The Big Book Catalog Series - Part 2 1971 (1st half)

Well, I knew this was going to happen when I started the Big Book catalog series.  The first post on 1970 was easy because I could get all of the ones I own in one post.  However, starting in 1971, Kathy's catalog career really took off.  So I'm going to have to split 1971 into two parts.  This one will focus on the Spring / Summer Big Books....

So let's start with Sears!

One thing that all these Big Books had in common was that they were just so much dang fun!  Kathy and Colleen in "Crisp-Textured Charmers" indeed!

What about "Multi-Mixability" to keep the festive mood going?  You've gotta love the knit cap on Karen!

Not to be out done, these gals are all smiles in "Snap-Up Looks".  Is Shelley trying to stand on her toes?  Nah, it's just the extreme height of those clogs!  I wouldn't try sprinting in those things.

That was extra fun, but it's time to move on to Aldens....

Aldens was going for the elegant look here.  Kathy simply looks stunning!

To continue with the ladylike (1) look, here we have some linen gloves.  Now when was the last time you saw those?  Yeah, I know, that's just not in style anymore and that's a shame.

Okay here we go again.  As readers of this blog know, I have a certain problem about the "faux" country look.  In the 70s there were several sporadic periods where "Country Style" was the "Current Rage."   Where I grew up we had an expression "all hat and no cattle" to describe the urbanites trying to be "country."  I'd say that here except that here, we have no hats, just knit caps?!???!??

And now from Spiegel...

Looks like they were trying to channel The Partridge Family here.  One thing about fashion of the early 70s, is that you just never knew what was going to be the "in" look from moment to moment. As cool as these outfits were, I think they were an attempt to start a look that basically went "out" pretty much from the start.

Oh bother, not more of the "Urban Cowboy" look.  Well, at least the gauchos are fetching!  Perhaps they were going for more of an Argentine cowboy look.  Okay, I'll let it pass then.

This is plainly ridiculous, no more comments required.

We need to change gears quickly before this post goes completely downhill.  Let's finish this first post on the 1971 Big Books with Penney's....

More fashion confusion evident from the early 70s.  The gal on the left sports a, well, uh, not sure what that outfit is called.  I do like the extra wide, white belt and boots.  Kay's dress is s bit more standard, but check out those shoes, er, sandals, er, whatever they are.  The metal arm band is groovy fun also!

Just about the tie you think that fashion of the early 70s was all about country looks and earth tone wares, along comes a groovy-baby blast of colorful fun from right out of the 60s!  (not that I'm complaining)

A really, really nice pic of Kathy and Karen to end this post.


footnotes:

(1) Okay, I know the term "lady" or "ladylike" is somehow offensive to some these days - my how times have changed.

K Club Special (Part 13) - Pat Miles!

For our first K Club Special of our third year, we're going to feature Pat Miles.  The thing is, as popular as she was tin all the Big Book catalogs, I haven't been able to locate any other material from her career.  I'm not saying there wasn't any, I just haven't located any.

Still, there are plenty of great pics of her from those catalogs.  Like here......

Pat was a very common model in the old Big Book catalogs - particularly in the mid to late 70s.  I don't know.  Are these leisure suits for women?  The scarves are nice too!

Here from Sears, Pat shows us just how "lustrous" a dress can be when made from Creslan Acrylic yarn!!  One question: Is that Kathy on the far right?  I can't tell.

Classic JCPenney catalog fashions form the 70s!

Pat and Kay show us some "Soft Dressy Looks".  I love the way Pat is holding that balloon up to her hair, hope she didn't get "static hair" from that!!

Pat at the beach (in a dress?!?!) with the wind in her hair!  I guess they should have used the bandanna shown in the inset pic at the lower right for that pic!

Like I said, Pat's career was mostly from the mid to late 70s, but here she is in the Spiegel Spring / Summer 73 catalog with Karen!  Check out those giant lapels (poke-a-dotted, no less) on Pat's dress!

 Another great pic from the same shoot.  Spiegel had a painting theme for this shoot which, with the colorful dresses against the colorful background, made for one wild scene.  It was all good fun typical of the 70s!!

Kathy and Pat in lovely long dresses out for a summer stroll in the park.  Such classically beautiful and elegant ladies.  Yep, every time I go to the park I see sights like this.  Well actually not.  Well nowadays actually you'd be more likely to see women in old tank tops, shorts, and flip flops (ugh). (Pic courtesy of JJ's Playhouse!)

Pat on the cover of the JCPenney Fall /Winter 77 Big Book catalog!  She has an oh-so-serious look here, not sure why?

After Pat retired form modeling in 1980, she has been very busy.  She moved from being in front of the camera to behind it in a number of capacities.  Currently she is a specialist in Human Resources and still working!  She is even on Linkedin!

Sizzlin' By the Shore - Part 7, If the Line Fits...

Well with the warm weather almost behind us (1), we should say a final good bye to Summer by taking a look back at some of the groovy swimwear of the 70s.  And in this post we'll look at a very odd 70s theme that was used to sell swimwear.  I call it 'The Line".

What do a mean by "The Line"?  Well just read on!!

Or rather it should be called "The Dumb Line that they drew right through the middle of these gorgeous models."  Apparently the idea was to let gals know that they could buy a different style or size top and bottom parts of their bikini.  They also almost always had the models standing in shallow water all lined up like this, rather odd!

However, like here with Karen, 'The Line" was pretty much just a distraction.  I mean enough already, we get the idea!  Karen isn't standing in shallow water, but obviously she is trying to shield her eyes from that blinding sun!

Hey, finally no line!  but Kathy is still doing that standing in shallow water thing, and Sears is still pushing that whole "Buy the top that fits, buy the bottom that fits" thing.  That smile of hers is a killer!  And you've got to love the psychedelic flower power prints!  Speaking of smiles

Jantzen had some pretty racy ads back in the 60s.  This one is about as tame as they came.  No need for "The Line" here, just wear a smile!

Penneys also tried to get on the whole "Buy the the top that fits, buy the bottom that fits" theme.  However, if you ask me, they fell a little flat.  After reading the header, it almost sounds insulting?!?!  And to top that off, "The Line" is not only a distraction, the way they did it, it actually makes the bodies of the models appear distorted.  Yuck!

See, Sears knows how to do "The Line" thing right.  Note that instead of a drawn line, they cleverly used a a rope!  Those sneaky guys!  Pam Erickson and friend look great, except I have one question. Why are they, and not the guys on the boat, in the knee deep water pulling?

We're back to the models facing the blinding sun with the line drawn right across them, and they are all lined up in shallow water.   This formula must have worked because Sears keep using it.  Still, why did they make these poor gals face the sun like that?  Surely there must a solution to that problem....

Yep, Kathy shows us how!  One way to beat the sun is to just turn your back on the photographer! Let's face it, this pic is almost too hot for words!  Apparently you don't have to buy the top that fits, or any top at all for that matter.  Kathy must have taken that "Just wear a smile" theme form the Jantzen ad a little too far!!

footnotes:

(1) You're probably thinking "Is he crazy?  Summer is long gone!"  Well, not so much here in South Texas - still waiting on some cooler weather!

Random Weirdness: Bodysuits - Part 6!

Well, why not followup a "Random Goodness" post with a "Random Weirdness" post?  And what better subject than everyone's favorite clothing article - bodysuits! 

With super-cute gals like Kathy and Kay, bodysuits can hardly be called "weird".  Looks like there is a lot of goodness going on here!  Note the small inset pics showing how other articles of clothing can be worn over the bodysuits - like people needed instructions or something?

More bodysuits with more small inset pics showing us how they can used.  Mick Lindberg and Dottie Harris were two of the popular bodysuit models back then and you can see why here!

Shelley and Colleen flip the script here with the bodysuits in the inset pics.  Still they look great! Sears always had The Bodysuit Shop section in their catalogs.  Kind of sounds randomly weird to me!

Kathy and Karen are stepping out in some snazzy turtleneck bodysuits - perfect for winter!  I have to comment on those stairs.  Did they pull them out from a back closet or something? A bit of a random prop to contrast with the stark background, don't you think?

Yes, bodysuits are fun!  and comfortable too!  Why? Well they tell us here!  And they are really fun with the huge scarf thing that Dottie is wearing.

Well the bodysuits were certainly the rage back then.  However, I admit that I really don't get them at all.  Why not just wear a blouse?  Of course, as a guy, I probably don't "get" a lot of things like this. Oh well, we can still enjoy the bodysuits!!