More Memories

Old Days Fashion and Customs

In the Winter when I was in school, I had to wear long brown stockings to keep my legs warm. Girls were not allowed to wear pants to school. The long brown stockings had to be held up by a garter belt. The garter belt consisted of two shoulder straps that hooked on your shoulders and went down past your waist. On the ends of the straps were two elastic bands in which two garters on each side were placed. One garter for the front of the stocking and another for the back of the stocking. So four garters in all. I had to pull the socks up really tight and then hook them to the garters or they would wrinkle up. In Spring I got to wear white long stockings. The was exciting to me.

When I got to be a teenager, I got my first pair of nylons. You had to wear a garter belt with those too but the garter belt was more feminine and fit around the waist with the garters connected to it. The nylons had seams in them and you had to be very careful putting them on so the seams would be straight. Older women usually wore rayons. Rayons were thicker and more durable. But they were ugly. I don't know what it is with old ladies who are somewhat oveweight, but they always seemed to sit with their legs slightly open. I remember as a girl one old lady who visited often used to sit on our couch with her legs open and you could see the garters that hooked up her rayon stockings. Their rayons were always wrinkled and they wore old granny-type shoes. Sometimes they wore round elastic garters that only held up their stocking part of the way. Women in the old days seemed to be proud to be old. Anyone over 50 looked like they were closer to 80 and mainly because of the way they dressed and wore their hair.

My Grandma didn't like change and she continued to wear rayons or nylons with a garter belt even after pantyhose came out. My Mother had a hard time finding silk stockings for her and she had to make a garter belt because you could no longer buy them. She didn't like to wear pants either. They were for men. She always wore a full petticoat and a dress with an apron.

My Grandma didn't like clothes dryers or automatic washing machines either. She still hung her clothes up even if she had to string them over chairs and tables in the house. She only liked lye soap and didn't believe that modern day dertergent could get anything clean. I know lye soap was made with pig fat. My Mother used to render the lard from a pig in the oven. It was kind of like pork cracklings. It stunk awful when she was doing it. I really don't know how it is made but I know that after the lard is rendered you grind up with lye to make soap. It cleans really well but it is hard on clothes, It makes them wear out faster.