From Gauchos to Garanimals: 70s & 80s Fashion, SUPERSIZED EDITION

Kristin Nilsen 0:00

I remember when your grandma watched the member drive on PBS and joined so she could get that sweet Peter Paul and Mary concert on VHS. Now you can do the same thing with the pop culture Preservation Society. Each of our episodes is created with the help of listeners like you, and you can become a financial supporter of the PCPs over on patreon.com to help us pay the bills and keep doing what we love. To show our appreciation, we'll send you welcome gifts and give you access to bonus content. Like video recordings of our episodes. After the episode discussions and blooper reels from the cutting room floor. Just go to patreon.com p ATREO. O N type pop culture Preservation Society into the search bubble and choose the level of support that feels right for you. And if you're not able to contribute at this time, remember that listening is the most important form of support you could ever give. Thank you.

Michelle Newman 0:54

Welcome everyone to another one of our fun, supersized summer reruns. This is another one that our listeners chose. I posted a poll in stories about which of our episodes about Gen X memories would you want to hear again and choosing from a list of things like our TV homes and our fashion roller rink memories, food, lunch memories, and we had a three way tie which is insane price,

Carolyn Cochrane 1:24

right? We love. We love a good tie though.

Michelle Newman 1:27

We do love a good spot. So we might get to all three of them this summer. But we kind of are starting with the one that we haven't rerun before. And that is episode 19. So from way back in 2021, and it's episode on our 70s and 80s. Fashion.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:44

Ooh, yes, exciting.

Michelle Newman 1:46

But for our little opening conversation, we're missing someone we

Carolyn Cochrane 1:51

are we are missing Kristen. But it's a good thing everybody because she is taking a much needed vacation. That woman has been working so hard on her audiobook you guys. She was putting the finishing touches on worldwide crush that you will be able to hear in her own voice her own words, piping through your ears when the audio book becomes live, hoping crossing our fingers. July 11 is the plan date which happens to be the year anniversary of worldwide crushes. debut. So if all goes according to plan that will be happening on July 11. And this week, she is putting her feet up. Like I said much deserved and taking a relaxing vacation. So listeners, you're just stuck with Michelle and myself.

Michelle Newman 2:41

And if some of you are confused like this week Kristen's on vacation, it's because we're recording this, the week of July 1, you actually will be hearing this on July 8. So fingers crossed that you'll be able to hear worldwide crash in just a few days. I'm really excited.

Carolyn Cochrane 2:55

I am too. It's been a really fun process. I've been helping her with it. And boy, she has been so dedicated and learning about how you do this. And I'm excited. It's something that we've worked really hard on she's worked really hard on. And I think our listeners are going to appreciate hearing it in her voice because she is Millie. So it's it's a whole different way of absorbing her book. Rather than reading it yourself as listening to her read it. And speaking of that absorbing, I saw that Reese Witherspoon the other day posted about books because people were having that discussion of if you listen to a book on audio, are you actually reading it? And she had the line of it doesn't matter how you absorb books. And I loved that because it didn't mean if you read it, you listen to it or whatever you are absorbing those words, and the storyline and all of that. And I just thought that was a great way to put that. Don't you think Michelle? I agree.

Michelle Newman 3:58

And people have very strong feelings about that. If you listen to a book, does that count as a book you read? And many people say absolutely not. Everybody has their own definition of what the word read means. But to I feel like to anyone who loves books. Reading a book isn't just being able to visually see the words it is to absorb the story. And sorry, however you do that is reading the book to me at least. Yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 4:26

Well listeners actually I'd like to know your opinions. If you have any after listening to this episode. Yeah, message us or put them in the comments for today's episode because, yeah, I don't know, actually how I feel about it. Here's my

Michelle Newman 4:40

thought though. You know, people that are visually impaired, if they're listening to books, does that mean they're not reading the book? I think it does mean their reading book if they're listening to it. I've gotten a lot more into audibles over the past like six months, especially now that I'm walking a dog twice a day. That's right. But the only books I've ever been able to listen to up until about six months ago were memoirs. So I love listening to a memoir and I love listening to the person read it, who wrote it, who it's about. So, one of my favorites is Henry Winkler's, if you all haven't read that one so good. But I've and I think, Carolyn, it's thanks to you. I've gotten into listening to mysteries. I don't read mysteries. I've never really gotten into that genre, but I am obsessed with listening to them. And I don't like the really grisly ones where it's really terrifying. Like people are getting stalked, or there's a home invasion or anything like that. And I'm also very particular mostly I need it to be a British narrator. And I have found like Joanne Froggatt, she was in Downton Abbey, if you remember she was Anna, right? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Anyway, she read one, that the story even wasn't that great. I was a little bit like me, this is kind of thin. I couldn't get enough of listening to her read. But I've kind of started to figure out my favorite narrators. And I then will just search them and I didn't read any or listen to any Well, I said, Read and that's what I mean, read, listen to any book that they are narrating and now you've turned me on to a new narrator. The book we just read. Listen, is that listen for the lie. Yes, yes. That was so good. Some of these original audible ones. I think they write them more like a performance like a radio show, you know, back in the day. We're listening to our story. That's right. That's right. And those they have a whole cast of characters they have like, there was like one had like 15 people I listened to and you could hear like the like, I could see the person with the shoes on their face. Like, you know, and it was like I was listening to a play. I loved that one. And now I'm listening to one so good, you guys. It's called. This is how I live by Heather Gooden cough and the narrator. I love this narrator Her name is Brittany Presley. She's not British, okay, but when I first I just I just bought this one on Audible because I thought, Oh, this sounds like a good story. And her voice immediately I was like, Who was that? I I've heard her. It's because the very first audible I ever listened to in my whole life was one of my favorite books, which is maybe you should talk to someone by Laurie Gottlieb. I love that book so much. I've read it in print, and because I listened to it, but Brittany Presley narrated that, and I've listened to another book sets that she's narrated. And so now, I've I have some other ones on kind of my wish list by her but a good Narrator makes all the difference. That's

Carolyn Cochrane 7:37

what I was just gonna say I have a narrator that I have really enjoyed listening to her voice. So now I'm choosing books based on what other books she's narrated, not necessarily the plot or anything of the book, the narrator that I'm enjoying is a woman named January Lavoy. That is a pretty cool name, too. It's very lovely.

Michelle Newman 7:58

Isn't she the one that did listen for the line? I think she

Carolyn Cochrane 8:00

did. And she also did the change, which is one of Kristen's favorite novels about these kind of menopausal witches and like a little have a podcast. No, but isn't that crazy to several audio books I've listened to? Yes, have had a podcast as a main part of the plot. I want to tell you about a fun little find that I discovered when it comes to audiobooks and also ebooks, okay, there is an app called ever and so e v e r a n d 1199 a month, and then it is unlimited audio books and ebooks. So it's not like you're limited to one that you would be on Amazon. With audible, it might not have every single book you've ever wanted to read or listen to in its catalogue, but it has enough that I swear by it, I get so many books on it. It's like I said 1199 a month you can you can also listen to podcasts through it. You can read magazine articles through it as well. So we will put a link to that also in our newsletter. So listeners I'm just laughing because we're going to talk about fashion. Seems like we should be talking about like our favorite books or something reading related but we aren't because

Michelle Newman 9:15

it's related to once again worldwide crash look for that coming soon. But yes, I thought earlier when you said speaking of absorbing you were going to segue into terry cloth yes, definitely aware like we've I think we talked about it in this episode. I wore so much terry cloth Harry claws, like an eight and nine year old the little jumpers and listeners Carolyn was just saying earlier she kind of wishes we could still wear terry cloth because now that we sometimes have, you know, you might have like hot flashes, flashes or a little

Carolyn Cochrane 9:50

leakage sharing class. terrycloth could just absorb it or which would be Nice and then so I was also thinking about other kind of Gen X kid fashion that would be really beneficial to have now like, you know those ruffled collars I mean I know we talked about that in this episode because Michelle was all about a good ruffle and I was like, yeah how nice it is to have them up in the neck area so that they can just kind of, you know, maybe camouflage if we needed it not that there's anything bad with our gobblers. But if you didn't want to maybe have a gobbler all the time, you could wear your ruffle, your ruffled blouse still

Michelle Newman 10:31

all about a good ruffle. I love any type of ruffle on a swimsuit. My husband kind of gives me a hard time because like if we'll be out together and I'll say, Oh, isn't this shirt cute? And if it either has a puff sleeve or ruffle sleeve, he'll just be like you have 14 of those in a version of that in your closet. And I do I can't. I can't pass up a good ruffle sleeve or a good puff sleeve. And I just love it. If you would have asked me 10 years ago, I would have been like, oh, oh, no, never like I would have never worn that. So I wonder if I'll ever stop wearing right?

Carolyn Cochrane 11:06

Well luckily, like you said, I mean they're back in fashion. You can find them. You know so it's not like you're looking like you're trying to dress like you're a kid again. It's you are stylish, so good for you. I was just thinking about toe socks. I don't remember if we talked about that in this episode. I loved toe socks and they were so uncomfortable. Yes, super uncomfortable. And I was thinking now I'm developing a hammer toe so I don't I could wear or they might be good like therapeutic sites. They'll train.

Michelle Newman 11:36

Oh my god. Just make sure they're rainbow. Did you have the I had the toe socks and all the toes were different rainbow.

Carolyn Cochrane 11:42

I thought those were the only times I made. Yeah, for all those rainbow. They're so cute. Isn't that crazy? We could live anywhere in the country. Like, you know, Washington State. I can be in Jersey, we could be in Texas, wherever. And we're all wearing rainbow toe socks pretty much around the same time. And that's without social meat.

Michelle Newman 11:59

So this is a really fun episode. It's episode 19. So oh my gosh, that's like 150 episodes ago.

Carolyn Cochrane 12:07

Yes. So remember this, the quality of the audio, we've come a long way. So if it's a little bit different than you're used to bear with us and know that we had a lot of growth in terms of our technical knowledge or technological knowledge as time went on.

Michelle Newman 12:21

That's true. It's a fun one. I'm gonna listen to it again today too.

Carolyn Cochrane 12:24

Oh, good. We sure hope that you will enjoy listening to this episode 19 from gauchos to Garanimals

Michelle Newman 12:31

for animals to go oh actually but doesn't matter. I don't

Carolyn Cochrane 12:35

think so because it's still great. So enjoy. The

Kristin Nilsen 12:39

che go was bi c h e g o and they were like track pants but they were slacks. They were like slacks that had a stripe down the side and you wear it with a rugby shirt and pearls is a song by procedure

Carolyn Cochrane 13:06

will make you welcome to the pop culture Preservation Society. The podcast for people born in the big wheel generation who did windmills in gym so they wouldn't pull a muscle playing dodgeball.

Kristin Nilsen 13:19

We believe our Gen X childhoods gave us unforgettable songs, stories, characters and images. And if we don't talk about them, they'll disappear like Marshall will and Holly on a routine expedition. And

Michelle Newman 13:31

today, we will be saving the stone cold super serious style those far out fashions and gnarly threads of our Gen X.

Carolyn Cochrane 13:42

I'm Carolyn.

Kristin Nilsen 13:43

I'm Kristen.

Michelle Newman 13:44

And I'm Michelle and we are your pop culture preservationists of all the cultural markers of our 1970s and early 80s childhoods one of the most defining was the fashion what the trends were so many trends, the popular brands where we shopped what our favorite outfits were, who we looked up to our hits, our misses. So so many misses, and on and on our fashion choices in the 70s and early 80s reflected not only the era, but defined who we were bad

Kristin Nilsen 14:21

Yes, so true. I was thinking about this because you could be a hippie, a square a preppy a druggie a valley girl a radical a Madonna wannabe and Urban Cowboy, or just your favorite kid from The Brady Bunch. There were so many icons, right yeah.

Michelle Newman 14:38

And and like so many personalities. Yeah, identities almost. Yeah. And

Kristin Nilsen 14:45

they were so identifiable. There was no gray. There. You couldn't be a hippie and a preppy like those two things. There were there was no meeting of the minds on those two things, and who we were was often explained by our favorite outfit for sure. Do you guys do you remember having an outfit that just made you feel like a badass? Like when you wore it you were really telling people who you were.

Michelle Newman 15:11

I didn't turn badass Kristen until I was like

Kristin Nilsen 15:16

outbid I was

Michelle Newman 15:17

so opposite of badass when I was a kid. But I did have I do have some favorite outfits that come to mind. And I'm gonna say in the late 70s, it would have probably been my baby blue satin hang 10 jacket. I felt so cool when I wore that jacket when it was a little oversized so I kind of got to work for wear it for a couple years I kind of grew into it. I love that but I will say that my memories of fashion are more tied to the early 80s When I was in fifth grade and up so I have definite memories of 70s but as far as one like an outfit and really remembering the clothes that defined me that pretty much for me at least comes from like 8081 and up and coming of age that yeah, because that's when fashion kind of becomes you. You don't you know before that maybe my mom picked out a lot of the stuff or whatever. But yeah, fifth sixth seventh grade for sure. So I'm going to say for the 80s I'm going to pick like 82 and I'm going to say it would be picture this A to many skirt with types with my flat purple jellies and a spree t shirt, but layered over an Izod shirt. So I have a collar that I can pop up you can pop it a jean jacket with about 12 Duran Duran and wham pens and also the pens that say like totally or barf me out. And a bandana that we would like roll up and then you tie it around your neck or your tie. Yeah, and as luck would have it, I actually have a picture of that very outfit.

Kristin Nilsen 16:54

So you were a valley girl.

Michelle Newman 16:57

Yeah, like, well, I lived in Ridgefield, Washington, which was definitely not anything like the valley, or the valley, wherever. But

Carolyn Cochrane 17:10

we tried. I'm afraid we might not have been friends. Oh, I can make fun of people that dress like you did.

Kristin Nilsen 17:17

Did you really well.

Carolyn Cochrane 17:19

I was definitely in the 80s Definitely more preppy, I guess I would have had my bass weejuns on and granted I went to Catholic High School and I wear a uniform but I would have definitely had my bass weejuns on I probably would have had a turtleneck with a fair isle sweater over that with probably my khaki my chinos or some quarter rise probably white whale, green corduroys or something. And yeah, I would have just waved at you and kept on going. No,

Michelle Newman 17:53

anybody like you.

Kristin Nilsen 17:55

You are east coast. Carolyn, that

Michelle Newman 17:57

sounds about to say I'm West. We're like totally different regions, though. Like I don't even know if I knew anybody. I didn't know what fair isle was. I don't think no, that's

Kristin Nilsen 18:05

that's an East Coast term. Like we as adults know it. Pharaoh sweaters are right. I didn't know as a teenager or a child. And during that my East Coast people did.

Michelle Newman 18:13

We for sure. Were wearing crewneck sweaters, you know, like solid color. crewneck sweaters for sure. And penny loafers, for sure. But yeah, I don't I feel like everything you're describing you could have walked straight out of like an LL Bean catalog. I can picture it now. I don't think so. I think it has to be a regional.

Carolyn Cochrane 18:31

Well, yeah, well might be. Well, I want to share with you guys my 70s outfit because I was channeling my inner Laurie Partridge every time I see this photo of me in this outfit. I think I'm Susan day, it's just obvious. So it was a bright yellow bodysuit with the three little snaps at the crotch. And it had this kind of white, elongated collar and three little buttons, and then a brown polyester miniskirt. And I looked so stinking groovy. Except here's the problem that taunts me my entire life until probably early high school. I was so tall for my age that I couldn't really ever wear that to school because the miniskirt was too short. And those damn snaps in the crotch just kept coming up

Michelle Newman 19:20

every time you sit down.

Carolyn Cochrane 19:23

Or there'll be like one just taking your life

Kristin Nilsen 19:28

really painful. Well,

Carolyn Cochrane 19:30

it was more mentally painful because then when it did happen, and if I was out, I'd be afraid that it would start creeping its way up and out of the back of that miniskirt. So people would know. And there was no way to discreetly like stick your hand down there and try to re snap it. So

Kristin Nilsen 19:46

Knology trying to snap your body suit. Well, I

Carolyn Cochrane 19:50

was only in secondary school. I wasn't taking sociology, but yeah, I can remember

Kristin Nilsen 19:55

being in the restroom at school. And there were two girls Girls to sixth grade girls in a stall and there was like this manic there was a melee going on. And it was because the girl couldn't get her body suit snapped and the friend is trying to help her snap her body suit and I will never forget this. The girl finally screams out. Oh piffle. I haven't seen Oh piffle since that day, my

Michelle Newman 20:24

good friend that's true friendship.

Kristin Nilsen 20:25

That is really good friendship. Right. Okay, so I had a lot of badass outfits. But my first badass outfit was an orange polyester pantsuit. And it had a green. I know, I know. That's why I was badass. So I had a green stem that went it was a tunic and it went all the way up the tunic. And then the collar was in the shape of petals. And it was extremely flammable. It wasn't very flammable. But I felt so legit. You guys the pantsuit was so grown up I felt like like I was a teacher or laid like hostess and Denny's or something. I'll show you exactly how old I was.

Carolyn Cochrane 21:12

She's reaching in I was this

Kristin Nilsen 21:14

many years old. I'm happy to have it. Yeah. I have my pantsuit. Like a lady. It's

Michelle Newman 21:22

darling.

Carolyn Cochrane 21:24

Those are the colors that the Fisher Price little people have.

Kristin Nilsen 21:27

Oh, yeah. A little scallop. That goes all the way around. Yeah, in my head was is that the stamen? No, that's inside the nerve to go back to life science. I don't know. I'm gonna be I mean, the inside of the flower coming out. Oh, that's adorable. Yeah, and I would wear with my white gogo boots. Oh,

Michelle Newman 21:43

but the ones on the side.

Kristin Nilsen 21:45

I know. That's a huge disappointment. I wanted them to zip up the front. But they were patent leather and they were white. Okay, did you guys have there are some items that that just scream. An era right or a moment in time, a singular sartorial statement that anchored you in the 70s or the 80s. Did you have any signature pieces like that?

Michelle Newman 22:05

Uh huh. Yeah, I had a lot. Yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 22:09

I probably had a lot but I'm gonna pick the one that I think would say a lot if I would done it right now and turn around. It was my denim button up shirt, long sleeve shirt that had a hand painted Holly Hobbie on the back, very detailed Holly Hobbie, and then my name embroidered on the front because my sister had a matching one. And then once I spilled paint on the front of it was not a good day at my house. Carolyn,

Kristin Nilsen 22:36

I have a surprise for you. Okay, here's mine. There's my little embroidered K. I have my denim button up shirt. It's got all sorts of pink applicators on it. And then on the back.

Michelle Newman 22:50

Oh, no. Oh.

Kristin Nilsen 22:53

applicate poly hobby on the back of my denim shirt.

Carolyn Cochrane 22:58

Well, it's just meant to be I know,

Kristin Nilsen 23:01

isn't that crazy? And so the actual shirt that I'm wearing on my grown up body right now is a denim button up and it is an homage to my to my Holly Hobbie denim shirt. Oh, cute. Isn't that cute? I wish I could still fit into it. I would wear that.

Michelle Newman 23:14

Okay, so my signature piece, just like Carolyn said is something that if I was wearing it right now, it's if I you know, out and about it as a sign of the times and I wore this signature piece, probably from a age oh four all the way to like nine and I have lots of photos that I'll be posting of various ages of me and this and that, my friends is the shirt or the dress with the giant bow that you tie it or you can you know, like around your neck. Often late it was more than two. Yeah, ladies for them to with like, you know, suit jackets. Right. And apparently children wear them too. Because I have you know, I'd have a white one with the big bow that I would wear under a little vest or a dress or I'd have you know, every

Kristin Nilsen 24:03

event. Every choir concert every Christmas dinner.

Michelle Newman 24:07

I have a lot of school pictures where I'm wearing a different outfit with a big bow. Yeah. And I would often wear like a velvet vest with my big silky bow shirt. I have a couple of Christmas pictures where I'm in the with a big bow. So yeah, we'll post a lot of these pictures but I think for sure, that is something that's your signature piece. That was my signature piece. Yeah,

Kristin Nilsen 24:26

I have I have a couple that just scream the era. Number one is my poncho collection. Made by various grandmas right and I just when I wore my poncho I felt like a teenager. I just loved it so much. What about the rainbow Gauchos? The gauchos that had the embroidered rainbow up one leg and across the butt and down the other side.

Carolyn Cochrane 24:51

Oh, not remembering that

Michelle Newman 24:52

nose.

Kristin Nilsen 24:53

Was that regional?

Michelle Newman 24:54

If I saw that picture it might it might fire us enough. Okay, we have rainbow

Kristin Nilsen 24:59

gout. goes right now because this was a very specific thing. Ouch. Oh, sure, yeah, all this and it was embroidered and it would I can't exactly remember how the pattern went but it somehow went up one leg and around your ass cheeks and the other side of your Gauchos.

Michelle Newman 25:17

Carolyn, we should be wearing our ponchos. Yes, you should warm. Mine's in my closet here where I'm sitting. Yeah. Oh, Carolyn and I when we first started the PCPs I crocheted a poncho that I was going to wear at every recording session. But then our every recording session turned into our closet and it's warm in my closet. And Carolyn's mom crocheted her one so we'll take a picture in our ponchos and posts too, because that real group

Kristin Nilsen 25:39

memes, right that screen Yeah, groovy. Okay, the other thing that was like of the moment that just told you exactly when this was happening, was my stretchy rainbow. Mork from Ork belt that will match yours. Right? That tells you exactly where we were.

Michelle Newman 25:58

Yeah, for sure. And I'll throw one more to for the 70s I was always on a long skirt. I was always in like a long patchwork skirt. Or my mom you know made us long dresses. So everything was long. Unless it was I was wearing me down

Kristin Nilsen 26:12

Maxis the maxi dress the maxi skirt? I could add my red bandana because I'm wearing my red bandana right now in homage to my red bandana. Except that that's that's poorly worded because it is not an homage. This is the red bandana. This is the red bandana I wore every day as a kid. It's the same. I'm not kidding you. I'm wearing on my head at this moment. On April 28. And 2021 I'm wearing on my head the bandana that I wore in 1976 all the time asked my brother he's like my God, you have a bandana and every photo. Not only that, it's not the same not. I never untied it.

Michelle Newman 26:51

So that means wash it with an audit if you've never why wash it with the knot in it. So I want to ask you guys something. Was there a moment where you got caught out by a regional trends like something was all the rage in your classroom and then you went somewhere else. And you were off the mark. Like, for example, when we moved to Washington State where wide leg jeans were popular from Arizona. Michelle, I'm straight leg jeans.

Kristin Nilsen 27:16

That's already that whole thing already. Just like Oh, Michelle,

Michelle Newman 27:20

my sister and I were huge outcasts, you guys. My sister was actually bullied. She was in junior high. And like her first Don't worry. She turned she was fine. She ended up with a very, she ended up being super popular. She it was a very, very small town. So in Washington. And so you know, the entire her entire, like seventh grade class had like 90 kids in it like the whole class. Yeah. And she walks in and like straight leg I don't know, Levi's or something. And they called her like Saran Wrap legs. And yeah, she's the new girl and wearing the different things. So yeah. So was there a time like that for you guys where you, you were

Kristin Nilsen 28:00

in a dance has a lot to do with it because jeans were kind of what everybody wore every day, but you all had to be wearing the same jeans. So the summer after eighth grade, we took a road trip out east to Massachusetts, and where I was from in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis and St. Paul. We were wearing Levi's jeans, and already Simpsons. I'm now realizing that I have to say our D Simpsons. No it's not already.

Michelle Newman 28:28

I thought it was AR T I II I did too. And I don't know, Arty Simpsons.

Kristin Nilsen 28:31

I don't know. God, this is crazy. They're baggies. And of course, I did not have already the actual RT symptoms Simpsons I had like the JC Penney version of RT Simpsons, and I arrived in Massachusetts and my cousin was wearing Levi's and this was horrifying to me because where I came from only the burnouts and the rednecks wear Levi's and I was like, I thought you were like Harvard people or something. I thought you were supposed to be better than me. But apparently you're just rednecks and burnouts. I mean, it was a it was really crazy for my mind to figure out

Michelle Newman 29:05

like the mid we always were like, leave I for what was it like 401 If someone's Bible was funny fly. Yeah, but that was like mid

Kristin Nilsen 29:12

80s. I think that was mid to late. Yeah, we're

Michelle Newman 29:14

all really Levi's then. Yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 29:16

Well, I was invited guys. Gosh, late 70s. I guess. See out east. No, no, actually, that was when I lived in Texas. Oh, so it was you either wore Levi's or you war Wranglers, because in Texas if you were a Western horse riding kind of gal or guy. Yes. You were the Western shirts with you know the pearl button. You look in the snap shirts and your wranglers and your boots, your cowboy boots, and your leather belt with usually your name in the back you know tools Roy to hold on.

Michelle Newman 29:55

I can picture the font to the lettering. Oh yeah, no, if you could even get wrangler

Carolyn Cochrane 29:59

and a bit old belt buckle as well. So and they are very distinct lines based on

Kristin Nilsen 30:06

what who you are and who you hung out with, which was why I couldn't wear Levi's because I didn't want people to think I was a burnout

Carolyn Cochrane 30:19

Well, I have a question for you guys. Did your mom so?

Michelle Newman 30:23

Oh, like a factory worker? Yeah.

Kristin Nilsen 30:26

But it was about sewing in the 70s was not like the Waltons. It wasn't like, oh, we need to make our clothing because we have no money sewing in the 70s was like scrapbooking. Yeah,

Carolyn Cochrane 30:35

that's exactly right. And I'll tell you, for me, one of my fondest memories with my mom would be to go to the fabric store and hop up on one of those stools. And she said that big like Butterick and simplicity binder things in front and it just seemed like the world was there. Like

Kristin Nilsen 30:53

every that was it fine. Yes. And

Carolyn Cochrane 30:55

you know, that was fine. I like a smocked shirt, it could be a dress, because I can do the same pattern. It's like, oh my gosh, like a three for one. It was so object. And for me, especially when I was younger, again, because I was tall. My mom, at least when she sewed my clothes could make the pants the real length. Yeah, nobody would call me like, where's the flood and you have high waters on and that was just awful, awful. And

Kristin Nilsen 31:23

I had the opposite issue in that all of my pants dragged on the floor, or they everything I had to get cut off. So when my mom made my pants, they were the exact right. Yes. So all the moms in my neighborhood went to it was like their scrapbooking night. But they went to stretch. And so I don't even know what I mean. Was there more going on a stretch and so I have no idea just by exercise and then so I don't drink. But for all I know there was like a Jazzercise room and then like a sewing machine room. I don't know. But they all came home with the same thing. One of them being that Holly hobby shirt, which makes me wonder, was this like in a book and everybody did this as a project or so? Yeah, I'm sure that's where a lot of like the mother daughter dresses came home. My mom made all of those. There was so much twinning in this Oh, yeah. Like you would also all the girls in my neighborhood would have the same thing. My mom and I would have the same thing. My mom even made me a dress. That was a matching dress to the one she made for a life size doll that she also created. So I was twinning with my doll. And her name was Betsy McCall. So I think that was a thing also, and I must say, I mean, it was super cool. But I as you know, I had trouble with some abstract concepts. And I didn't know like was this doll like, do I play with it? Do I? Is it a decorative? Do I marry it? What is it my sister My friend is

Carolyn Cochrane 32:53

like life size, five year old or six year old? Like you get home?

Kristin Nilsen 33:00

Yes, it was like a giant rag doll. And she made the doll and it had like yellow. It was supposed to look like me. So it had yellow yarn and ponytails. And we had the same dress.

Michelle Newman 33:13

My mom was actually she was a really talented seamstress, actually. And when you said it wasn't as much for money, you know, for people saving money. There were times and our and my childhood, which I've, I've alluded to before, in the podcast, it was very up and down. And I know for sure she showed for us when we were very little for that very reason, because it was a lot less expensive. And we could have really cute clothes and my sister and I swear to god dressed alike until we were like eight and 11. Like, and she drove us crazy as we got older. But yeah, I will post some pictures too. Every Christmas dresses. Uh, you know, she made all of our Christmas dresses. But yeah, my mom loves to show and I feel like one of the things that made her really sad is that my neither my sister nor I had any interest. Like we wouldn't like when, you know, we took home ec and we would learn to make little Barbie clothes or something. But literally when, when my husband and I got married, he was like, Can you have these pants and I stapled them

Carolyn Cochrane 34:15

I regret that not knowing how to sew? I really do. I wonder if it's a generational thing like because our moms did and

Kristin Nilsen 34:22

skipped a generation. Yeah,

Michelle Newman 34:24

I think everybody feels that way. Okay. Do you guys remember the t shirt check?

Kristin Nilsen 34:31

Oh god. Oh, let me say a little prayer. I

Michelle Newman 34:35

loved loved going to the t shirt shack and flipping through the decals just like it flipped through record albums at the SAM Good to hear the Tower Records. And can you guys right now can you smell it? I'm doing either burning plastic that really hot plastic smell on it. It was I think maybe one of my favorite places to go and like maybe 6/7 grade and I had a lot of decal shirts but I'm going To tell you one that I remember loving. So I'm in like seventh grade picture, glittery, big, glittery numbers and it says 87 rules because I was my graduation year, which was super cool to wear when you're only in like sixth grade and it seems so far off. Yeah. So it's a baseball shirt because those were really cool 87 rules in like rainbow glitter I can still remember like it folded together and when it unfolded, it would like stick together. Yeah. And another thing was this just and where I live but a big fad for us as we'd get a decal on the front and then we'd have these baseball shirts and would have our names going down the sleeve.

Kristin Nilsen 35:37

Do you guys have oh, that was a thing for a minute. Yeah, I never had one but that happened for Yeah, because your

Carolyn Cochrane 35:42

dress so I only have something on the front. Right?

Michelle Newman 35:47

Do you guys remember one of your favorite t shirt check?

Kristin Nilsen 35:51

I think I think I just had a Mork and Mindy. And but I would accompany other people as they went to choose their T shirt shack, but I think I only came home with one and I take that back. I might have had an Andy Gibb also. But I remember going once with my grandma, and my grandma got a t shirt check shirt. I just thought that is so cool that this old lady is getting a t shirt check. What'd she get? She got it was a picture of a big apple. And then it had a tag on it that said taken which everyone thought was so adorable. And I did not understand at all, but I clapped for her anyway, because I and she smelled so good after creating her t shirt check shirt. She smelled like the mall and it was great.

Michelle Newman 36:31

Speaking of the mall, you guys, where did you guys shop?

Kristin Nilsen 36:36

i This is a tough question because there's a difference between you know where I shopped with my family. And then where I shopped when I had my own money. And so they're an awful, really where did I shop? pennies and Sears because that's where my parents bought our clothes. And you only got clothes. We didn't go shopping all the time. You got clothes on Christmas and your birthday and for school shopping. And so you went to Sears and you went to Penny's on very special occasions you would go to the downtown Dayton's which was our local department store. And that was a very special occasion. But I remember walking by other stores in the mall and being like someday when I have my I'll go to Calico corner or the county

Carolyn Cochrane 37:18

corner. Calvin go corner or the like furniture just

Kristin Nilsen 37:25

Casual Corner. Yes, someday when I'm a lady with my own money and a purse I go to a corner. But it wasn't so bad. I mean, I'm not that's not a sob story because you could I got away with a lot of things without having all the name brands because there were some non branded things that you could still get at pennies and Sears like the the turtlenecks with the little did you have the little mini printed turtlenecks. Oh like I had many parts. You could get mini Yeah, the mini whales. And then you could have your your initial necklace like fall off of your like a little waterfall. So my little k would be dangling on the top of the turtleneck. Yeah, too. You could get that.

Michelle Newman 38:06

I'm really Carolyn had a lot of those turtlenecks. I very preppy thing. Yeah, I

Carolyn Cochrane 38:11

did well on Wales. Yes. But my turtleneck days were I had a lot of Dickies.

Kristin Nilsen 38:20

Well, congratulations. We say it again. What did you have Carol I

Carolyn Cochrane 38:23

had a lot of Dickies. Yes, my Dickey turtlenecks. I did have turtlenecks, but they weren't all there, literally. But in terms of mall stores, I too, was like Kristen, and that JC Penney and Sears where they were technically at the mall. So you could say I guess those were my mall stores. But I have a distinct memory of when I kind of aged up and Sears. I wouldn't we would go with a family like my dad and my sister. I guess she'd be shopping with my mom. My dad would be hanging out at that like nut. You know where they sold the nut?

Kristin Nilsen 39:00

We would get multiples. Okay. Yeah, we always get cashews that

Carolyn Cochrane 39:04

were kind of warm, you know, in the back.

Michelle Newman 39:07

House of nuts. Yeah. My husband worked at House of Commons at the mall when he was

Carolyn Cochrane 39:15

I grew up my dad got we're in the car. We're in Sears. They were like,

Kristin Nilsen 39:19

it was at the candy counter. The candy counter. Yes. And

Carolyn Cochrane 39:23

there was popcorn there I think too, but that would be his thing. And then we'd be in the closing section. But the excitement happened when I turned like nine or 10 I got to go to the lemon frog shop.

Kristin Nilsen 39:36

Lemon frog Tell me more. So

Carolyn Cochrane 39:37

the lemon frog shop was this kind of shop within a section at Sears. So it was and I'm actually going to read you the ad right now. You between the ages of 11 and 14. Then lemon frog shop is for you. You had to measure that so the lemon slop frog shop was for girls whose height was five feet to five feet four and a half inches.

Kristin Nilsen 40:01

That's very specific. What if you were 559

Carolyn Cochrane 40:06

was really cool just like my fashion icon. Laurie Partridge Susan day she's had a model in print ad for the lemon frog shot. Wow, she's wearing her description of her dress as for the Gypsy in you a POW print mini dress dress and crispy cotton broadcloth which actually would have been nice because the other dress was a saucy skimmer and a checking them of polyester with a roughly bib and cuffs. But yes, I

Michelle Newman 40:35

felt so cool because I actually got to graduate to that section. Right. And you were only in like fourth grade. So you felt like you were hanging out with I could wear the sausage, that yeah, if you've listened to this podcast long enough, you do know that Carolyn has many superpowers but and you also know that this is one of hers. But, you know, just the other day the three of us were talking and I said hey, you guys, look at this picture. My sister is clearly wearing Adidas tennis shoes. The three stripes you can tell. And um, she's you know, I guess in this picture, I'm maybe seven and so she's like 11 I said, but look at mine. They look like Adidas but there's four stripes and we all know Adidas have three stripes and I was just like, huh, literally 15 minutes later, I get a text from Carolyn. She's done the Rabbit Hole Research. And she has discovered that I am wearing the Kenny brand. Yeah, Adidas

Carolyn Cochrane 41:21

because I think had four stripes. Your mother was very influenced by Ken Berry and his orchestrated choreographed dances in the commercial. Oh, yeah. young enough to remember.

It's fantastic to not want to go to Kenny shoes. Yeah, it's in the mall, just doing his thing.

Kristin Nilsen 41:49

We need to go back to the tracks a little bit because there was a period of time when there was a transition from the canvas bumper style tennis shoes, to the nylon and suede tennis shoes. Like we forget that there was a time when those weren't tennis shoes. And I remember the first time I saw them, and a neighbor came over and he said these are tennis shoes. And I said, No, they're not. I was like what what I don't know what you're talking about. But those are not tennis shoes.

Michelle Newman 42:17

What did you think tennis shoes were they were bulkheads? Canvas.

Kristin Nilsen 42:21

No like chucks. You have gym shoes.

Carolyn Cochrane 42:24

Yes is another Regional District we should ask her Yeah, Amber sure followers because my mother called them sneakers, which I still call them to this day. And then sometimes I say tennis shoes when I'm talking about my running shoes. And then yeah, there was track shoes. And so it seems that kind of like the soda and pop and coke discussion. There were different ways to refer to that all encompassing kind of athletic shoe

Kristin Nilsen 42:49

in my greater shoe collection. Then as I got older, you had to have a pair of deck shoes. And I wore my deck shoes with my sweats mache go. Is that word? You know what? Oh my god.

Carolyn Cochrane 43:02

One way we're like,

Kristin Nilsen 43:04

they were the Shaco was bi c h e g o and they were like track pants but they were slacks. They were like slacks that had a stripe down the side and you wear it with a rugby shirt and pearls.

Carolyn Cochrane 43:19

I guess rugby shirt and pearls. I don't know about

Michelle Newman 43:22

that sounds very late. Oh, seven late 80s.

Kristin Nilsen 43:25

Yeah, that could be Fred more junior high. I'm not exactly sure. And then my other

Michelle Newman 43:30

Darksiders we didn't call on deck shoes. We just call them dockside.

Kristin Nilsen 43:33

Yeah, that's what you're talking about something?

Michelle Newman 43:35

Yeah, we lived in those in college like in the late 80s.

Carolyn Cochrane 43:38

And I'm going to raise my hand and correct you a little bit on your pronunciation because I only know this from very distinct differentiation in my high school. So Sebago made doc sides. It's not duck ciders. Yes. And Mary made Topsiders.

Michelle Newman 43:57

Oh, yeah, that's what I meant. That's what I meant Topsiders. I meant Sperry Topsiders. That's okay. But,

Kristin Nilsen 44:03

but I hear people say Darksiders a lot. No, yeah, but there was a different

Michelle Newman 44:06

you said Doc, you said Doc something and that's what stuck in my head.

Kristin Nilsen 44:09

For sure. We call them deck shoes. Oh, okay. For sure.

Michelle Newman 44:13

It was Yep, cider. So

Carolyn Cochrane 44:15

just differentiating that Sperry and the Sebago look very similar, but there were some distinct differences and the Sebago dock sides were the shoes in my high school. That's the one that we had and

Michelle Newman 44:26

did you guys were in when I was in high school so like Carolyn, you would have been in college I'm talking like 8586 87 We lived in bass penny loafers, or just penny loafers never had in the bass ones when did get a new pair? Oh, they were so stiff. They hurt your feet so bad but you guys buy their hair right of soft paint light pink a spree penny loafers that were so soft and I think my sister wore them I think I wore them we had pink ones and white ones and oh, those were my favorite shoes like the light pink penny loafers. I wear them with my stirrup leggings.

Kristin Nilsen 44:57

Oh yeah, big red or did you guys ever wear boxing shoes? I would wear my stirrup leggings with my boxing shoe. No. They were like, I don't make sure that this was a hot minute kind of thing to wear. They were like little leather lace up boots. Yeah, very light on your feet and I'd wear them with my with my stirrup pants.

Michelle Newman 45:18

Well in bowling shoe that that bowling shoe style was popular to in the 80s. Yeah. Which

Carolyn Cochrane 45:23

brings me actually to my next question with to you guys. Is there anything that you were embarrassed that you didn't have that you really wanted to have some clothing or clothing item that you wanted? But maybe somebody in your family? Mom, Dad perhaps that? Oh, yeah. Okay, so

Kristin Nilsen 45:41

my I talked about my deck shoes earlier, which is not to be confused with my duck shoes. Oh,

Michelle Newman 45:46

oh, yes.

Kristin Nilsen 45:49

Oh, I needed them. I wanted them so badly. And I remember being at Kenny trying on the duck shoes. And my dad was like, if I told you you had to wear those, you would throw a fit. And you wouldn't do it. And I'm like, please, you don't understand. And he was trying to make me understand that I was being a lemming that I was buying these shoes, these super ugly shoes, because everybody else had them. And I just begged and begged. And finally he said, Okay.

Michelle Newman 46:15

Oh, well, that's, that's kind of how my mom you remember when I was telling you when we moved to Washington and everyone had the giant wide leg jeans? Yeah. And so of course my sister and I were like, we have to have those the jeans to fit in. My mom thought they were the most heinous things she had ever seen in her life. But we got them you know, we we had to fit in. And I remember one of my first pair were the brand was called San Francisco riding gear. And mine were railroad stripes. So they were kind of light blue and dark blue Pinstripe and then even to make it better. The giant wide leg San Francisco riding gear that we're paying our pants. So they had a little they had a little a little Yeah, little slot in the side where I could stick my comb. Yeah, or a hand. You know, I needed to fluff my I need to brush. I didn't do a lot of hammering. Oh, you know, I needed to dominantly you know, my hair was all straight. But yet you'd curl your bangs. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And then you you'd put the comb in and you'd flip it back. So your bangs kind of feathered?

Kristin Nilsen 47:15

Oh, yeah. It was like the

Michelle Newman 47:19

1989 night and

Carolyn Cochrane 47:21

let me tell you about the comb, because that leads me to my fashion item that I really wanted to have. And I remember having the discussion that I needed my first pair of Levi's corduroys, which my parents could not understand why I needed corduroy because we lived in Houston, Texas, and it was really warm there who would wear corduroys. And I said I had to have some and it had to have the red tag and they had to have the back pockets for my comb. And my dad said why do you need to carry a comb in your back pocket? And I said, Dad, I just need to and dad. It's not just any comb. It's a certain kind of comb. Like he said, I've got a bunch comes in my drawer go get it we're like fawns these comb or whatever in my back from a barber shop. Yes, no, I need the big handled colored comb. And then he was a swirly color on Yes. And then they wanted to know how I wasn't going to hurt myself when I sat down with that column, like in school. So I did finally get some corduroys they didn't have the Levi's thing. They were the plain pocket ones. I know. And I think I borrowed someone's comb and didn't return it. The only

Kristin Nilsen 48:29

other thing that I needed to have that I didn't get and I was sort of embarrassed about was I didn't get an Izod shirt. I got the Sears or the JC Penney version of it. And so instead of a little alligator on my shirt, it was a parrot. And so I would kind of try and like hunched my shoulder over a little bit so nobody could seem fair. It just turned on

Michelle Newman 48:48

its side. You should have just unstitched. It figured out a way to turn it on its side. Yeah, you guys. Oh

Kristin Nilsen 48:53

alligator.

Carolyn Cochrane 48:54

Speaking of that, what two things? Well, one I'm not sure about the parrot because I know the Fox was the JC Penney one. Okay, JC Penney Fox. I remember thinking about I had a one Izod shirt alligator shirt in the trunk of course. And I I did cut out the alligator and tried to swim on a plane. Oh, I know. Oh my god. I know this is how deep it goes. It's really bad. And then I remember with the Levi's do you guys and I this is so sad that I did this or everybody did but I knew but you know how they had the leather fight tag on the back that had the waist and the link size yes I hated that. But what erased like the waist thing and trying to write in like you might have a 29 waist but you raced it and tried to make it into a six or three and

Kristin Nilsen 49:44

you could tell I always looked at the label you'd see that it was written in with ballpoint not mine I worked really hard on my cooling. Crayola mindful Jew I'm

Carolyn Cochrane 49:55

sure you

Michelle Newman 49:56

had that you got that was you got that Texas leather tooling. Get out.

Kristin Nilsen 50:02

Okay, did you guys ever have any like knockdown drag out fights with your parents over like a particular item? I mean, clearly there were things that we didn't agree on your dad didn't understand why you couldn't just have a comb from the barber shop in your back pocket. But was there anything where like, your parents are screaming at you?

Michelle Newman 50:18

No, I don't think so. And because there was two girls and we were only three and a half years apart, like we she always knew that if she spent money on you know, a couple Izod shirts for my sister. I could wear them a couple years later, it was an investment, that type of thing. So no, I feel like she was always really supportive of our fashion choices.

Kristin Nilsen 50:36

Will she be okay with a crop top at the state fair?

Michelle Newman 50:39

Why didn't work? No, because I wasn't that kind of girl.

Kristin Nilsen 50:43

I was that kind of girl.

Michelle Newman 50:46

With your band that I was

Carolyn Cochrane 50:49

Wait, did you wear the bandana tied around your like boobs? Like that kind of a top? No,

Kristin Nilsen 50:54

no, no, no, no. Never looked at

Michelle Newman 50:56

just a t shirt. You cut off you mean?

Carolyn Cochrane 50:58

No, you know I wasn't I

Kristin Nilsen 50:59

know. I didn't cut it off. No, I bought it. I bought it but it was but it showed my midriff. Yeah. And I was going to the state fair in my in my crop top and my miniskirt. Look at you go. I know I was

Michelle Newman 51:12

really shocking to me.

Kristin Nilsen 51:15

And I remember like running out the door and she was like just screaming out the door like fine. Well, wait, we did get into one fight. When I when I was really little because of my favorite outfit at the time was a pair of red white and blue plaid. denim jeans. And I would wear it with an orange, yellow and gray granny square. And she was like, you can't wear that together. I'm like, What are you talking about? It's my favorite outfit. You those things don't match. You can't wear a granny square with plaid pants. I had no idea like What's this matching thing she's talking about? I didn't know things went together or didn't go together. And that was another time where she went fine.

Michelle Newman 51:57

Look at her she was trying to stifle your creativity. I know early age a

Kristin Nilsen 52:00

guy or my granny school have

Carolyn Cochrane 52:02

a distinct memory of something very similar and it probably was right when I was trying to exercise some of my own right to wear it. I wanted to wear same idea. It was a red turtleneck with like, I guess it wasn't a full turtleneck kind of a mock with a zipper that kind of came at it. No it was more it was full on. I mean it was a RICHARD Yeah, that's the whole shirt. A little dipper that like the little circle on bottom and it was just a shade of red and then I had these pants that were another shade of red did not match at all. And I remember my mom saying I wonder what to school and she said it doesn't match it doesn't look good. And she said but it's up to you but if you wear it you're gonna make the choice if you wear that school today you do not get to come to the grocery store shopping with me after school.

Kristin Nilsen 52:52

I will not be seen with mismatched threads. It was more

Carolyn Cochrane 52:56

like I had to really decide and I thought it was worth giving up the grocery store trip I was going where I mismatched that outfit and at

another time I really because my feet were really big two and so I must have been in like second grade and I wonder where my mom's sandals that had like a little heel they were probably like I probably I don't know or a size five or something and she was six and a half or seven. Oh I know what happened oh gosh. I'm remembering this now as we speak. I got in the car that's only shoes I bought I brought I didn't bring like my bumpers or my style sheets or anything. I only brought my mom's pair of sandals we got to the store and I had like she was so mad at me I was just coffee

Kristin Nilsen 53:57

a core Keo and

Carolyn Cochrane 54:01

I could barely keep up on my feet and she thought I was gonna like fall down escalator. She was so mad at me. shoes that I brought. Oh, I love you, Mom.

Kristin Nilsen 54:12

Oh, okay. Okay, let's talk. Let's talk summertime. And Can somebody please tell me who did the tube top whose idea was that?

Michelle Newman 54:22

I was never a tube top girl. I know. It's shocking.

Kristin Nilsen 54:26

There was a time I remember when I was like, you know, you were tube tops. And then one day I was like, I might be naked. I don't think I should be wearing a tube top anymore. I

Michelle Newman 54:36

was a little chubby when I was like in like before, let's say before sixth grade. Before seventh grade, I didn't really hit a growth spurt. So I definitely would be some a little girl like from like maybe fourth and fifth grade that you might look at and go oh, you know, like, you know, you know my little belly and so I did wear that kind of stuff. I just remember in the 70s Wearing a lot of terry cloth.

Kristin Nilsen 55:03

Oh yeah, like the romper rompers Yeah. And the little tie around your Yep. Yeah, I

Michelle Newman 55:09

think mine had like they went over both shoulders and then in the 80s for summer I think for sure like dolphin shorts, short, short. Shorts. We wear short shorts, like the striped ones with tube socks. And then just a lot of hang 10 T shirts and like Izod shirts, that type of stuff. But mostly dolphin shorts, just short shorts.

Kristin Nilsen 55:32

I've never heard that term before we read jogging shorts. Oh, yeah,

Michelle Newman 55:37

I have on our Pinterest board. There's a whole dolphin section. Like in fashion or that before? So that must be a regional

Kristin Nilsen 55:43

that could be regional or they would be in the like, yeah, there so okay.

Carolyn Cochrane 55:47

I had those but I didn't Did they have a dolphin on them? Or were they Yeah,

Michelle Newman 55:51

so and there is the brand was dolphin and then striped, blue and white striped?

Carolyn Cochrane 55:57

And yes, I remember those and I remember the mean silky that would be like something that Jacqueline Smith and you know Farah would wear when they were they were skateboarding. Yeah.

Michelle Newman 56:06

Wearing with tube socks. This isn't like the 80s Okay, like dolphin shorts and like tank tops and tube socks.

Carolyn Cochrane 56:12

And I didn't have any tube tops. But I did have some that had the tie. I think that's how my mom would justify it not being a tube top but I remember leaving the house and I would untie it and I would tuck the ties into the top of the

Michelle Newman 56:26

the ties came right from the center. Yeah, I could almost rushed out from the center and around your neck. I had some of those too. Yeah. Huh.

Kristin Nilsen 56:33

Okay, what about like disco era? Did you have anything that was definitely inspired by Dance Fever. Or solid?

Michelle Newman 56:40

Young I think I mean, other than my satin jacket that I didn't have about

Kristin Nilsen 56:44

did you ever sneak out those metal? Yes. GLORIA Vanderbilts I didn't have I had like the full glory of Annabelle. So I'd like

Michelle Newman 56:56

the snake bites. I'm remembering was my mom's though. Oh,

Kristin Nilsen 56:59

you may have heard it. Yeah, I don't know. Sometimes you'd wear it over. You would either wear it in the belt loops of your Gloria Vanderbilt or you would wear like a buttoned down shirt. Yes, untucked and then you'd wear your snake belt around your waist over the shirt.

Carolyn Cochrane 57:15

I do recall that. Yeah,

Michelle Newman 57:17

no, I didn't. I think I was just I think I was too young. My

Kristin Nilsen 57:21

dad, it was super cute.

Michelle Newman 57:25

Now just my satin and then I had like a satin tracksuit. You know, I was

Kristin Nilsen 57:30

I was sort of a disco queen. So I could have been veering in that direction because I also had like, I had my disco fantasy outfit that I didn't actually own. But I had designs on owning it eventually. I didn't know that eventually disco would come crashing down. I couldn't imagine where would disco go. But I for when I was going to be on Dance Fever. I was going to wear a satiny blue Danskin leotard, and then over the leotard would be a matching Danskin wraparound skirt all the wrap and wrap around a wraparound skirt. So then when I would twirl the dance skin skirt would fly out. Yeah. And show the bottom part of my leotard.

Carolyn Cochrane 58:07

Wow. That sounds impressive. I'm surprised I can't think of a disco outfit because ladies, I took disco lessons at Marshall Islands School of Dance, and Marsha Highland choreograph the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. So we're not big news. This

Kristin Nilsen 58:26

is really big. I know. So remember your moves. I know

Carolyn Cochrane 58:31

a little bit of the bus stop and the you know the bump. We know what we're all

Michelle Newman 58:38

getting together in person. And guess whose Instagram account needs some reals.

Kristin Nilsen 58:42

I'll see if I can find a dance. PS one. Yeah.

Carolyn Cochrane 58:46

But I do recall and I was trying to look it up before we recorded today to see what they were called. But I remember having these like scarf things. They weren't like a scarf that was gonna keep you warm in the winter. They were almost like this. Almost like yeah, fishnet e material with like knots on the bottom. You knotted

Kristin Nilsen 59:04

them at the ends. Yeah. Under the lapels of your blazer. Yes.

Carolyn Cochrane 59:07

Yeah. And if you were dancing with one accessory, wrap them from the other person that kind of pulled them.

Kristin Nilsen 59:14

Yeah, like reeling them in, you would grab the knotted thing under the lapels,

Carolyn Cochrane 59:19

but I gotta find a picture or anything. I'm gonna have to go down a more of a rabbit hole to see if

Michelle Newman 59:25

I weren't legwarmers, but that's later later was coming later.

Kristin Nilsen 59:28

I forget the leg warmers.

Michelle Newman 59:30

I definitely were leg warmers like not when I was in dance. Like I'd wear leg warmers, like with my outfit,

Kristin Nilsen 59:36

and I refuse to do that there were a lot of lines that I would not cross because I thought they were dumb. And I use leg warmers to actually warm my legs in dance class. And so when people started wearing leg warmers over there, acid washed jeans. I was like I am not playing this game. I'm not doing it.

Carolyn Cochrane 59:52

I think the real dancers in the group of my friends that would be like a no no, just like you're just trying too hard. You don't get to wear those. I earned.

Michelle Newman 1:00:00

I wouldn't wear them over jeans, but we would wear them. I mean, I was I was in, like dance groups and stuff. So we would wear them, you know, like over our warm up pants and stuff like that makes a little more. I don't think I wore them

Kristin Nilsen 1:00:13

over Jean people wear them over jeans. It was more than what's short. It was, it was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. And plus, they would wear them just over their calf muscles. And I'd be like, you know, like, go up the whole leg, right? Of course, they didn't know because they were wearing it as a fashion accessory.

Michelle Newman 1:00:29

Yeah. Hmm.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:00:30

So you didn't have an excuse? Or have you had a members only jacket? Oh,

Michelle Newman 1:00:35

yes, I did that just go away. So we're at, like,

Kristin Nilsen 1:00:42

oh, that preppy with your deck shoes and your corduroy shirt.

Michelle Newman 1:00:45

And overalls.

Kristin Nilsen 1:00:46

Oh, my overalls. I had one very traumatic event in which I took some of my seven D style over into the 80s. And it ended poorly. And I had my overalls and my bandana on my head. And then I have these tall boots. And we were wearing tall boots in the 80s that was over. And these were almost like they were like something you would wear to the disco with your blurrier mandibles. And I tucked my my overalls into the tall boots. And I'm walking into Fred more junior high with my over and the overalls are like all blousy over the top of the top and my bandana on my head. And I wonder math class. Yes, the one that is on my head at this very moment. I walked into math class with my big copy of Gone With the Wind so I could hide behind my book. And there were some boys who were like nice boots. And that's all they said they didn't say anything besides nice talk with you for this line. never wore the boots again. I never wore the overalls again. That was it. That was

Carolyn Cochrane 1:01:49

quite a good choice not to do that again. I was

Michelle Newman 1:01:52

just about to stick up for her and say you know what? She was just trying to be herself and figure she was Yeah. And then all they had to say was nice boots and this many decades later. It still is with you. So

Kristin Nilsen 1:02:02

I have one I have one last question for you. Did you have a style icon like your your own personal style icon, somebody in the media that you looked up to and you really wanted to be when you grew up?

Carolyn Cochrane 1:02:17

Well, I think I had two people somebody that inspired me kind of my age, and then somebody who I might have wanted to go up and dress like and they were both in the same television show. Kristy McNichol as buddy, I just loved her she she could just pull it all off. She was kind of tomboyish but she'd wear the rugby shirt. she'd wear the jeans. She had just perfect hair and I just wanted to be Kristy McNichol. Hey buddy Lawrence. And then when I grew up, I wanted to be Meredith Baxter Birney, that sister that lived in the backyard, in family and wardrobe. Yeah. I thought she was really cool too. And she had a very cool wardrobe. So that's who I'm going with for my style icon.

Kristin Nilsen 1:03:00

That's a very specific

Michelle Newman 1:03:01

Yeah, for me. Uh huh. Again, we're going to like around 1980 81 I mean, no question. And after everything I've told you in this episode, this will not be a surprise but for me, I idolized Mallory Keaton, on family ties. So also we're Carolyn with Meredith Baxter Birney was her mom, but you guys I first of all, I loved her as just a character on the show, but her fashion I mean, it was she always wore like skirts with ruffled shirts or she had the brightly colored oversized sweaters and sweatshirts. She worked gunny sacks. She wore the college popped up. She was super, super preppy, but also just just like styled and I loved it. I loved everything about her I just, but especially her fashion, and I've been watching family ties lately, because you can watch the entire series on Paramount plus, which is worth the 599 a month for me just to watch Family Ties when I want to. And again, I'm just like going crazy. I keep doing screenshots of different outfits Mallory shows up in because I'm screaming as I'm watching it now as a 52 year old woman. I'm like it's so cute. Yeah, so for me

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:14

so interesting, because this this explains actually who you are right now. Right? Like, like Carolyn. I can see you pulling off some Kristy McNichol looks right now. And Michelle, I can see you pulling off Mallory looks right now.

Michelle Newman 1:04:31

I think well, I'm sitting here and Larry that my roughly target dress.

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:35

I think you'll hear that with you. And I think that's like, I think that's something that you have to listen to. for me. I've told you guys this before, because it's sort of a surprising one. And I'm sure it's nobody else's style icon. But I loved Suzanne Pleshette on The Bob Newhart Show.

Michelle Newman 1:04:49

i Honey When you loved you were wearing pants shirts.

Kristin Nilsen 1:04:56

It was she had maxi skirts for day. She's and her colleagues were like wall to wall collars. They were like wings. She was going to take three collars, and they would like totally. They you wouldn't even be able to see her fitted blazer underneath her big collar. I just loved the way Emily Hartley dressed. And maybe you're right. I think that orange pantsuit is sort of an homage to Suzanne Pleshette.

Michelle Newman 1:05:21

She was a huge style icon. You can actually watch all those shows on on Hulu on Hulu. Yeah. Because I was one of I always say one of them, one will cut that one of them. Yes. And that is one thing that strikes me when I'm watching the new Bob Newhart Show reruns is Suzanne Pleshette was just fabulously styled. She was

Kristin Nilsen 1:05:46

she was cool. And it was like scarier always had like the next guy asked, she always has something around her neck. And that was sort of my 90s look to my late 90s Look was always a little silk scarf around my neck, or a choker or something like that. Emily would oftentimes work chokers, and so even right now what I'm wearing, this is what Emily would wear to paint the apartment in Chicago. Right, my dad I'm sure you guys I'm even wearing my bell bottoms and my clogs right now. And so I still, just like I can see both of you guys wearing the things that you have the people that you mentioned, I can still picture myself wearing Suzanne Pleshette clothing. Let's close this episode with an exercise. This is for our listeners. Everyone take a few minutes today and do what we just did. Really think about those outfits that made you feel like $100 When you were a kid, are there any trends that still speak to right now? Is there a way you can replicate it right now? Because I like I said, I still wear bell bottoms and clogs on the regular. You can for sure. Find a Morgan Mindy shirt if that's your deal. Target. Oh my god, I'm looking at Michelle right now wearing her prairie dress from Target. Do this for yourself. Do it to honor the person that you were that little person that's little person still lives inside of you. It will make you feel awesome. I promise.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:07:03

That's so sweet.

Michelle Newman 1:07:05

I do feel awesome. And my prairie dress. Oh my god.

Kristin Nilsen 1:07:10

You look like you. That's the point. Michelle, you look like you.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:07:15

Well, you guys, we hope that all of our listeners will join us next time. Because we'll be talking about those little musical montage things. You know, those things we saw on TV, the things that would eventually be known as music videos, and give birth to an entire cable network called MTV. Oh,

Michelle Newman 1:07:32

that's gonna be fun. It's gonna be fun for that one. And hey, all of you who are listening? What were your favorite outfits growing up in the 70s and 80s. Post it on your favorite social media platform and tag us at pop culture Preservation Society, so we can see and share and make sure you're following all the fun we're having on social media just search pop culture Preservation Society. Also, and this is very important. If you enjoy our conversations, please subscribe. And please leave a nice review or even just click those stars and Share Share Share with your friends. And if they don't know how to listen to podcasts, please show them how easy it is. This

Kristin Nilsen 1:08:15

is a thing for learning. How do you listen to a podcast? In the meantime, let's raise a glass for a toast. Courtesy of our favorite swing and roommates hanging out at the Regal Beagle Jack tripper Janet wood and the inimitable Christie snow. Two good times.

Carolyn Cochrane 1:08:33

Two Happy Days to Little House on the Prairie. Cheers

Kristin Nilsen 1:08:36

here. Cremation opinions and comments expressed on the pop culture Preservation Society podcast belongs solely to me the crush ologists and Carolyn and hello Newman, and are in no way representative of our employers or affiliates. And though we truly believe we are always right, I guess there's always a first time that PCPs is written produced and recorded at modern well a woman centered co working space in Minneapolis, Minnesota, home of the fictional w j m studios and our beloved Mary Richards, man a man who keep on truckin and may the Force be with you.