In response to our last post, which was penned by a young woman, frequent comment-leaver SE sent in some images of female students from the University of the South’s 1978 yearbook, depicting a mixture of masculine and feminine elements in their wardrobe. I came of age in the ’80s and dreamed of girls like Jennifer in 1985’s “Back To The Future,” but I remember being a kid in the ’70s and the older boys with their Farah Fawcett posters.
Recently I needed a jolt of classic rock to reconnect me to my past, and one of the bands that came up was Heart. Now I’m old enough to appreciate how the Wilson sisters look on the cover of the 1975 album “Dreamboat Annie.” You can see the archetypal feminine shining through them, and I think you’ll catch a glimpse of it in some of these images. The women seem happy. So do the guys at the bottom. You don’t see that anymore.
In addition to ’70s rock, I was also recently reading an exegesis of Goethe’s Faust, whose final lines are “Eternal womanhood leads us onward.”
Avanti, gentlemen. — CC
And not a thong, bellybutton ring, nose ring, leggings, or tattoo in sight. Ah, the good old days when a lot more of the fairer sex looked liked people you might actually want to talk to. . . or ask out for cup of coffee or lunch and spend some time getting to know.
Best Regards,
Heinz-Ulrich
Just realized I’m very blessed to have danced a solo routine with ’70s icon Jacqueline Bissett on film.
And speaking of “seventies,” she’s still working and still an icon!
Heinz has almost just described an aesthetic ideal, not entirely metaphorically speaking.
The second tweed is pretty bloody amazing.
The women in the pictures are now in their 60s. Some have grandchildren. A daunting thought. Time flies.
Strongly, highly recommend “Seven Sisters Style” by Rebecca Tuite. It’s an outstanding spiritual sibling to Take Ivy. The women/girls are like fresh air flooding into the lungs; I, for one, cannot resist a string of pearls and a cashmere cardigan.
Yes, RBM, let’s give a shout-out and thanks to Rebecca. Before her book she shared some of her preliminary research right here. You can enter her name in the Search window.
I notice a lot of jeans in articles being posted lately. Not complaining, just saying.
The average American today would appear to embrace obesity, athletic wear for all occasions, tattoos, and piercings. I miss the era depicted in the photographs. Americans no longer look upwards on the socioeconomic ladder for their aspirations. Rather, they look downward. Democracy at its extreme…everyone is equality wretched.
Heinz-Ulrich and Roger have certainly hit the nail on the head.
Wretched is certainly a much easier aspiration to have. If once even can use the word ‘aspiration’ in that way. It’s odd teaching undergraduates working toward the coveted degree. My considered view is that most will end up no different, or better off than their parents other than a credential of some kind if they finish, which, depending on the data one might examine, many do not. Young people aspire to a better paycheck every two weeks, but little more than that. Not much in the way of polish and sophistication, which seem to be more qualities to deride than to attain. Sobering and profoundly discouraging some weeks.
Geez, where the heck do you teach??
Come on, I only use “exegesis” once a year.
Docere,
I can assure you that Heinz-Ulrich is describing most undergraduates at any American college from the bottom of the barrel to the so-called cream of the crop.