Bonnet, bonnet-who's wearing the bonnet?

"My mother took her Holly Hobbie obsession just a wee bit too far. That or she thought I should have been living out on the prairie with Laura Ingalls. Either way the hat is toooo much. Bonnet, definitely a bonnet. And what makes this ensemble especially fabulous is that I think my grandmother made it. *sigh*" (via)

Why couldn't this woman's mother have been my mother? The friggin' ingrate. I would have killed for that bonnet, but, ahem, without the duck.

Let me just explain my bonnet obsession:
It all goes back to Star Trek. Yeah, you know the movie. The one where they put some creepy thing in the ears of two crew members. Was it Scotty? I can't remember. Either way, it scared the hell out of me. After seeing that movie, I hid my fear. Each night, I crept out of bed, slowly, quietly, to my dresser. Steathily, I removed the bonnet from my drawer. Why did I have a bonnet? No idea. But you know what it was good for? Ear Protection! Ear wigs, which I knew nothing about, and those creepy Star Trek things.
Bonnets--necessary for protection and security. Parents--there are certain movies your child SHOULD NOT SEE.

(Another one? Invasion of the Body Snatchers, the Donald Sutherland one. Bad idea to let your 7-year-old see that. I'm just sayin'.)

Polygamist Couture

"Apparently, Mom might have been from Utah.

I watch a lot of "Big Love" and in diggin around for a picture...I came across this old Chritsmas photo...(78 or 79 I think).

What is God's name was my mother thinking?

Little nerds on the prairie. Since when did my mother have a Laura Wilder fetish? We look cut right from the cast of Big Love. P---- looks ready to be married of to the prophet, and jesus,

K---- looks like Mork. I'm not even going to start on my short bus sense of style. And people wonder why I got beat up all the time in grade school.

This is just so wrong.

Of course, kids today dress like Britney after a cocaine bender so maybe polygamist couture isn't all that bad." (via)

I am in awe of this guy. Not just the photo but the wit to match. Well-played Mr. Polygamist Couture. Well-played.

One thing to mention. Super Person? Super person? SUPER PERSON?? Is that some kind of clothing tie-in to the Free To Be You and Me album? Because if it were, I believe my mother would have purchased such an item for me. You know, being that she was all women's lib and all that.

Let's have a listen and reflect on just---being.

Little Miss Hee Haw

If only it were Earth Day, this photo is so green, it would just be perfect.

"Hideous Green Outfits, September 1976.

I can't believe mom made us wear these...what on earth was she thinking???" (via)

I like that the detail goes down to the matching hairstyles. And of course, one of my faves--the sandals with socks. No one wants chilly toes!

One question--what were they wearing under the jackets and did that match too?

This woman calls her photo "Little Miss Hee Haw," and I think she is funnier about it than I could ever be.

"Even Mary Ingalls thinks I look like a hillbilly, and that chick's freaking blind.

My mom sewed this whole outfit (including the bonnet) for Rodeo Day. What? Your town didn't have a holiday where all the schools let out so the students could get their poultry gussied up for the livestock show?

It wasn't until I was in my 20's when I realized that Rodeo Day was in fact not a national holiday. Actually, I suspect my school just switched out Martin Luther King Jr. Day with Rodeo Day. Because who needs to celebrate the life of a civil rights hero who fought for equality when you could be q-tipping your bunny rabbits ears for judging? Those bunnies aren't going to groom themselves, people. Geez." (via)

Thank goodness the kids are so cute!

These cutie brothers bore the unfortunate cross of a mother who loved the matchy matchy.

"1984 or 4 I'd guess...Mum always made us wear matching clobber on school photo day - nice!" (via)

Okay, I did have to look up what clobber means and apparently, in England, it does mean clothing. Of course, it could also mean what happened to these boys for wearing matching outfits to school.

I love how huge the chest icon is on that sweater. Much cooler than the Le Tigre I sported in my passport photo at around the same time--pale blue with a striped ribbon in my hair, and white jazz shoes with baby blue laces to match my shirt.

This girl is so rockin' her tortoise shell glasses, who cares about her ugly handmade dress?

"Hello 1973! My mom made me this dress." (via)

I don't quite understand what haircut was happening here, and that fabric looks stiff and completely uncomfortable. That being said, I wish I'd worn my glasses with that kind of confidence. In my mind, she's the girl who might have had some tough times in school, never one of the upper echelon of the middle and high school social scene. But when this girl got to college, watch the hell out!

Another girl with glasses was saddled with the Laura Ingalls Wilder look as well.

"My dress looks like it belongs in the 1870s, not the 1970s." (via)

While she is lamenting her own Big Love-style dress, I am in awe of her sister's outfit. (At least, I'm assuming it is her sister.) I always like something with a built-in, short-sleeved bolero jacket--in MUSTARD.

Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare

Once again with the bandanna fabric!

"my sister is in the middle and i am on the right...wearing outfits that our mother made by hand." (via)

Any outfit with a bonnet, as you all know, is my favorite! What I like about the bandanna outfit, which does not get its due here, is that it has the pimp cap to match.

Are you in the Brownies, a Pirate, or both?

Make no mistake about it. Young "Celeste" loves her mother. She thanks her for those trips to the library every week. She loved the excursions to the County Fair where she and her sister were encouraged to try every new food possible. Celeste's single mother took good care of her girls.

Unfortunately, she also did this.
Celeste's biggest issue with this photo is her eye patch. I'm not sure a piece of medically required equipment can be considered your parents' fault. The bigger issue is that Celeste was not in the Brownies, and yet appears to have been wearing the requisite uniform. (And her mother could at least have let her take the eye patch off for the photo. I'm just sayin'.)

And what does that little yellow button say? Yup. It says GOOD CONDUCT. Our little Celeste, who says her mother still has this button, was desperate for one after "bad kid" Mike Hinchey earned it from their first-grade teacher. Celeste would be damned before she'd let that brat take her award, and she worked even harder until she got one of her own. While her mother chose the outfit, Celeste was determined to wear her button.

Years later, poor Celeste still had her patch, and again, was captured on film during an evening trip to Ames. Just a slice of life with the ladies.
This last outfit was made by Celeste's mother, and ensured that she always stood out from the crowd. Can you pick out Laura Ingalls Wilder from the Fuller School Chorus?

The dress itself was a pale lavender, Holly Hobbie-style print. In addition to the severe bun, with baby's breath adornment, Celeste also wore a corsage, which she received for every special event in her life.

One more important thing to point out, beyond the fabulousness of Celeste's formalwear and hairstyle. The "musical evening...included 'The Gigo Effect--A Computer Adventure."

Here's what Celeste remembers of that little ditty:

"Garbage in, Garbage Out.

That's what memory's all about.

When you put garbage in, garbage out."

The evening also included Erie Canal, because, Celeste looked like she would have a mule named Sal.