I think that rush we get is what also has us hooked on dressing. I have almost been caught several times in my life and would never stop doing it because of that.
Nope. Not me. I was terrified of the consequences of getting caught. With 6 kids in the house & 2 parents, making 8 people living there, it was almost impossible to get a few minutes alone, even to to put on anything.
So my actual dress-up times were rare. I'd just flip through Wards Montgomery, Sears, & JC Penny catalogs browsing through dresses dreaming of wearing them. Easy not to get caught doing that... just flip over a bunch of pages if I heard someone coming.
It wasn't until they started forced busing kids to schools into other neighborhoods, that I discovered abandoned buildings like the train stations (Central Terminal in Buffalo) where there were plenty private spots & rooms to dress up at more often. There was much less a chance of getting caught there that at home. The place was huge with many rooms & floors. I could hear somebody coming from far away too. I would have plenty of time to either hide somewhere or change before they got there. It never got as close to getting caught as at home. The few times I got nervous because I thought I heard somebody coming it turned out to be just a bird or the wind.
I usually chose a room far up on the upper floors with a window so I can see someone approaching the property from far away. With no working elevators, it would take a while for someone to climb all those stairs to my spot. With over a dozen abandoned (but relatively clean) rooms on every floor, it would be highly improbable they'd find the room I was in.
I used to watch for yard & garage sales for my dresses & stuff. With no money, I knew whatever they didn't sell would wind up set out for the garbage on the next garbage pick-up day. Because of my small size, lots of little girls stuff fit me. Even as a teen, I was still little girl sized.
There was no heat at the abandoned train station. So dressing in winter almost never happened. But if I went long enough without it, I would strip & put on something pretty there as long as it was above 30F outside. I chose the rooms with working windows that weren't broken, so a sunny day would warm up the room a little warmer than outside. In the hot summer, up high, there would be a nice breeze if I opened the windows. There would be plenty of open or broken windows in the place so nobody knew the difference if another one was open.
In the late 1960s, I spent much more time at the Central Terminal than anybody else did. It was practically my home away from home in those days.
In highschool it was only skirts and dresses no matter how cold it got.
I'm surprised how parents would bundle up their kids nice & warm to play outside in the winter, but would send them to school in cold clothes. I guess they figured they'd be on a warm bus or warm school most of the time so it didn't matter much. They were more concerned about their kids looking pretty for school than warmth. They didn't realize a little kid can get pretty cold on the walk there, or one may have to wait for their bus 20-50 minutes shivering like crazy.
And teachers didn't help with their strict dress codes in the schools in cold climates. Seriously, even your typical boys dress shirts, dress pants, dress shoes & socks were way to thin & cold to wear in this area when it was winter.
The day I chose my own clothes & what to wear to school, I stopped shivering outside.
Topic: Vintage girls clothing (gallery) (Read 72939 times)
