Being pretty much the academic nerd, I’m reasonably certain that no one in my mid 1960s high school life looked to me for fashion statements. Moreover, I wasn’t allowed to clothes shop with any frequency, and when I did, I got little guidance from my disinterested mother. But I did know about and covet Villager clothes. They were popular and preppy. They were expensive, and well made. By means I no longer remember, I was able to purchase a long-sleeved, lined wool Villager dress. It was heather blue and green, and I wore that dress to school every winter Friday for an entire semester. Did it help me feel secure, knowing I was well-dressed on that one day each week? Didn’t it occur to me that it was weird to wear the same thing on the same day each week? Wasn’t I a bit old to be adhering to that type of ritual? I loved that Friday dress, and am still warmed by its memory.
Barbara Stark-NemonBarbara Stark-
Nemon (www.barbarastarknemon.com) grew up in Michigan, listening to her family’s stories of their former lives in Germany, which became the inspiration for her first novel, Even in Darkness. Barbara holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Art History and a Masters in Speech language Pathology from the University of Michigan. She lives, writes, and does fiber art and photography in Ann Arbor and Northport, Michigan.
A touchstone. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Susan!
Villager dresses were certainly the required label at my high school, along with Weejun loafers. Some of the girls in my class were pretty catty though, and would give you grief if you wore the same thing too often. On the second Friday that you wore that dress, they would have made a point of saying, “Barbara, that’s such a cute dress, I remember thinking how much I liked it when you wore it last week!” Luckily, it sounds like your schoolmates were kinder.
Thanks, Suzy… although I’m not certain if my classmates were less catty, or whether I was simply clueless!