My 98 yr told MIL used to wear high heels (of course nylons), GLOVES, and hat to go grocery shopping! Imagine...anybody heard of that before? She is from Alberta prairie country. She never went to town in pants.

When I was a kid women would dress in heels, hats, gloves to go to the CITY (San Francisco). Then the hippies came and SF hasn't been the same since:)

My grandmother always "dresses" for shopping.

This grandmother dresses for shopping, too. My paint clothes to the paint store. Covered in thread snips to the quilting store. Gardening clothes to the garden center. I do try to clean up a little for planned tips, but no longer wear 4 inch heels to grocery shop. I did 44 years ago.

Shoot, I remember being sent off to Germany as a new bride in 1969, by my mother and grandmother from VA, in a suit and white gloves on the plane.
Within 7 years I was wearing *very* short cut-off jean shorts, tank tops, and sandals in Colorado, LOL!! How time changes, sigh. 8-) Now people barely even dress for church.

Jan in VA

I remember dressing up to go to the movies and fly on a plane. My mom made sure we looked good before these activities.

My Grandmother never wore pants either. She always went out with a dress, nylons & low heals.

And we dressed (cocktail) up for the shows in Las Vegas. We were there last month and most were in tank tops and shorts. In the 60's not only did I wear gloves to church but so did my 3 little girls. And of course, hats.

I grew up in NJ, suburb of NYC. My first interviews were with gloves, but no hat. Circa 1962. No pants to work. I was a legal secretary.

My Mother always dressed before Daddy came home from work...out of her houseclothes and into a pretty dress and usually platform heals. I don't think I saw one "dressy" outfit Easter Sunday at church....there were even women in capris...sorry don't like it. Dressing up for some occasions just shows respect..even for yourself.

I never saw my Grandmother or My Maw in pants they never wore them. My Maw never went anywhere without her bonnet. We have one picture of her outside without it on. Wow how times have changed.

My mom is 89 years old and she has never worn slacks. She complains that she's always cold so I bought her a sweat shirt and sweat pants. She wears the sweat shirt over her "housedress" and gave the pants back to me. She does use the Snuggli I bought her and of course her lap quilt. I haven't worn a skirt or dress in 10 yrs!

My dad said his mother used to do her housework with her hat on because she never knew when she would have to go out to deal with one of her sons getting in trouble down on the wharf or somewhere -- but I think he was exaggerating ;) Of course, she never wore trousers and neither did my other grandmother, even though she was quite a bit younger and more modern than Granny.

Granny used to come to town twice a year - once in the spring to get a new hat for summer and once in the fall to get a new winter hat. I have a picture of her pushing Dad in his pram ( 1920 - ish) and she is wearing this gorgeous big-brimmed hat.

Have pictures of my Mum with us two kids walking downtown . She and I ( at 5 yrs old) both had our hats and my brother had his short pants and knee sock.

This was in Victoria BC, Canada

They were doing that in the 50's.

My girlfriend was taking her son to the doctor and she was dressed from head to toe. She even wore white gloves.

Girls couldn't wear pants to school when I was in high school in the '60's, and guys couldn't wear jeans!

I graduated in 1960, and we got to wear pants on Friday to school, there was a girl in high school that wore a blouse and you could see her bra thru the blouse and she became the talk of the school. Wow.. how things have changed....

I do not go to church ,however I do have the BEST,BEST memories of getting a new Easter dress and little shinny shoes, if we couldn't buy a dress mom made one. I at least got a new Easter bonnet and little white gloves and sometimes a tiny little fancy purse came with the bonnet. My brother always got a new shirt and tie. To this day I remember how special it was to be looking our best for church ,and better than best on Easter. The point was NOT to outdo anyone but to be respectful to the lords house and as said above to care enough about yourself to be your best. I am not really that old (Soon 48) but do sometimes feel ancient because of the exceptional good values I was shown as well as taught. How fast the old ways are gone, I could go on and on, how about men removing their hat indoors? hmmmmmm times have changed for sure.

Off the subject of hats. I was in high school in the late 60's and girls were not allowed to wear pants of any kind to school.Well, my sister and I and a group of girls decided we wanted to wear pants to school AND DID !! We were rebels/hippies..whatever!! Anyways, after days or weeks of getting sent to the principals office . We finally won. It was very cold in the winter in Mass.There was really no good reason not to let us.

both of my Grandmas would not wear pants, only dresses or skirts. And they always looked great.

My grandmother never work pants, and my mother Never wore jeans, tho' she did wear pants as they were warmer. I can remember first starting to wear pants to high school in the early 70's.

When you look at old, old pictures way back when, no matter what job the men did, in their pictures, they were always in a shirt and tie, if not a jacket, too. Now, even some wedding pictures are 'casual'.

Being a young girl in the south I was raised in dresses, nylon stockings and heels. Even in high school, we were required to wear dresses or skirts---NO pants were allowed.
When I went to work, I always worked in an environment that required dress code so still had to wear stockings, but could wear pants suits--still was not allowed jeans or casual. When I moved to Florida in 1979 and discovered a church in the keys that was casual, it almost blew my socks off---literally!

Times have certainly changed. I no longer wear stockings and only rarely wear a dress. I wore one this weekend and a hat to a tea and felt so dainty, that it makes me feel a little nostalgic for those grander days.

The latest trend seems to be women shopping wearing sleep pants and strappy tank tops. Sometimes, the creases in the pants suggest they just crawled out of bed and straight to the car.

We went to Vegas for 20th anniv and on a Wednesday evening DH was wearing his tux and I was wearing a black evening gown. We arrived for our dinner resi at Aureole and the maitre d told us how wonderful we looked, how no one dressed up anymore (and this was 9 years ago) and asked: "May I invite you to Swan Court?" We didn't know what that was but he walked us all the way through the restaurant and then went through a curtained doorway into a very dark, romantic area with tables spaced far apart and a door near each. Each door went to a patio area with a bench and chairs bordered by a stream with swans!

We proceeded to have the James Beard tasting menu and a nearly 4 hour dining experience that was absolutely fabulous.

Dressing up can pay off nicely - that was my 1st and only trip into the high-roller perk zone!

They probably did!! Sometimes I wonder if they look in a mirror before they leave the house - did someone tell them they look good like that!

I don't get all dressed up to go out, but I do try to look respectable in public.

Yes I remember those years. Me myself went on a plane with high heals, a hat, gloves and a friend came and gave me a flower button.......very smart but that was only from Johannesburg to Cape Town. My mother used to go to town fully dressed up........yes and then the hippies came.

In the '50s the girls at Women's College in Greensboro, NC (now UNC-G) were required to wear hats if they were signed out to go shopping up town! I think gloves were also required. When I attended later, we were relieved not to have to do that but now I think it's rather nice.

When I was in school in 50's and 60's girls were not allowed to wear pants in school My Grandmother would not let a woman in pants in her house. Things were a lot different then.

Even in the 60's in Indiana, girls were not allowed to wear pants at Ball State Teachers College. In the winter we could wear pants under our dresses or skirts! I rarely wear a dress or skirt now.

I was in high school in the early 1950's when women first began wearing pants, called slacks back then, but only for very casual times never to school, work, parties, dates, or Heaven Forbid, church! After high school I worked in the accounting department of a big time New York City law office where wearing a slacks outfit was 'allowed' when we worked on Saturday, of course, our department was floors away from where any clients would be. I think it was in the 70's when I began wearing pants most of the time and at work pants outfits were something most women began wearing. Today I don't own a skirt and the only dresses I have in my closet are the gowns I wore for when my sons were married.

Cleaning out my dresser the other day and found some half slips, can't remember how many years it's been since I wore them. Threw them out as all the elastic had dried out. Do they even sell slips and half slips any longer?

As for hats I only have some knitted ones for winter wear and the straw one I wear to my Guild's annual Tea which was yesterday, plenty of hats and gloves worn by the members. May in Jersey

All though my school years I had to wear a dress or skirt no pants for the girls. In the winter months it got pretty darn cold waiting for the bus in Minnesota.

Same in Manitoba..not even pants underneath the skirts. When I started teaching in1968, no slacks or pant suits, had to supervise recess outdoors in dresses or skirts.

I can certainly remember when most women "dressed" to go out, even to the grocery store, and wouldn't think of going to"town" or church without a hat.

EAster bonnets and new Easter dress and shoes was the highlight of my life as a kid... loved it when I was "old enough" for a hat - but those days passed real fast...

Remember the nylons with the black seam in the back? How horrible to keep straight, and the little rhinestones at the ankle in back? wow!!! felt like a princess with those, but they "scratched"... uncomfortable to an extent...

Once I reached 16 years old, hats were no longer worn by young girls - just the "old ladies" wore them.... now I'm an "old lady" and would love to go back to those days, but no one wears hats anymore, and in a small town, I'd feel like people would think I'm trying to be a goodie goodie twoshoes if I tried to wear a hat to church...

Oh for the good old days!

:)

And don't forget getting dressed up to take the bus downtown to go shopping when department stores were still located downtown. My mother insisted on dresses, white gloves and clean underwear (just in case the bus was in an accident).

What do you think about the way they dress when they get on
a plane??? Since I was a Stewardess back in the 50's, I can't believe they alow people get on a plane in flipflops!
God forbid of an accident and you had to walk on ashes or slide down the shut! You wonder what they are thinking. Seems they have lost all respect for their own appearance.
I really get discused with flying today and the way people
look. Sorry, I just had to get that one off my chest.






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My mother is 90 and always wears a dress and hose. Her shoes and purses always match. She wears a dress to mow her grass. (Yes we have tried to talk her out of mowing - but none of us can do it right and people you pay don't do it right!). Bet her neighbors wonder what' wrong with her kids when they see her doing that.

She can't believe I wear pants to church and working with 2 year olds - pants are best.

I, was also raised that way, long slips, half slips were not decent, hats , if you were invited to a restaurant for lunch you had to wear one, gloves but what I can't forget are what they called ''manchettes'' that could be translated by half- sleeve. If you wore short sleeves, the nuns wold obligate you to wear these, kind of a fabric tube with an elastic at the elbow and another one at the wrist.

I kind of miss the days of appropriate dressing. I think behavior is influenced by our dress. Not that I always dress "up" but it seemed like a more genteel world. Maybe I date myself.