A Pause for Softness in the Seventies



Betsey Clark

Who remembers Betsey Clark Hallmark cards? I loved them, the quiet simplicity.  Betsey Clark had her own style lifting us into the prairie look with her simple drawings.  It's important to note she was "kicked out" of many art classes before venturing our on her own.  Everyone else was gaga over Hollie Hobbie but I loved Betsey Clark.  The pastel little figurines neither really smiling or sad.  It was better than Hollie Hobbie who hardly ever showed her face due to her calico prairie bonnet.  It was the beginning of the Little House on the Prairie series on TV.  I read all the Laura Ingalls books in sequence during a tough year at school.  My worst yet.

Laura Ingalls could bring you back in time and with Garth Williams as her illustrator did justice to the quality and simplicity of her amazing journey about life on the prairie as cover wagons traversed across our country in the 1800s..  It was my personal soap opera in a book series.  Thank you Laura Ingalls for taking the time to write your story and let us share your thoughts, your feelings, and your way of life so many years later.  The series is like a movie so good you think about it the next day.




Hollie Hobbie

 

We loved this simple prairie look and long before Christian LaCroix added rough boots to lace we began this trend in the 70s.  Again, this was reinterpreted by our Stevie Nicks who added more edge to the style mixing for leather and strength to it as she pushed Fleetwood Mac to amazing heights with her song writing. Who didn't want to be Stevie Nicks? She did it all with originality, confidence, and style both in fashion and music and she made it OK for a women to have a name a man's name.  Her style pulled the prairie look into cyberspace as she adder leather with lace, feathers, draping sleeves, feathers a top hat perfectly placed.  She always knew the balance of pushing the envelope and knowing when to pull back. We wanted to be her or at least look like her. In a way, she was a trailblazer for Lady GaGa who also mixes original style with original music.

 

Stevie Nicks, the cool chick with an original voice and original song writing. 

Click on this photo to hear her song "Leather and Lace."

This was the beginning of the prairie invasion to go with the innocent Sweet Honesty perfume. Maybe wearing these softer pastel lace, satin trim, pearl buttons, and voile outfits we would be able to reveal our softer side. John Denver reinforced this country look with his cross over of country into pop music. We had never heard of "country" music before we heard "Sunshine on my Shoulders, Makes me Happy"which went to #1 in both the USA and Canada.  Yes it was played on all the major stations on the radio and it was OK to write a song about sunshine on your shoulders. His music was not country as we had known it, it was classy and a style all it's own. without the large ornate dress wear of singers on Hee Haw.  Hee Haw a popular show on Sunday nights next to Lawrence Welk.  It was funny and the singers were good on that show but always it was more funny than serious and it had nothing to do with this refined 70s prairie look.John Denver gave a classy take on country and he was a trailblazer merging the two music genres.

 

Click on this photo of John Denver to hear "Sunshine on my Shoulders" His #1 debut on both the USA and Canadian pop charts.  It was a song like no other we had ever heard and we loved it instantly.  Thank you John Denver for all of your original songs.

 

 

Let's not forget our trailblazer of folk music in not a hokey sense but a classy voice, guitar playing, all to add ease to our radio station.  James Taylor, who came into our lives in the 70s with his original sound carving his way into popular radio stations making folk music and singing stylish and popular.

 

 

James Taylor settled our souls with the voice of an angel. Click on this photo to hear "You've Got a Friend" his debut into #1 status. To this day people hear this song and intently listen as if he was singing to them directly.

 

 

James would not have his #1 hit "You've Got a Friend" without Carole King writing and composing it.  Her album Tapestry is the only one you need.  Every song is original.  "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Women" popular by Aretha Franklin was a Carole King original.  All songs on Tapestry were written by her with some help from Gerry Goffin.  James Taylor also makes a few appearances. The photo taken naturally, from a staff photographer without an entourage with all new clothes and professional lighting, overdone hair and make up.Who needs one when you are highly creative.   This photo like her voice allowed women to be strong contenders in the 70s classy hippy movement.  Look at the jeans with bare feet, the first hippychick album photo before we invented a moniker for a personal style she already had.

 

 

 

Carole King a trailblazer making our natural feel classy without having to over please anyone. Click on this photo to hear the entire  album "Tapestry" the longest #1 album ever written by a woman. Every song is classic perfection flavored by the era of the seventies.

 

 

 

 

 

Cat Stevens singer/songwriter also created an original sound with his folk songs.  He wrote about love, peace, children, growing up, relationships.  Who writes any such songs nowadays?

 

 

Tea for the Tillerman. Songs written and sung by Cat Stevens, album cover also designed by him showed that creativity when listened to keeps spilling from performing arts to visual arts.  Who else could draw the Tillerman created first in a song?  Click on this album cover to hear the entire album.

Joni Mitchell Singer/songwriter BBC concert 1970

 

Joni Mitchell singer/songwriter/artist here at the BBC concert 1970.  She sings all her own songs. plays three different instruments, flawlessly.  Here she is in all her wonder and talent, in a simple dress, no make-up, hair simply combed playing music that still leaves us in awe today. Click on this photo of her to listen to the entire BBC concert. 

Just like the Gunne Sax maxi dresses were not the kind we wore in the 60s.  This look was different than the hippie maxi skirts a reinterpretation of seventies, more quality more subdued, a definite look with styled hair and Frye boots. Here is a typical Frye boot ad.  We could only dream of owning a pair as they were pricey but to this day are the best boots for your money and they last for years.  When you had a chance to wear them you felt amazing and people could hear you walking confidently down the school hall by the sound of a solid heel owning the floor in front of it.  It was the sound of quality and confidence, you can never get this same gait of ease and confidence with these overly high heels.  The added bonus was they permitted a tomboy feel an approachability and quality that we meant business with this prairie look...even though we didn't have a horse. We did not yet add the hole in the jeans although a knee hole was perfectly acceptable.  That hole in the jeans was ripped with wear as opposed to putting holes in jeans intentionally.  BTW when wearing Frye boots in the 70s we ALWAYS tucked our jeans in the boot to show them off. Why Frye?   Why NOT Frye?

 

 

The entering of name brands into our interpretation of country or prairie. Gunne Sax would move in with beautiful voile and satin ribbon blouses, vests, quilted blazers, long dresses to settle us all down from the bright contrasting colors of typical 70s wear.  I loved this time, this whole look.  Gunne Sax led the way with 70s inspired prairie wear, still popular today in vintage shops.  The sleeves have 10 buttons on the cuff bringing in a billowing sleeve. To bring attention to this softer style the movie "The Great Gatsby" starring my favorite Robert Redford paired with Mia Farrow illustrated how beautiful the soft sheer style looked when the sunlight caught it just right.  If we dressed like that would Robert Redford look at me the way he did with Mia Farrow?

 

 

I loved this pause for softness in the seventies and I am hoping it makes it to our way once again.,  I would buy every Gunne Sax anything I could find.  These pieces, now vintage, are also timeless and well made.  A statement in softness.

Now I would love to post all the beautiful Gunne Sax I could find.  Look at the detail, the softness of color or contrast, the fullness of the skirts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific!

The 70s make up was more age appropriate as we were allowed to slowly walk into our adulthood.  Comparing our facial features to the models airbrushed in magazines was a ritual every girl would go through buying their first Seventeen magazine.  In the seventies, the pressure and cost was less.  For starters we never were pressured to color or streak our hair.  Dark blonds enjoyed natural highlighting only in the summer.  You never admitted to coloring your hair, only using Sun In and spray on hair color semi-permanent.  Seventeen taught us to enhance our natural good looks. even models didn't color their hair as prevalent as they do today. We also did our own nails and toes.  Nobody ever mentioned having a pedicure. It was there just not as common as it is today.

 

 

 

 

First you had to smell good.  Sweet Honestly was the first perfume you bought to prolong your innocence.  We were innocent, before we shaved our legs and before we plucked our eyebrows, changing our faces with inexperienced hands and inappropriate magazine prototypes.  Still in the seventies it was slower to move into constant looks and tomboy stages were allowed.  The first piece of makeup to move me and my friends from tomboy to young adult was the large Bonne Bell lipsmackers.  They only make the small chapstick size ones now but back in the seventies, we could buy the large Bonne Bell lipsmackers and they came with a thick string so you could wear it around your neck.  I had Dr. Pepper flavor.  In Seventeen magazine fashions they came in soda flavors, Orange crush, 7up, Bubble Gum.  I loved mine as it was just a smidge of color to the chapstick.  We could put it on and go about our day without hours of being in the mirror unnecessarily.  Slip the lipsmacker on and then off you go with your Dr. Scholl exercise sandals..all this for about $20. The shorts you wore all summer were sacrificed blue jeans.

 

 

 

 

Love’s Baby Soft tried to merge the tomboy with the young awaiting adult promising we were still young babies.  There are all these innocent soft names to make us smell better.  But the ultimate cross over was when you bought your own shampoo instead of using the household shampoo.  You would buy the shampoo and matching conditioner.  Clairol herbal essence shampoo was neck and neck with Gee, Your Hair Smells Terrific.  Two strong fun distinctly different aromas, both acceptable for the young teen girl looking to lure unsuspecting boys by the smell of their hair. Did we really want to date such a fellow? If he did notice our hair aroma he certainly didn't look like that.  I loved them both and sadly you cannot buy the original Clairol Herbal Essence shampoo anymore.  Please someone tell me if you can. 

 

 

 

 

 

If you needed to we had Psst dry shampoo.  It was more fun to use than necessary. As was the Noxzema overnight cream we did not really need yet for another 20 years but the aroma of it today brings me back to a time that I thought if I used it I would be accepted.   It didn’t compensate for my righteous views, and Ann Marie didn’t think all this effort was acceptable for her big birthday bash.  Looking back, I’m kind of glad I was able to form my personality without having to fit in at a time when we thought it was important to fit in.  Fitting in came at a cost of self.  A chip of your originality you gave to someone else instead of embracing it. The person who demanded it never really cared for you they only wanted the control over you. Soon we would find out that boyfriends from class wanted a piece of you also.  Strange... you both wanted the popularity point boyfriend  and your vulnerable newly adult formed personality, you would be at a constant tug of war to have either one or the other, trading popularity points for your original ideas, and if one friend didn't fit in, you had to make choices.

What I liked about Seventeen magazine was that it really was for teenagers, young pre-teens, simple teen only pink boots or funky striped sock that only teenagers could wear. We would spend hours trying to find out what we needed, how we were going to have to change our looks.  The painters paints, the seventies version of cargo pants, and oversize denim overalls would soon spend more hours in the closet then on us. Dances would demand yet another version of our unsure selves.  What was the formality of the dance and we would borrow each other’s dresses and personalities.

 

 

Remember stick cream blush.  We always put on too much Bozo was a typical review as we gobbed it on with it's already too red, too rosy pink color to perfect faces that didn't need anything.  But then again, we didn't know what we were doing and we did not know what shade to buy...better stick with the pink. Travel stick blush complements Bonnie Bell Lipsmacker.

 

 

 

 

Still we were building our stash of products designed to change our looks, pulling away from our 10 speed bikes and into the mirror.  I’m glad we had our tomboy phase and still I lean on it today saying it is not necessary to be constant in front of the mirror perfect in looks rather than creating experiences, building and keeping good friendships. Looking at today’s teenagers I don’t know how they do it.  They will need more then Sweet Honesty and Love’s Baby Soft to cushion all the issues they must face.  They are suggested to wear adult fashion so early and I wonder if they wonder if this outfit looks good at school when I go through the doorway scanner.  All we had to worry about was who was going to the prom with whom.  We didn’t have the added pressure of shootings in high school, super high priced fashion with must have name brands, pressure to change young looks into adults before the confidence could handle everything that came with it.  Why couldn't we just be ourselves?  We were trying vigorously to figure that out.

  

 

 

 

Summertime Style in the 70s

Who remembers the great T-shirts of the 70s?  The rainbows, Keep on Truckin,(wanted this one really bad) Sit on it (pictured with Fonzie with two thumbs up) We walked through newly built suburban malls and each one had a T-shirt iron on applique place where you could choose your iron on applique or felt letters to create your unique designed T-shirt. Heaven help you if they placed the letters crooked, you were stuck with that shirt.  But nobody else had ti and you were "in style" and unique all at the same time.

 

 

 

We walked around with our self-designed T-shirts, straight out of the box, either plain or the heather  t-shirts with dark contrasting bands on the neck and short sleeves.  We also wore such shirts plain as they were great for an impromptu game of basketball, the cotton jersey not readily available on just any T-shirt.  Remember this is the 70s……polyester rules. I don’t remember wearing many sleeveless tops, the tight built in bra tops were not yet accepted as the summertime norm.  We were “tomboys” through and through, not interested in dressing up and having then to sit still. During this sporty phase, dresses were out unless it was absolutely necessary.

I loved wearing them getting out of my mother chosen completely polyester “geranimals” matching top and shorts….elastic polyester shorts…UGGHH!  For those of you who don’t remember “geranimals”  it was a clothing line for the mentally challenged when it came to matching what your wore.  If you matched the store labels then it was “OK” to wear them together…as if we needed their approval.  I had grown to hate prematched sets and instead went through a "tomboy" stage I think every young girl should have the joy of experiencing.

To bring these 70s T-shirts to a full outfit you wore short gym shorts with a contrasting stripe.  These were elasticized but totally acceptable because they were cotton.  I think the whole t-shirt, gym shorts thing all started with kids finally being able to choose their own outfits.  There were no special name brands then; you went to a small athletic store, no large Dick’s Sporting Goods, no Nike name brands.  Gap was still not ubiquitous in every mall. This was refreshing as you met up with your friends and didn’t have to be wearing expensive name brand shorts and T-shirt to be “in.”   Levis was just beginning to make its mark.  That’s another blog.  Adidas were the track shoe to wear right after converse high tops and Puma suede sneakers. IN our neighborhood you had to be the owner of Jack Purcell, Converse blue tipped sneakers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 In the 70s matching was to be desired. We finished off these athletic looks with thick striped knee high socks.  Three stripes were the norm. Cut off jean shorts, a sacrificial pair of jeans was carefully cut to allow for fringe right below the inside pocket which at the time was unacceptable to show.  We cut our own cut offs and “No” we didn’t have to name them “Jorts” because we were fit and everything looked as it should in our way of not having to complicate life and our spare wallets with name brands. Just remember we invented them, nowadays you have to rename and old idea.  They are called cut offs because that’s what they are.   Levis being the sole exception.   All dressed on our self-chosen Saturday outfits we would begin our day walking, yes walking by ourselves to the local Woolworth to go to the 45s record rack to see which 45 record was situated at the top…. #1 hit.  I remember in our Woolworths, it was neck and neck with Elton John and John Denver except for the summer when they constantly played “The Streak” on the radio. Olivia Newton John popped in there too with her “I Honestly Love You” and “Have You Ever Been Mellow “and “If you love me let me know”  those lyrics all about connecting.   Yes, John Denver crushed it before we allowed “Country Music” to enter into our radio world.  Kenny Rodgers also paved the way with his song “The Gambler” and then “Through the Years.”  My favorite summertime song since then and always was “Philadelphia Freedom” from Elton John.  It passed my previous favorite summertime, beach song “Uncle Albert” from Paul McCartney and Wings.

 

 

We would spend all day in our gym outfits.  When the weather really warmed up we would slip into our Dr. Scholl’s exercise sandals.  These were purchased in a drug store on a circular rotating display.  You had a choice of navy blue, cherry red, white, or tawny brown.  These wooden bottomed shoes would be my one and only sandals throughout the summer.  Remember Catholic puritan ethics.  If you messed up on your choice of sandal, you were stuck with them all summer.  So choose neutrals, I never picked the navy blue Dr. Scholls exercise sandals…heaven forbid I wasn’t wearing any navy blue in my gym outfit.

 

 

But those days were amazing, strengthening our decision making powers into choosing and trying our own style. The simple joy of looking at a 45 in the store and then, waiting to hear that song on the radio…for free. Later that night you could sleep over a friend’s house, playing truth or dare or bringing out the Ouija board to scare ourselves half to death before going to sleep.  It was simpler, we never spent sunny summer days walking through a mall.  How depressing to see all this stuff you could well not afford.  We didn’t crave to be closed in. 

In looking back we had each other, our dreams shared, our vision of who we could be, we didn’t have the constant distraction of a cell phone, yeah right like our parents would buy us one and then pay our cell phone bill.  Never in 100 years. We had the connection of each other and the freedom of a bike ride, the zzzzing sound of our 10 speed Schwinn bikes when our pedals were on idle.  Kids today have no desire to jet out of the house on a hot sunny summer day.  They are too busy on their phones and not gulping in the summer air.  It is a rare sight to see a group of pre-adolescents riding bikes together without adult supervision or walking together somewhere, anywhere just not too far doing not much of anything but beginning to make our mark. We were more confident with so much less, what we didn’t have, we made. The wind through our hair riding our bikes with no hands or better yet riding two to a bike with the passenger on the seat or the handle bars was our summer transportation. This freedom is now replaced by BMX helmets and hold your breath….bike paths.  I’m all for safety but when a toddler who can barely pedal and barely turning the wheel, has to be weighed down with an Adam Ant helmet, something is lost.  When kids have to always be with their parents, they lose their ability to render what is safe, what belongs to them in their world. We had that time, glorious before the volume turned up and we would have to really compete with looks and outfits to take the time to do exactly what we wanted to do.