Sunshine On Her Shoulders…
…makes model/actress Shelley Hack happy in her vibrant floral jacket. I also love the rays of sun that illuminate her hair and pretty face in this picture, which I recently found in one of my vintage Seventeen magazines.
Trotting out bright floral-fresh new clothes was always a rite of spring passage. It began with the Easter outfit which included black patent Marjane’s, white lace-trimmed socks, a smocked dress, pastel spring coat, white gloves, and a beribboned straw hat with a too-tight under-the-chin elastic strap. But Easter sometimes came with frigid temperatures and it was back to ski jackets and knit hats the next day.
April is a changeable month in the Northeast. A co-worker once vowed that on May 1st, no matter what the forecast, she would begin wearing her spring clothes (turnip!). I know that longing and since I’ve never been good at transitional dressing, selecting things to wear in early spring is always a challenge. I wish dressing now were as easy as pulling on a tropic-colored summer dress over my head.
My daughter and I went shopping yesterday and she couldn’t decide if a tangerine sweater was “too bright”. I explained that once the sun shows itself again in earnest, the tangerine will feel just right. She bought the sweater. I bought nude pumps to lighten up my work pants and sweaters.
As I yearn for lovely sunshine on my own shoulders, I look back at some of my most memorable and favorite spring clothes:
mint-green “baseball jacket” with rainbow cuffs my grandmother made me
red, white and green striped dirndl skirt my mother bought me when I was in Jr. High School
white piqué dress trimmed with daisy rick-rack for 6th grade dance
shiny vinyl egg yolk-yellow raincoat with “fireman” hardware closures worn over bell bottoms on rainy school days
double-knit rose-colored date dress with short sleeves, Peter Pan collar, and three matching pearl buttons
red dotted-swiss dress with white lace trim and back tie worn under graduation gown
(Graduation Day)
6 Comments
Ibrahim Khalil
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Kay
I grew up in Maryland, where tulips and daffodils were rampant by late March! Our Easter dresses were cotton pastel too–minus the parkas and mittens that my northern-raised daughters had to endure. I saw a pretty white sateen dress strewn with abstract daffodils at the store this weekend and wished I had a little girl to put it on! Oh, there's nothing cuter than a little miss in her Easter finery!! Sweet memories, Donna!
donna macdonald
Thank you for your comments! I'm lovin' yellow too these days. Frigid Easters? Standard in New England!
Pondside
You are so right about the power of sunshine to make a bright colour 'just right'.
You and I had the very same Easter outfits as children – but we lived in the snow belt and the shiny shoes were hidden inside galoshes and the pretty dress was bundled under a heavy coat most years. Easter egg hunts outdoors? That was the stuff of fairy tales!
Amy
I have been absolutely obsessing over "yellow" the past week and treated myself to a bright yellow sweater, and 2 yellow shirts. Planning on wearing a bright yellow blazer to work today.
I was also telling my husband last night that I remembered Easters growing up in the Upper Midwest which always included wearing a snow parka over my pretty Easter dress 🙂
DebbyMc
I had a white pique dress with daisy trim for my 6th grade promotion in 1966. It was my very first "grown-up" dress, purchased from a ladies shop at the community shopping center. I felt so special going with my mom to buy it, and then when I wore it to the ceremony. I don't ever remember wearing it again, but I do have a couple of photos of the day. We took so many fewer photographs back then. Thanks for the memories! PS: I loved Shelly Hack and all the models in my Seventeen magazines 🙂