https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Tue, 14 Apr 2026 19:38:08 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2335317 Fri, 18 Aug 2023 07:19:02 +0000 Bijou 2335317@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>When I was 3, I remember Dad going away on his first work trip. A big deal as it involved a 5-hour plane trip and being away from home for a week. When he returned, he had presents for all the family, it was like Christmas. I received a teddy and a beautiful blue dress from a department store. The teddy became my constant companion. Mum let me wear that dress as much as I wanted which was basically everywhere as within a year, I had outgrown it.</p> <p>I was the most dressed up child at BBQ's and at the playground where I was in a dress and Mary-jane shoes when all the other children wore shorts and sandals. It has never bothered me being overdressed! </p> <p>It is really fun reading these stories and I had almost forgotten Dad's first work trip. He set a precedent for subsequent work trips which became more frequent and so he was less lavish, but always made sure we got chocolates or another treat.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2335316 Fri, 18 Aug 2023 06:46:26 +0000 nuancedream 2335316@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My first fashion memory is visiting my Aunt Judy in Montclair, New Jersey. She was a highly cultured, world-traveler who was also a superb cook and seamstress. Plus, she had amazing personal style. I remember being completely mesmerized by her mink stole. Aunt Judy put the mink stole around me and I walked down the stairs not like a 5 year child, but like a catwalk model! When I was in graduate school at Seton Hall University, Aunt Judy and I would go to New York City for shopping trips. She helped me with dressing more like a young woman and less like a pre-teen boy. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2335255 Thu, 17 Aug 2023 20:15:49 +0000 Kyle 2335255@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh, yes, to shopping in the large department stores. My mom and I would take the bus into downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Such great memories of shopping together at Higbee’s, Halle’s, and May Company.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2335191 Thu, 17 Aug 2023 13:59:34 +0000 Star (Lise) 2335191@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>In South Africa we had Stutterfords spread over a number of floors and we would also do lunch or tea there.&nbsp; That was in the 80/90s.&nbsp; Do you remember Stutties&nbsp;<b>Angie</b>?&nbsp; In later times and probably even now Woolworths have a buffet lunch area which is very nice but not quite the same, affectionately known as Woolies.&nbsp; We SA people seem to have a thing for making the names short and cute, maybe some influence from the Afrikaans language, not sure </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2335175 Thu, 17 Aug 2023 12:48:42 +0000 Janet 2335175@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh, the department stores of the past! In Baltimore we had Stewart’s, Hutzler’s (where my grandmother was the glove buyer), and Hecht Co. It was such a treat going to those stores. I remember the amazing Christmas displays (and the ginormous dollhouse in the toy department!) at Hutzlers in Towson, just outside of Baltimore city, which became our main shopping destination after we moved from the city to the county, as so many families of the time did (sigh, a topic for a whole other dissertation). On special occasions we would have lunch at the tea room Hutzler’s, which had a huge painted mural of a fox hunt (apparently a common occasion in the area before it became suburbia). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2335172 Thu, 17 Aug 2023 12:37:17 +0000 Vildy 2335172@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>YES&nbsp; I lived in and near Philadelphia and dearly miss the big department stores. My friends and I loved eating lunch there!&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2335118 Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:43:34 +0000 Karie 2335118@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>When I was a little girl, clothes shopping was a family outing- we would drive over to the big department stores in Philadelphia- John Wanamaker’s, Lit Brothers, and Gimbals, and spend the entire day shopping. We only did it once or twice a year but I loved it! Those grand department stores had restaurants in them and I remember eating lunch there too. It was such a special time. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2335115 Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:33:24 +0000 Kyle 2335115@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My mom was a talented seamstress.&nbsp;</p> <div><br /></div><div>I vividly remember that she made us matching yellow shift dresses one summer. The dresses were accented with large&nbsp;white buttons (decorative only). The styles was very 1960s and very mod. Mom had a silver pixie cut.&nbsp;<div><br /></div><div>I was so happy and proud. Oh how I wish I had a photo of us in our matching 60s shifts!&nbsp;<div><br /></div></div></div></p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2335112 Thu, 17 Aug 2023 00:14:33 +0000 Kate 2335112@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Vildy, I had the original blonde Barbie in the black &amp; white swimsuit, thanks to my generous aunt, but I didn't know there was a brunette one! I would have loved having her. We had redheads aplenty in my family and all my friends were blond, but brunettes were scarce on the ground, and a brunette Barbie would have been the height of glamor to my 5-year-old self. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2334951 Wed, 16 Aug 2023 00:33:48 +0000 Indigoprint 2334951@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Yes remarkable memory Helena </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory/page/2#post-2334877 Tue, 15 Aug 2023 16:06:15 +0000 Vildy 2334877@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><b>Helena</b>, how wonderful that everything about this beautiful occasion meant so much to you and your deeply loving parents equally! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334856 Tue, 15 Aug 2023 14:58:45 +0000 Helena 2334856@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I love this thread! Vildy, your communion dress story reminds me of a story my Dad loves to tell and an early fashion memory for me ... when it was time for my first communion, the place to go for dresses in Toronto was 'Little Italy', where many shops did the really frilly and fancy wedding dress looking ones (as an Irish immigrant, this was a big occasion for my mom too; we did a celebratory party with Mass at our house and all). </p> <p>Anyways, I loved a dress I tried on, floor-length, veil, gloves and all, but me being me, even at 7 was worried about it being too costly to ask my parents for. The very-expressive Italian shop owner declared with confidence: "Your father - he loves you! Money is NO OBJECT!" Lmao ... now that is a sales technique. Suffice it to say, my not-rich father decided he agreed and the dress came home with us! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334855 Tue, 15 Aug 2023 14:47:21 +0000 Dana 2334855@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>The most vivid 1st memory of my clothes was around 5 or 6. I had a little white pique dress with some pintucks on the bodice and a small red/white gingham (detachable?) bow. I won't go into the whole conversation, but it was the first time I remember talking about the "rules" of fashion.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334844 Tue, 15 Aug 2023 13:12:36 +0000 Vildy 2334844@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><b>April</b>, those little lace chapel hats would be a fab summer accessory today.&nbsp; If only we were invited to Ascot. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334843 Tue, 15 Aug 2023 13:11:19 +0000 Vildy 2334843@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>You know, I had no idea there was an original blonde Barbie. Everybody in my neighborhood had the brunette one.&nbsp; I would have liked a blonde one since I was blonde.&nbsp;</p> <p><a rel="nofollow" href="https://www.pinterest.com/susiejorik/barbie-vintage-outfits-and-fashion-booklets-1959-1/1959-1960-barbie-teenage-fashion-model-doll-clothe/">https://www.pinterest.com/susi.....59-1960-ba</a> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334835 Tue, 15 Aug 2023 12:02:10 +0000 April 2334835@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Hmm.&nbsp; Earliest memory would have to be age 3-4, 1966/67.&nbsp; My dad was in the navy then and we were stationed in the hinterlands of Georgia, one of those houses where the driveway ends at a highway.&nbsp; </p> <p>I remember my mother dressing me up for church - Vatican II was long over but she clung to chapel hats for perhaps a decade afterward.</p> <p>I actually loved our chapel hats - hers was like a navy lace mantilla and mine was like a white lace yarmulke.&nbsp; I hated the bobby pins that pulled my curly hair.&nbsp; I think we even wore gloves.&nbsp; I had patent leather mary janes and probably a little purse.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>To my mother's everlasting dismay I was a short chubster.&nbsp; She didn't get to dress a true Barbie until my sister came along, 8 years after me. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334834 Tue, 15 Aug 2023 11:53:43 +0000 Vildy 2334834@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My mom gave in and bought me a Barbie.&nbsp; I was not a girl who liked or had baby dolls.&nbsp; But "everybody" had Barbies and I remember they were three dollars.&nbsp; This was the original Barbie with black and white striped swimsuit and black hair.&nbsp; I guess I must have had a booklet like that, too. I do know that she refused to buy one single outfit for the doll and I had no allowance.&nbsp; She could sew but didn't offer to make doll outfits nor teach me how.&nbsp; But I must have gazed at those clothes hundreds of times.&nbsp; They are <b><i>still</i></b> my favorite wardrobe and I think I often dress like that! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334833 Tue, 15 Aug 2023 11:46:40 +0000 Janet 2334833@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My earliest memories are mostly of my mom’s and sister’s outfits (my sister is 10 years older than I am and I remember some terrible rows over the micro mini skirts she tried to wear!). </p> <p>But I loved playing with my Barbies and had lots of outfits for them. This may be really weird, but I remember being about 4 years old, and being fascinated with the little catalog booklet of Barbie outfits. Each outfit had a name along with the photo, and I used to ask my dad to sit with me and read the outfit names out loud with me. LOL. I liked the names of things as a kid — I would make up songs of street names when we’d pass them (I bet my mom would laugh today if she knew I still remember singing “Darleigh Road!”). So I think the combination of visual and sound appealed to me even then. My favorite childhood book, The Bear Party, featured beautiful illustrations of costumes (koala bears who had a costume party!), which also captivated me.</p> <p>A little later, one of my favorite times of year was back to school shopping. I loved how the rich colors of fall started appearing (I was also a weird kid who LOVED school until I hit about 13 years old). Does anyone else remember Garanimals? I remember laughing with my parents that they should have made them for adults too, since many adults seemed to need help “matching” the tops and bottoms of outfits! Hey, it was the 70s, patterns and colors were hectic. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334806 Mon, 14 Aug 2023 23:38:54 +0000 UmmLila (Lisa) 2334806@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My mom had a pair of brown crocodile pumps from I Magnin in San Francisco. &nbsp;Size 7. They were way too big for me. She had kept them but didn’t wear them anymore. In Saudi Arabia in the 1970s, they were stored in our « trunk room » along with other hardly-used items and large green bottles of « mash » used to make (illegal) alcohol. Somehow I remember the fermented sugary smell of the mash and’ the crocodile shoes together as I clumped up and down the trunk room in them &nbsp;</p> <div><br /></div><div>And then after that I think about being 12 or 13 and reading censored issues of Seventeen magazine and wanting to be Diane Lane and wear little tweed blazers in the fall. &nbsp;And have A Little Romance. In September in Dhahran it was like ninety percent humidity and ninety to a hundred Fahrenheit so that was a non starter.&nbsp;</div></p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334757 Mon, 14 Aug 2023 15:24:00 +0000 Jaime 2334757@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My first memory is from 1 st grade. A girl in my class wore &nbsp;white gogo type boots, a suede fringe purse, crocheted vests. I wanted to dress like this SO bad but my mom put me in traditional kids type clothing. When the fashionable girl won the coveted May Queen role I became convinced how important dressing cool could be.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334693 Mon, 14 Aug 2023 00:52:21 +0000 Jaime 2334693@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Not super early, but I remember pouring over the Sears catalog around the age of 8 (yes, it was a thing then).&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334682 Sun, 13 Aug 2023 23:58:49 +0000 Anonymous 2334682@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Halloween when I was in preschool. I had on this leopard costume- think my mom or grandma made it. My grandma was carrying me on her back and my long tail was dragging on the ground (grandma was short like me).</p> <p>Before I remembered that I thought of earrings. I wasn't allowed to get my ears pierced till I was a teen, so I wore clip ons. They hurt and caused such dents in my ears! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334649 Sun, 13 Aug 2023 20:11:57 +0000 rachylou 2334649@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I have a lot of very early fashion memories. First argument with my mum was maybe 2-3 yrs of age, lol I definitely played in her wardrobe. She had this one pretty pretty dress: a deep pink with embroidery under the bust and pleated chiffon sleeves. Then there was a dress my dad gifted her that she hated, lol. It was spectacular but also very Cher - kinda best on someone very tall. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334648 Sun, 13 Aug 2023 20:11:35 +0000 Carol 2334648@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I was in middle school, the time of emerging adulthood, when the supermodel era began. I also began watching MTV. George Michael came out with a dance song called “Too Funky.” It had an accompanying video with Linda Evangelista, Tyra Banks and others wearing the most outrageous outfits and strutting their stuff. It turned me into a junkie for magazines, and anything I could find out about New York. </p> <p><a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ2DVwSVIIo" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ2DVwSVIIo</a> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334647 Sun, 13 Aug 2023 20:10:33 +0000 Carla 2334647@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I’ve posted this photo&nbsp;before (me and my stylish aunt at Grandma’s house dressed for church Easter Sunday.) &nbsp;Grandma had a great dress up box with Aunt Mary and my Mom’s old party dresses from the 50’s. &nbsp;They were all pouffy chiffon and netting, and below the knee made them full length princess dresses. &nbsp;I think I was a princess in one of those gowns every Halloween until I was 11!</p> <p>Funnily, I never had dolls or a Barbie or an easy bake oven. My mother was an artist and may have had a feminist streak. &nbsp;She didn’t approve of colouring books either - though I had lots of crayons, paint, and paper.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334644 Sun, 13 Aug 2023 20:04:34 +0000 cjh 2334644@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>So many pictures in my mind of clothes my mom made me and my siblings! Possibly the earliest I can describe are one year’s Easter outfits for me and my two sisters. Each of us had a sleeveless gingham dress; blue, peach and lilac were the colors. Then each had a matching light coat in solid light wool with a gingham lining. She also actually wove little round baskets of reeds, painted them white and sewed drawstring tops onto them for little purses. I’m certain we all had white straw hats as well.</p> <p>Around the same year, she made the girls navy wool plaid jumpers and the boys had corduroy collarless blazers.</p> <p>I could make a book of the many pretty clothes I had throughout my childhood years. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334641 Sun, 13 Aug 2023 19:43:01 +0000 Echo 2334641@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Ooh, I remember my "Fish Fry Dress" and shoes. I wore it from about aged 2-1/2, and I wore it for quite a while, as I didn't grow much at that age! It was white with navy piping, and I had black patent leather t-strap mary janes with white piping. I loved to twirl in that dress, and I wore it every time we went out for fish on Fridays.</p> <p>I also remember having Rhumba panties. I was very, very young, so my memories are sketchy, but I remember dancing at my aunt's wedding and my grandma kept telling me to keep my dress down because I pulled up my dress (to show off my ruffle pants!) and shook my tiny little butt!</p> <p>These two foundational memories combined with the fact that my mum was required to wear a skirt or dress, hose and heels daily (as a school teacher!) might contribute to the fact that I am never happier than when I am "dressed up." Even my casual clothing tends to be much more dressy than most others I interact with. "Fancy clothes" are just my happy place! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334639 Sun, 13 Aug 2023 19:36:08 +0000 Kari 2334639@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I also remember one of my mom’s friends bringing over old issues of McCall’s magazines that we would use to cut out people to use as paper dolls. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334638 Sun, 13 Aug 2023 19:32:13 +0000 Kate 2334638@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Paper dolls. Oh how I loved paper dolls and dressing them up. I even made clothes for them, cutting outfits out of the Sears catalog and occasionally drawing my own.&nbsp;</p> <p>My red corduroy overalls which I had when I was maybe 3 and loved beyond reason. My poor mother had a real task peeling me out of those. I never wanted to take them off.&nbsp;</p> <p>When I was a little older, about 5 or 6 I guess, my mother bought me&nbsp; madras plaid shorts with a matching sleeveless top AND sneakers. That outfit became my next love, even when the sneakers bled onto my feet when I got them wet. I probably happily sported blue feet for a couple of days! Looks like I came by my love of plaid pants early.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/your-first-fashion-memory#post-2334637 Sun, 13 Aug 2023 19:31:49 +0000 Kari 2334637@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I have no idea where they came from (I’ll have to ask my mom) but the epitome of sophistication when I was a kid was a pair of adult-sized pumps in our dress up box. They had clear plastic heels (as if they were glass) and the shoe was covered in glitter or sequins - blue, green, and purple. We thought they were the best! </p>