Let's start with the fifties.
Contrary to popular belief, we didn't wear saddle shoes and poodle skirts in the mid and late fifties. We did wear bobby socks, most often with white Keds. To clean the shoes (never washed in the machine) we used white shoe polish! Although our skirts didn't usually sport a poodle, circle skirts with scratchy crinolines underneath were popular–the more pouf the better. These came in handy if the teacher was handing out "swats". And, yes, I did get a few with a wooden paddle–most often administered by the male teachers.
I, like most of the girls, wore a ponytail with side bangs and "spit curls''. These curls, right under the temple, were formed with bobby pins or clippies. In a pinch, we used (you probably guessed it) spit.
Hula hoops were a major fad that I embraced fully. I mastered the art and was able to start at my neck, keep it spinning down to my waist, up and down my arms, and finally to my hips.
I had lots of pop-beads. My grandpa gave me a strand of pink ones the day I came home from camp. I think they might still be in my old jewelry box.
Moving on to the sixties.
I started high school in 1960 and finished college in 1968. You might say that I grew up in the fifties and came of age in the sixties.
"Going steady" was sixties version of what my grandchildren call "dating." To mark this commitment, we wore our boyfriend's initial ring, around which we wrapped multiple layers of angora thread or adhesive tape covered with nail polish. Either of these left a large wad on the inside of the ring finger–the bigger the better. When the relationship ended, as they most often did, we had to cut the tape or string off with a razor blade.
Two of my favorite pastimes in high school were TP-ing and bushwhacking. To TP a house, we chose a target, usually a friend, sometimes an enemy, and collected TP for a week or so. Late on a weekend night (curfew allowing), we would sneak up to the house, roll the paper around and over, throw it up in the trees and all around the bushes. The more rolls used, the better the job.
Bushwhacking involved surprising couples on lovers' lane with lights and horns. One of our guy friends, Nick Podoba, actually had a blue police light that he stuck on the top of his car! Illegal, I'm sure. I'm surprised we didn't get arrested or killed by some angry, interrupted lovers. Can you say, coitus interruptus
Although in those days most of the kids were just making out not doing the dirty deed.
On to college, where–being a fashionista–I was all into the fashion fads. I loved white go-go boots and mini-dresses. One of my favorites was a Courrege-style color-block dress with white leather boots. I think my future husband liked that one, too.
Panty-raids were a big deal on campus. Frat boys (at MacMurray one of the men's dorms) would somehow gain entrance to a women's dorm, run frantically into the rooms, tearing open drawers, and snatching what were then called unmentionables. This, of course, was a clandestine activity that could lead to punishment for the participants, who usually wore face coverings. Once, when my roommate and I had a first-floor room in Jane Hall, Blackstock guys chose our window as an entry point–a total surprise to us! We were in bed, curlers in hair, when they threw up the sash causing me to wet my pants.
As a lifeguard and swimmer, I spent lots of time at the pool during my high school and college years. Itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka-dot bikinis may have been popular on the West Coast, but the fad was a little slower coming to the Midwest. I had a few two-piece suits that came just below the navel. Regardless of what I had on my body, I wore a colored swim cap heavily adorned with flowers. These fashion statements did nothing to keep hair dry for us serious swimmers. I even wore one in diving competitions and, of course, for synchronized swimming shows.
These are some of the fads that I embraced. What about you?
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