had lots of people visiting. This of course is just a memory of what was.
I recall that collars had buttons, and you always did your shirt up to the top [strangulation] button. Pants were high water--with cuffs--and you wore white socks. Here in the country, black folks still dress up for church, and a lot of the ladies wear their Sunday hats.
Well John maybe Little Abner wore creek jumpers, but not all men did, although they did have cuffs. yes, collars had buttons and from what I know still do.
@John Brunner reminded me of another thing young men did to their pants, mainly jeans, they pegged the legs of their pants to make them tighter. I think we girls did too but not sure.
I remember bank and airline employees wore matching uniforms. And singing celebrity folks dressed in matching colorful attire. Girls always had to wear dress to school but pants under dress in the winter was okay. A film was shown in 6th grade of a young Fonzie looking guy wearing a leather jacket and duck tail hairdo.. Warning most inappropriate attire..this shows you were a thug.. lolol what a joke.
We were always told that you behave as you are dressed, so school, dances and church were dress-up affairs, but we wore jeans for "normal" daily living. My mother was somewhat radical, as she wore pedal pushers most of the time when other ladies were in dresses.