Easter 1962. We were at my maternal grandparents house. Gathered for food and fun. Lindsey was eleven and one can tell by her expression she is not happy to be participating. She was way over the notion of ankle socks and Easter egg hunts. The boys are looking dapper in there slacks and blazers. Guy is sporting a bow tie which I think looks especially nice.
Caroline has all the makings of an Easter doll; hat, gloves, and natty little handbag. I doubt that my mother could have kept us in an Easter hat. Mike is the baby and he is in, ofcourse, all white. We are sporting those terrible pixie hair styles. A hat might have covered our terrible hair styles. Mother always told us it was just too much to do up three sets of pig or pony tails. With a brood of five I can certainly understand that. 
The weather around Easter is so unpredictable. Lindsey and I have jackets but Paula and Caroline must be freezing. As I have shopped and looked at all the adorable Easter frocks available today for female children I have observed the dresses are still being made without sleeves or with short sleeves. Today you are offered a tiny sweater to complete the Easter outfit. Tiny sweaters are a good idea so that the female tot doesn't freeze. 
I certainly do not believe that those horrible, little nylon anklets helped protect us from the chill in any way. They may have looked sweet with those patent leather maryjanes, but we all hated them and could not wait to become old enough to dump them. I am sure as soon as photos were made we, like Lindsey, got rid of them and had the blisters on our heels at the end of the day to prove it.
I searched high and low for photos of any of us wearing Easter Bonnets. I think they fell out of fashion in the 1960's. Such a shame. I am sure Katy remembers my forcing hats on her on Easter but somehow they never made it into a photo. I love a good hat. I wear them often. I find myself wearing my hats mostly at the pool or the beach. Sometimes I throw caution to the wind and just sport one around town. Hats make me feel more feminine somehow. I seem to carry myself a little taller. Sometimes a good hat is difficult to find. Easter is the perfect occasion to don a new hat. Hats seem to be more prolific in the stores today. I hope that forecast that more women will be wearing hats. I recently treated myself to three new hats and I am having a difficult time deciding which to wear on Easter this year. All you saints out there rest assured that I will be seated in the back so as not to block your view. Maybe some of you can suggest which hat would work best.
This white hat is simple. I have a bucket head so all my hats tend to have a wide brim. I have a simple shift with blue and green print that this would be perfect with. I have never owned a white hat so I feel quite brave about this one.
This Italian natural straw hat has a very dramatic brim. I see this with a simple linen ensemble. I fear the brim would interfere with communion so I will possibly save this one for a hot summer day when I am too lazy to spend 45 minutes with the blow dryer. Linen slacks and a loose tunic would work just fine on a hot summer day .
This Italian straw is sophisticated, yet fun at the same time. Simple black suit or sheath with black heels and pearls would complete the picture here. The brim is not so intrusive as to cause an accident at the communion rail. I am so looking forward to the spring and summer hat season. Easter seems to be the beginning of new life and a new season in many ways. If we are lucky, Easter day will be sunny and warm. I will be out and about wearing my hats all spring and summer. Don't think I will wear the anklets as I don't think they will work with my pumps and pearls.
Easter always meant a new outfit--hats, gloves, shoes, etc. I remember one year when I was in high school, I wore a soft green suit with beige accessories--LARGE brimmed hat trimmed with tulle, gloves, purse, pumps. I thought I was something else. Most of my hats were the large ones with a few pill boxes thrown in. I, too, love hats and am sorry that wearing one here makes people gawk like I'm from outer space. I love your three new hats but favor the black and white for Easter. Actually, I have a little black suit that it would compliment quite nicely--LOL. I think I need a new hat.
ReplyDeleteTOW. I think if more of us wore our hats there would be less gawking and more laughter.
ReplyDeleteI adore the Italian..it is so Audrey!!
ReplyDeleteI love this picture. I was a tomboy and hated all the frill. My sister Kay, though, loved these dresses dearly and would wear one every day if permitted. She died about a year or so before this picture was made.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it amazing, how clothes can bring back memories? I remember wearing those outfits as we all piled into the car one Sunday that summer. My brother Keath, pictures in the white blazer, just hopped out of the car, ran around the house and jumped in the pool. Floating on his back, fully dressed, he greeted my shocked parents with extedned arms and said, "Isn't it a perfectly wonderful day to swim?" He was then, and is now, the person who can make me laugh more quickly than anyone else in the world.
If you look closely, my frock has a white organdy pinafore. I remember trips to Memphis that summer wearing just the dress, sans pinafore. We still dressed u[p to go to Memphis. And the day always included lunch at the Goldsmith's Tea room and a visit to the book department on the same floor. My parents were generous, but we were never showered with toys. Books, however, were a different matter. Books were treated as necessities. I so loved the trips to the book department at Goldsmith's; we would all go off in our own directions with no time pressure, and then meet back at the cashier's. I don't recall a limit on what books, or how many we selected.
I do remember one time when my mother picked out books for us on a solo trip to Memphis; "For Boys Only" and "For Girls Only". We swapped them, immediately.