My Life in Music and Fashion

I could start in the horrid 1950s, but it's so hard to remember those hideous short dresses that made me so cold in the middle of winter. Girls did not wear pants. I seldom had tights. I often caught cold.

My dresses were not as cute as those in the picture because I lived way out in the hinterland of the Pacific Northwest. Our stores carried the rejects from the other 47 states.

I remember some of the Bossa Nova and Cha Cha dances because my girlfriends with older sisters took me through those secret rites of passage. All of this took place during the Camelot Years, when Jack and Jackie Kennedy were their imperial highnesses of cool.

And, everyone was cool except for me, the gangly skinny thing.

One day in 1964, I was riding my skateboard, wearing a turquoise-and-white striped shirt, and singing "Little Surfer Girl". The next day, I was screaming and doing a little-kid version of the twist every time I heard "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles on the local rock station.

After that, everything had to be in a British Style. Girls started wearing locally-made proto-Mod clothing like the British Models in teen magazines. And, boys went a little longer than usual between haircuts because the Beatles had shockingly "long hair". Can't you tell by the photo above?

 No matter how bad it looked on some of us, we had to wear Mod miniskirts or be labeled as "not gear".

So, since Boomers were music-centric, and the new sound was wavering and warbly, with long guitar solos, we had to start wearing clothing that was soft and flowing. Eventually, people called us by some derogatory name...I think it was "hippies".

But if you want to follow the rest of my life in music and fashion, you can click on the article below that says CONTINUE READING.