Christmas Time is Couples Time - Part 10!!

Sure the kiddos of the 70s tore through those Christmas catalogs with gusto lining up all the toys that they wanted form "Santa."  But what about the adults?  Were they left out of the festive holiday fun? No, no, no.  Those Wishbook catalogs had something for them too - his 'n her coordinated fashions!!

If there is one word for timeless Christmas fashions it's "sweaters."  And here not only do we have the classic V neck style, but with mod pointy collar shirts to boot!  Hmmmm, the guy in the lower left seems a bit lonely. maybe it is because that sweater style just doesn't get the girl (even back in the 70s.)

Yep sweaters with hoodies and matching plaid shirts - that will turn heads this holiday season!

Okay, okay I get it.  Not only is  Christmas Time is Couples Time must mean it's Sweater Time as well!!

A closeup of Kathy sans guy.  Yeah I cut him out of the closeup.

Can anything break the sweater death grip of Christmas time on his 'n her coordinates?

Well this is a start.  We have a mix of the classic pullovers.  And Colleen livens things up with turtle accented jean bell bottoms.  Hmmm, looks like the guy's jeans are a wee bit on the short side if you ask me!

The sweaters finally give way to the Plushy pile velour (complete with sip up front) and velvet corduroy shirts.  maybe that's just a little TOO much 70s!!

Yes Christmas time is where couples dress up alike and share ...........Uh, wait a minute here!  Looks like our gal is getting more than a little jealous over the attention that "her" man is giving to his new, ahem, friend.  And if I were her, I'd be worried too with fashions named "The Hot Firefighter" and "The Unique Longhorn"

We can't end on that note!!

Back to Kathy and the His 'n Her Christmas Sweaters.  Unfortunately, it is in black and white.  Why, oh why did Aldens have to ruin such a great pic like that?!?!?

Still I'm not going to let that dampen MY Christmas spirit.  In fact I'm inspired to pull out some of my sweaters from Christmases Past (on second thought, maybe not.)

Merry Christmas to all my readers!

The Twelve Days of (a Wishbook) Christmas!

From the title, you probably have already figured out where this post is going.  So let's just skip to the twelfth day and be done with it already!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me.......

Twelve drummers drumming.....

Eleven pipers piping......

Ten lords a sleeping.....

Nine ladies dancing....

(A close up of some the ladies!)

Eight candle kits for making....

Seven Rockets a blasting.....

Six barbies skiing.......

Five golden rings!!

Four sewing machines.....

Three toy forts.....

Two turtledoves......

And a game of pong by an artificial tree!!!!!!!

Yep, all of these fine pics of Americana were taken exclusively from the Christmas catalogs of the 70s!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!

Christmas Time is Lounging Time! - Part 3

Forget the hassle of the holidays, the hustle and bustle of shopping at the mall, the putting up of decorations inside and outside the home, the worries about Christmas dinner.  No, kick back, relax, and LOUNGE baby - you've earned it!!

And lounge wear was the perfect gift for "Just Plain Prettiness!"  No arguments from me.  Kathy and friends are stepping in some groovy 70s lounge wear here!  (1)

Speaking of prettiness....Say that's Christie Brinkley in some coordinated lounge wear from Sears!

More coordinated lounge wear, complete with coordinated sleeping bags - perfect for sleepovers and camping trips!

Okay, okay this is getting ridiculous.  Was all 70s Christmas lounge wear coordinated?!?

Nope, now we have quilts which on can get very cozy in.  Kathy and Kay look great, but I can't help but wonder just how smothering and hot those things were!

These quilts look even more suffocating!!

Let's lighten things up.  Kathy, Jayne, and friends lounge around in some one piece loungers complete with footies!  All they need are are hoods and you'd have some Snuggies!!

Lounge wear was always shown as being luxurious as Kay shows us here.

Hmmm, "Barefoot Beauties" such as Colleen and friend can certainly warm up any Christmas evening!!

Yeah the guys got into the action as well.  How many times did Dad get something like this on Christmas morning?  And he was like "Oh, gee, that's great.  Just what I need" and then it goes into the back of the closet never to be seen again.  That is unless you're a Hugh Hefner wanna be like the guy in the upper left.

And here not only do we have a Hugh Hefner aspirant, we have Magnum PI also!!

Ahh, and this was the dream.  After all the work, expense, and stress of the holiday season, to see your loving wife lounging peaceably with the children made it all worthwhile!!

footnotes:

(1)  An anonymous reader identified the Mystery Model on Kathy's left as Laura Jones.  Thanks!!

It's a Plaid, Plaid World - Part 2

Oh no, not again.  Just when you thought that our universe was safe from the plaid-madness implosion of space-time, the plaids come back with a vengeance - and at Christmas time no less.  Do these plaids have no shame????

For those of you that missed the first post on A Plaid, Plaid World, check it out here or this won't make much sense (not that it will make much sense anyway).

http://kathyloghry.blogspot.com/2013/05/its-plaid-plaid-world.html

Now, I must warn you to scroll SLOWLY down.  And I do mean SLOOOOOOOWLY.  Otherwise, the plaid shock will simply be too much for your nervous system to handle.....




Slowly......




Okay, almost there.........




Prepare for a plaid blast from the catalog ghosts of Christmas past.......

Words.......................................Escape.......................................Me........................................(1)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a plaid (or is it tartan) night!


footnotes:

(1)  It looks like the youngest lass of "The Penny Clan" is none too happy about this.  She's probably thinking "Why couldn't I have gotten a picture with Santa like all my friends?"

70s Catalogs of Christmas Past

One of the truly sad aspects of modernity is the loss of one of my favorite Christmas tradition:  The Christmas catalog.  Long before the internet, Facebook, Twitter, and 10,000 TV stations, children all over the US would wait impatiently for the Christmas catalogs from the major retailers.  It really marked the beginning of the Christams season for many.

So let's check out some of those memories here...

Wow, are these gals waiting under the mistletoe?  Why couldn't something like that have happened to me when I was young?!?!

Classic Sears Wishbook fashions!  Why is Karen looking up at the sky?  I guess that is also a classic catalog pose!

Am I seeing double?  We have two sets of lovely ladies decorating what appears to be the same tree and, wait, it's the same girls, but in different clothes!  What's going on?  Perhaps there is something in the eggnog I've been drinking.

Long and elegant for that special Christmas party!  Kathy, Kay and Karen are all fantastic!

Nothing says Christmas gift from Mom quite like sweaters!  The kids wanted toys, but often got clothes, bleah!!

"Knit tunics for today, tonight, and tomorrow" hmmm.  This kind of makes you wonder what kind of Christmas party these are designed for?  Well after all this was the 70s...  That is Pia Buggert on the left and, of course, Kay on the right. I still haven't been able to identify the model in the middle.  Help!

Hats in real or fake fur - perfect for that chilly winter night out going to all the Christmas parties and events! Wait !  The top hat is gasp RABBIT!  Oh no, not Fluffy!!

And speaking of fun in the winter cold...

Why stop at couples dressing together when you can get the whole darn tooin' clan dressed up for that apres Christmas ski trip in matching cold weather apparel!

So the Christmas catalogs seemed to have something for everyone, what about mom?

Kitchen appliances!  Well at least its not a vacuum cleaner.  Still, dad may want to stay bundled up in that ski outfit - it may be a frosty winter ahead!

Just Too Cute for a Wishbook Christmas!

After last week's crazy outfits, I thought we would take a break and go back to just some ordinary fashions from the early 70s. 

These pics are from the Sears 1972 Wishbook.   The Wishbook was a Christmas mail order catalog that came out in time for parents to place their orders for all the in demand toys for the season.  They were not as big as the big book catalogs for the spring and fall, but they were still pretty substantial. 
The arrival of the Wishbook (and their counterparts from other department stores) always caused great excitement in households across the land for they signaled kids that the Christmas season was in full swing.  It was almost like Santa had fired a flare across the sky letting everyone know that, yep, he was coming this year.

The Wishbook was mostly toys of course.  However, they had seasonal clothing offerings also.   Moms could always be counted on to order some clothes.  The kids wanted toys while moms were more interested in making sure they had school clothes.  Grandmas too could be counted on to always get clothes for the grand kids.  You can still hear the echos across the land from those Christmas mornings "No, you WILL put on that sweater with the reindeer pattern that Grandma Casey got you and we WILL take a photo of it and you WILL send her a thank you card, young man". 

All of these pics are form Sears Junior Bazaar.  Sears really was the marketing leader in this category.  The others never could quite come up with as catchy a name for their juniors section.

Otherwise these are just really nice pics of Kathy.  She was just too cute.

Not much to say here.  Except for the pointy collars, these shirts would not be out of place today.  Karen has a wig on (obviously).  They did that with the models sometimes.  Maybe they got bored or something during the shoots.  Not really a good look.  Kathy is absolutely radiant here.

Not sure who the third model is.  There were a posse of models that were always in these catalogs, and there were others that kinda popped in and out.  The extra wide white belt on Kathy is a nice touch.

Ahh, here we go - sweaters.  Nothing says Christmas quite like a comfy, cozy pull over sweater with acyclic bell bottom pants.  Note the price on the pants.  Gee, that is not much less than the equivalent would go for today.  And this was in 1972!  Those foreign workers making stuff for Walmart have really had an impact on clothing prices. Otherwise acrylic was about the most uncomfortable fabric to wear as I remember. 

Kathy looks absolutely adorable here, really steals the scene. No wonder she was a popular model for this kind of work.  You can picture grandmas looking at this and going  "Ohh my little Suzy would look adorable in that.  I'm not sure about the bell bottoms, seems a bit hippie, but if that is what the young folks are wearing these days, I'll get it for her".  Perhaps that is why Sears toned down the clothing for the season - they were going after the grandma sales.  They could save the edgier stuff for Spring.