What twenty years will do :-)

I spotted an article on crinolines recently...you know, those things young gals now know about from their history books, those flouncing layers of material that were starched and hung sideways from the line to dry to hold your skirt out at its most flattering. While slim skirts, sweaters, weedgens, and little collars for the tops of your sweaters were the everyday norm, out came those starched instruments of torture for special occasions. Here I am, ready for Easter, then 20 years later, dressed in the waaay more comfortable dress of the times.



From the article I found:
It’s 1956 and you’re a sixteen-year old fashion princess waiting to board the city bus for a trip to downtown Omaha. You’re fresh-faced and meticulously neat, but as you hand over your fifteen-cent fare and turn around, you see people nervously sliding over to the aisle seat, making it clear you’re not welcome.

What’s wrong with you? Why does no one want to share a seat? The answer is not malicious prejudice but rather what can be found beneath your new pink cotton full skirt where you are sporting not one, not even two, but three starchy crinolines.

You find a seat and sit down, carefully tucking your skirt behind you and then quickly fling your hands over your knees just in time to keep the skirt from bouncing toward the ceiling of the bus and revealing your underwear. But as soon as you’ve got your knees covered, the skirt springs up on both sides, one side flying into the face of the rider in the window seat. You apologize and work feverishly to contain yourself on one half of a bus seat. Click on the link to read the rest.
http://www.loti.com/50s_fifties_fashion_crinolines.htm