As a boy growing up in the 1970's those are the pages that have most interested me. I also generally had clothes handed down to me which made them not so fashionable as other people. I grew up in Staffordshire in the Midlands.

Primary School

When I went to school I didn't wear school uniform until the comprehensive school. My elementary school didn't requirte a uniform. I do remember, however, the humiliation of being out of fashion when I wore 'drainpipes', trousers with very narrow legs, rather than flares, which I didn't possess. It was also embarrassing when getting changed for PE when I still had white pants, which were obviously seen by others as being childish.

We didn't have a school uniform then, although later it was brought in when my brother was there. That was grey trousers, white shirt and a blue and yellow striped tie. From my memory, and a photo that I have when the headmistress left, I wore shorts during the summer and short sleeved shirts during the summer, not t-shirts at that time. In the winter it would have been long trousers and jumpers. I don't know what would trigger the change--probably a parents decision! In the photo that I mentioned before all the boys are wearing shorts and this was at the end of term in the summer.

I know that we had to have outdoor shoes and indoor ones or pumps, and wellies were all left in the cloakroom, drying ready for going home. [HBC note: "Pumps" of course sound strange to American readersas they are a woman's shoe. The British authors mean black (usually) shoes like trainers (training shoes) but were purely black canvas with a rubber sole.] At school you were given a pair that fitted, and then at the end of the year handed them in to be washed and given to someone else. remember that which means there mustn't have been any allowance for your feet growing during the year.

A lot of elementary schools do have uniforms nowadays. The usual for boys will be dark trousers and a white or blue shirt and tie, or a sweatshirt but these were unheard of when I was small.

I often wore sandals. They were another source of embarrassment when other boys were wearing pumps or trainers. My open-toed sandles were seen as a bit odd, they were often called Jesus boots. I remember brown leather ones with one piece over the foot and one round the ankle. The sandals I remembered were open toed, the other kind I remember as being worn more by older men and not kids, certainly I didn't wear any that I can remember.

Play Clothes

For playing in I usually wore old clothes, and as I said before hand-me-downs. Best clothes were for school and visiting so playing in the garden was for old clothes. This would be shirts in the summer and t-shirts or old trousers in the winter with a shirt and a jumper. I wasn't very sporty and although I had a PE kit for school (white nylon shorts and white t-shirt), I don't think that I would have worn them. The days of wearing football strips for play had not yet arrived.

Comprehensive School

I started wearing a uniform when I started secondary school. My comprehensive school did require a uniform. My comprehensive school uniform was black trousers and shoes, white or grey shirt, green jumper and blazer and green,purple and white tie. It sounds revolting and it was a wide tie which people used to wind round and round so that you ended up with a short stubby thing round your neck. We were actually told that the school had been an all girls school before becoming comprehensive and it was started up by a Suffragette whose colurs were green, violet and white! We didn't have a cap and not everyone wore blazers.

I remember nylon shirts from my early childhood, but they were going out of style. I remember arguing once because I was being sent to school in a green nylon shirt and tie for the school photo. I guess someone still has that photo but I don't. As I got to Comprehensive school most of the other boys were wearing white shirts and I felt awkward wearing a grey nylon shirt. I don't know what it was about them, they texture is so different from ordinary shirts and they have the idea of belonging to poorer children. I had them simply because they were in the family, and being nylon they last longer than cotton, I think they last eternally!

My other memory was of nylon pyjamas which did keep you warm at night. I also remember that when we were doing lifesaving in the swimming pool you had to jump in wearing nylon pyjamas and practise treading water. It was interesting doing something that you usually didn't do.

Scouts

I didn't wear shorts at school but still did for cubs. This was strange but strangely I never thought of questioning it. I suppose it was the last time in society when changing from shorts to longs was part of growing up. Unfortunately I became a scout (and wore long trousers) for just a short time when I left for other interests. I later became a scout leader and was surprised when I saw some of the other leaders wearing shorts at a camp. These are my remembrances of clothes as a child and young teenager when I think impressions amd images are quite strong.

Eddie

Other Personal Experiences

Some other personal experiences include:

Austrlalia
The 1960s
The 1970s
England:
The 1940s
The 1950s
The 1970s
Ireland:
The 1980s
New Zealand:
Various
The 1990s
Norway:
The 1950s
Scotland:
The 1960s
The 1980s (An American boy)
United States:
The 1940s
The 1940s
The 1940s
The 1940s-50s
The 1950s
The 1960s