Monday 19 September 2011

Woman 1968

I've been buying quite a few vintage women's magazines lately. I love the old adverts and fashions. This 'Woman' magazine from 1968 is one of my recent purchases, and I love that stripey mini dress on the cover, and the way they've picked out the colours in the side headings.

As I leafed through, I came across an offer for a little girl's dress, 'cut-out and ready to sew'. After a looking at it for a while, it gradually dawned on me that it was a bit familiar. In fact it was remarkably similar to a photo of myself I'd come across recently, when I was putting some old photos away.
I'm the one on the right.
It all fitted. The photo of me is from our summer holiday in Wales in 1968, just a few months after the magazine came out. I could tell it was a dress that my Mum had sewn for me, because of that crazy pink ruffle. I've no idea why she added that. Knowing her, it was probably to add a bit more colour. Maybe we were disappointed with the fabric, because the colourway was called 'Rainbow Pink', but is actually predominantly green. I can well imagine the 6 year-old me, being grumpy about a dress 'not being pink enough'. I look a little grumpy in the photo. My hair is wet, because we'd just had a day on the beach (possibly Barmouth?), and the picture makes me think of the feeling of getting dressed on the beach, still damp and sandy, with clothes sticking, and my mum trying to sort us all out.

Here are a couple more pages from the magazine, to take you back to 1968...
Oh yeah, I bet she knitted those jumpers for the whole family. And has a pet deer.

7 comments:

Ticking stripes said...

Wonderful! I love the price - 10d. How does that compare with magazines today!
What a bit of serendipity - buying just the magazine that your mother had obviously bought!

menopausalmusing said...

I rather like the way that the little girl on the magazine cover is "juggling" fabric samples. You are lucky to have had a mum who could use a sewing machine, we had one at home and mum was always "going to learn" to use it, but it was dad that would get it out if mending was called for.

Unknown said...

Every time I see the variety cereal pack it reminds me of being a kid! I am one of 4 and would have to have been on deaths door to get one of those packs!

This is a really great post, really made me smile! :-)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jane Housham said...

How fantastic to have the photo and the magazine -- very special.
I know it's trite to say it, but when I saw the date on the mag I couldn't help but wonder at the unruffled calm world of woman's magazines just rolling on and on (as it still does) while there was virtually a revolution brewing in Europe and America with Vietnam War protests and leftwing movements everywhere. But you could still 'think yourself slim'! Great stuff.

Sally said...

What a great find... especially since your mother had made you the dress too. Fantastic.

Christine said...

....and a gripping new serial by Dorothy Eden no less...!!! So, a degree of connection to both you AND Mr Kitsch.x x