More and more often I find myself in situations where no one is recognizing or relating to my reference to something from another generation. I was speaking in a conference call the other week and mentioned a movie from the 1950s, likely my favorite film from that era. I was attempting to describe my back garden, so hinted at the film "Rear Window," only to see the (thanks to a video call) blank look on my counterpart's face.
"Uh, that film is sort of on my list of movies I need to see," he stated.
At that moment, I realized I was making a lot of incorrect assumptions about people: everyone loves Grace Kelly, everyone knows who Grace Kelly was, everyone likes movies, and everyone knows about the 1950s. Perhaps most important, I recognized that in future I would need to do better at sensing people's age groups; from here on, most of my colleagues and customers will likely be quite a bit younger.
A few days later, I was watching a program on television which involved some students who were planning a school dance with a theme from the 1950s. I started thinking about some of the "themed days" we had in high school, where the student council would announce a "team day" or "50s day" or "Army day," where all the students were invited to come dressed accordingly.
I was never really in to that kind of stuff, but from time to time would participate, if the desire stuck me. In fairness, I was already wearing college team apparel every so often, and once or twice wore my father's army jacket to school, but that was more of a nod to "Combat Rock," the final Clash album.
My sister was a few years ahead of me in school, and was more inclined to participate in such events. She might have actually been on the student council, now that I think about it. However, she tended to take the more masculine approach to the 50s days, rolled up jeans and white button down oxfords. This was pretty close to what the guys would wear, also, expect there were more white t-shirts than oxfords. Of course, one cannot forget that one of the more popular films from that time was Grease, and to this day I think just about every woman born between 1965 and 1975 can not only recite the entire dialog of that film, but can also sing each and every song, along with the choreography.
What was interesting to me at the time is that on those 50s days at school, only one or two girls actually wore poodle skirts. In fact, I did not really know what that was until a particularly attractive girl at school (sorry for the cliche, but yes, she was captain of the cheerleaders) wore one on the given day.
Most of the time on such days, students would raid their parents' closets for suitable stuff to wear. As we all know, not everyone keeps their clothes for ever and ever; either they grow out of them because of size, or they grow out of them because their fashion tastes change. Or perhaps the garments were simply worn out, as they were worn so much at the time.
I suspect that very few girls who actively wore poodle skirts in the 1950s saved them with the idea that one day, when they became mothers, their daughters might need to borrow the outfit for a school function some 25 or 30 years later.
I totally understand that. It never even occurred to me to save all my Star Wars action figures and their packaging so that one day I could sell the vintage toys and make a lot of money. Instead, I played with the stuff, and that is why no one wants my Han Solo that is missing a hand or my C3PO that no longer has a head.
But I digress.
Back in the 1980s in high school, I never asked my mother if she had ever had a poodle skirt, though that likely was more of a relevant topic for my sister to follow up on. But, as I said, my sister tended to wear the mid calf jeans and over-sized oxford, borrowed from my father's closet.
As I was developing my own style later on in high school, I actually was regularly wearing chucks and rolled up jeans, along with shirts with the sleeves rolled up. One evening I was a friend's house eating dinner with their family, when the father commented that he used to wear the same thing when he was in high school, back in the 50s.
I did not take that as a compliment, nor did I did take it as an insult. I just continued developing my own style, which certainly takes some influence from previous generations, though more from music, as those who know me from my boots, jeans, t-shirts, and leather jackets can attest to.
Almost immediately after I watched the tv program about the school dance, I got a message from a friend who mentioned that some kids of some friends of theirs had recently done an 80s themed event, a video or something.
That got me to thinking about what the recent generations have been doing in high school. If those of us born in the late 60s/early 70s had "50s day," did the kids born in the 80s and 90s have "70s day?"
My own nephew was born in 2002 and graduated from an American high school last year. During his time there, I never heard any mention of him having any "themed days" at school, let along an "80s day" or "90s day."
Come to think of it, I never heard my parents talking about having a "30s day" or something when they were in school, either. (That probably would have been a pretty bleak day at school, had they done so, considering the events of that era.)
Although my style really has not changed in the past 30 years, I am not sure how I would react if some teenager came up to me and asked if they could borrow what I am wearing so that they could participate in a theme day at school. The closest I even came to this was one day last summer, when a girl I know walked by wearing a jacket with a Joy Division logo on the back. I was wearing a Joy Division t-shirt at the time, and we got to talking a little bit about the music. The girl is in her early 20s, and since she already had the apparel, there was no chance of her asking me for a loan of my clothes. What was rather positive is that the girl liked the music, and I will one day write a post about how people from all ages who like different genres of music.
Whether we choose to dress as influenced by our music tastes is always a personal decision. Most of the time. I knew a guy in college who dressed as a typical skater for the first 3 semesters of school. Then, spring semester of my sophomore year, just after Christmas break, he returned to campus wearing khaki pants and starched button down shirts of various colors. It raised a few eyebrows, and eventually the guy allowed that his parents had requested (demanded) that he change his attire. Thankfully, he never stopped hanging with his skater friends, nor did he stop listening to the music.
My point here? Nothing really, other than I will continue to wear whatever I want, listen to whatever I want, and above all, continue to watch films with Grace Kelly. If you want to do the same and wear parachute pants to boot, feel free to do so. But no, you cannot borrow my houndstooth pants.
see you out there
bryan
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