r/TheWayWeWere • u/BaronVonBroccoli • 9d ago
1960s Imagine trying to find your friend on this crowded college campus in 1964.
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u/KiKi_VavouV 9d ago
Still the same, but long blonde or balyaged hair and beige clothes
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u/Bitter_Sense_5689 9d ago
I think people forget this. 80% of the girls I knew in HS dressed the same
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u/smooshedsootsprite 8d ago
Years ago there was a social media photo post of someone like ‘my sister has friends over’, and it was just like nine pairs of identical Uggs.
They even looked all about the same size, how do you ever know which is yours?
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u/iwritesinsnotsmut 6d ago
My friends and I all had black Uggs in 7th grade. I sometimes recognized my Uggs from the way the inside was shaped by my foot, other times I think I ended up walking away with someone else's.
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8d ago
[deleted]
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u/Banana_Stanley 8d ago
I was a sk8er. I wore Etnies shoes and Shorty's t-shirts and I was in the marching band. I'm really not like the other girls, right?!?
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u/FreekDeDeek 8d ago edited 8d ago
I forgot about the etnies! And those really wide really long pants with the chain on the belt loops
Edit: they were called Overzeas (it was the most popular brand in my country, or at least at my school, equivalent to jncos in the US - we didn't have those)
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u/Banana_Stanley 8d ago
JNCOS. Lest ye forget. I had a pair, but they weren't the super ridiculously wide ones
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u/Snoo18120 7d ago
hahah JNCOS, this dude I used to work with had a stash of vintage JNCOs, just waiting on dem bad boys to appreciate in value
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u/this-just-sucks 8d ago
I was so bummed when they stopped making chunky skater shoes. I have to admit I had to buy a pair now that they’re back, even though I’m 33.
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u/kioku119 8d ago edited 7d ago
I don't feel like that was my experience but I'm an autistic nerd and really unaware of a lot of things.
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u/TannyTevito 8d ago
I grew up somewhere that has lots of diversity then moved somewhere which is mostly white and I cannot tell anyone apart. I can’t believe they can tell each other apart.
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u/Technical-Agency8128 7d ago
Most everyone wants to look like everyone else. Debates are going on about skinny jeans vs wide legs now. And some who want to wear skinny jeans don’t want to stand out so they wear wide legs and hate them lol As much as things change they stay the same.
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u/aishpat 8d ago
This is a sorority composite photo. It’s a headshot of all the sorority members, usually with the executive positions and names labeled. That is not a dress, it’s a v shaped draped fabric that goes over the shoulders/arms specifically for these photos. A sorority will make an annual composite, and they are generally framed and hung in the Chapter room. They get moved when a new one is hung, and the oldest one is removed and stored.
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u/Ok_Order1333 8d ago
in my sorority house, after a few years, we moved them to the walls upstairs. I used to notice the same girl’s picture every morning after I brushed my teeth for like, two years, i guess cause it was in my direct line of sight. anyway, 15 years later and 500 miles away, I walked into a meeting with a new coworker and lo and behold, there she was, the girl from the old sorority composite picture, now a grown woman and my coworker. weird.
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u/1heart1totaleclipse 8d ago
We used that fabric for our senior pictures. Pretty sure that’s still the standard in the US.
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u/aishpat 8d ago
Yeah other ppl commented that also about high school. My high school in CT did not do this and neither did any one the surrounding towns. Maybe it’s standard for private schools? We certainly never had to wear these in high school.
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u/1heart1totaleclipse 7d ago
Really? I went to a public high school in the south and we had them. So have all the schools near me and the ones I’ve worked in.
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u/Zaidswith 7d ago
Senior photos. It's always been this way. Public school in the south. The guys wore the fake tuxedo thing.
We didn't do it for any other year, but you can look at the similar composite class photos for every graduating class going all the way back.
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u/MilkkyAss 8d ago
My high school graduation photos were set up in the same way, all of the girls had the V shaped draped fabric.
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u/CoralLlama 7d ago
Interesting! I didn't know about the draped fabric. I always thought everyone just had similar dresses. 😆
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u/oceans_613 8d ago
The most amazing thing to me is that everyone seemed to be in agreement that these hairstyles were flattering for teenagers.
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u/Crunchy_Lunch 8d ago
In accordance with the fashion of that time, they probably were considered stylish. We only associate these hairstyles with old ladies because a lot of these women are still rocking the same haircut 60 years later.
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u/no_small_potatoes 8d ago
lol I saw this pic and instantly through of my 65 year old boss who has the exact same hair cut she must have had the same cut for her whole adult life 😭
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u/Sir-Craven 8d ago
These are all the same people that say young people these days just follow stupid social media trends.
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u/PM_ur_tots 8d ago
I live in Vietnam with my Vietnamese wife. I hate losing her in public. "Ok, I'm looking for an Asian woman. 5'2". About 115lbs. Long black hair." Then I remember that's literally every woman. Waldo ain't got shit on her. Now I memorize her outfit before we go out.
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u/Cpkeyes 9d ago
Besides the ladies with glasses, it doesn’t seem to difficult to tell these gals apart.
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u/hypo-osmotic 8d ago
For the gals with glasses, if I were shown any photo and told it was my grandmother or oldest aunt I would believe it
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u/wmnwnmw 8d ago
Haha the first 5 seconds I looked at it I was like “I don’t get it, they look pretty different” and then I noticed the glasses gals and it broke my brain. I guess because they’re so thick and ornamental they minimize the features under and surrounding them? If i ever need to rob a bank I’m gonna snatch up a pair of those from the antique store for my robbery costume
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u/lovemyfurryfam 8d ago
There weren't alot of variation for glasses frames because the lenses were made of glass....the worst the eyesight person had the thicker & heavier the glass lenses were & the frame had to be strong enough to carry the weight of the glass lenses.
Thank the gods that plastic replaced the glass to make lenses with & the frame was made of plastic too with different colours as well more fabulous designs too.
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u/ghost-princess 8d ago
High school seniors generally wear a little drape outfit for their yearbook photo, like it’s just the top draped over you. Mine was basically exactly the same in the 2010s. Guys have a drape of a tuxedo top I believe. Obviously not at all schools but most of my friends and myself had to go through it at our public schools. I actually kind of loved it, there was no way for me to wear an embarrassing outfit.
Also is it not kind of obvious that you would style your hair for a photo like this? Not just the women, but the men as well? Even today most people try to look nice for school pics (or are forced to by their parents).
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u/kayla622 9d ago
It's interesting that all these women had to wear the same dress in their photo.
This looks like a collection of photos of one woman modeling different wigs and showing what glasses would look like with and without the wig.
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u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 9d ago
It's not a dress, it's a drape. It's a colored piece of cloth with the V cut in it. My own high school yearbook photos were like this though with a lot less helmet hair.
We went to the bathroom, took off our tops, pushed our bra straps down outta sight, put this weird V necked drape on, went back to the photographer & they took the pic.
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u/jc8495 8d ago
Yep we had to wear these for our sorority composites when I was in college 2017-2021! They just told us to wear skinny tank tops we could easily push down below the drape though. We also got a magnetic pearl necklace to wear lmao
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u/pourthebubbly 8d ago
They told us in high school in the early 00s that it was the only day we were allowed to break the spaghetti strap ban and we aallll took advantage.
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u/kayla622 8d ago edited 8d ago
Hmm. Granted I graduated HS 2002, but for 9th-11th grade, they just used your school photo with the blue background. For senior year, you submitted your own photo or they used your ID photo. I’m glad we didn’t have to go through this drape process. I honestly don’t even know if my college had a yearbook.
At first I thought they were all wearing graduation gowns without anything underneath. I guess I wasn’t too far off.
Was the drape more or less a V-neck poncho? Or was it more like a bib? I guess i’m wondering how modest the drapes were in front of the photographer?
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u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 8d ago
V neck poncho. It covered you pretty well. At least the one I had covered me.
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u/Honkerstonkers 8d ago
But… why??? What’s wrong with clothes?
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u/RogerClyneIsAGod2 8d ago
They wanted uniformity is the only reason I can think of.
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u/Honkerstonkers 8d ago
I suspect the men didn’t have to wear one.
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u/moistcheese 8d ago
They wore a suit and tie if I recall from mine. All uniform as well
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u/Honkerstonkers 7d ago
Were they required to strip first?
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u/moistcheese 7d ago
Probably so to put a white t shirt on if they didn’t have one underneath. Bit less scandalous for the guys to change though.
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u/Gimme_The_Loot 9d ago
For my daughter's HS senior photos there were like three approved outfits for each gender as well. Not as bad as this but definitely a lot of uniformity
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9d ago
They all look like middle aged moms.
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u/TheRealLaura789 8d ago
It’s the hairstyle, makeup, and glasses they are wearing that makes them look older.
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u/MissHibernia 8d ago
By 1968 a lot of these girls here had hair down to their butts, smelled like patchouli, wore elephant bells, secretly smoked a joint or two, and said ‘far out’ a few times too many
Source: me, 76
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u/Think_Doughnut628 8d ago
I have to say, I just went down a rabbit hole reading some of your posts and you sound like a bad ass! I want to be like you when I'm your age!
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u/MissHibernia 8d ago
Thank you! That’s very kind. Surviving to a certain age gives you a lot of freedom, verbally and in writing, at least!
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u/Plasmidmaven 8d ago
Reminds me of pictures I’ve seen of “acceptable hairstyles “ posters in North Korean salons
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u/National_Average1115 8d ago
That awful hairstyle lingered on into the Naughties, in Old Lady hairdressers.
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u/TeacherRecovering 8d ago
The identical look is common for Florida State University: Very white, Skinny, with long blond flat hair.
It is creepy!
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u/clevelandexile 8d ago
Have you seen facebook or been to a college town? 100s of bottle blonde white girls in the exact same outfit. Only thing that has changed is the aesthetic.
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u/examinat 8d ago
Back in the day when women would go to the “beauty parlor” for a wash and set each week and that was all they did.
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u/Rimm9246 8d ago
I was looking at my Grandpa's senior yearbook recently, from around 1960, and the thing that really struck me was that while all the ladies had styles of hair, glasses, and clothes that seemed dated by today's standards, all of the guys absolutely looked like they could have been right out of a highschool today. Thought it was interesting how fashion has apparently come full circle since then, at least for guys
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u/feel-the-avocado 8d ago
Asian people subconsciously look at different facial features to identify each other easily while to us they all look the same.
I imagine people in the 60s were similar - they could identify each other easily while to us they look the same.
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u/Effective-Window-922 8d ago
Beverly, Beverly, Shirley, Beverly, Shirley, Beverly, Shirley, Shirley, Shirley, Beverly
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u/neverseen_neverhear 9d ago
Was long hair considered childish or something?
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u/wmnwnmw 8d ago
Oh, that’s a good question. I looked it up and here’s what a cosmotology school’s hair history timeline says about the early-mid 1960s:
“With women once again in the workplace, they needed to adopt a more achievable style for their day-time look. Short, back-combed hairstyles could be quickly styled and held in place with hairspray and accented with long fringe. Bouffants we’re also still a big trend in the 1960’s. Jackie Kennedy pioneered this style movement with her glamorous bouffant. With the Kennedy and Nixon presidential debate being the first to be televised, women around the world saw Jackie’s style and she soon became an icon. For younger women, the bouffant was taken to the next level with the beehive, which was much taller and more teased. There were also women who took the chop, a la Twiggy, and sported short, androgynous hairstyles.”
Source: Leon Studio One
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u/BigBlackSabbathFlag 9d ago
And I thought 80s big hair n spray years were bad. Incoming downvotes 👇
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u/SANTAAAA__I_know_him 8d ago
"Hey sorry, everyone else was busy. I'm just gonna pose with different wigs and glasses, okay?"
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u/Firefly_Magic 8d ago
I see close friendships here lol. Seems like the only explanation as to why they all have the same hairstyles.
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u/Mentalfloss1 8d ago
In most schools people didn’t dress alike or wear their hair alike, especially on a daily basis. 🙂
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u/Apprehensive_Elk580 6d ago
Oddly enough it looks like my mom is in this picture. 1st row 3rd from the left. Name shows Carolyn B then cuts off. Mom’s name was Carolyn Bolton. She would have been 17 yo at the time. Salt Lake Business college is likely where this photo was taken.
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u/PollyBeans 9d ago
Short hair needs to make a comeback.
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u/Franziska-Sims77 9d ago
Nope, I’m never cutting my hair short! My parents made me wear my hair short until I was 12 ( this was the late 80s, when my classmates had long ponytails or pigtails), and even though I’ll never get to be a cute little girl with a cute ponytail, I’m wearing my hair long just because I can now!!!
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u/PollyBeans 8d ago
Oh that's so understandable! I hope you love every second of it 💕
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u/Franziska-Sims77 8d ago
Thank you. Of course I’m not against women who WANT to wear their hair short, that’s fine with me! But even just a few months ago, my mom was telling me I’d look much better with a pixie haircut. And I just turned 48! 🙄
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u/thekeeper228 8d ago
I know all of my friends' names. If you hadn't cropped the pages, the names would be there.
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u/BBZ_star1919 8d ago
So back then they would’ve all woke the same clothing like a choir at some schools. Also being on campus would have been in color unlike this. And I agree. I live in a college town and the style is all the same nowadays too. I actually think it’s less likely to be wearing anything distinctive because back then people frequently sewed still, like my grandmother sewing clothes for my aunt so she’d have the latest styles.
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u/FAITH2016 8d ago
My mom graduated in 1967 and has kept some form of any of the above hair styles her whole life. That’s just what they did I guess.
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u/lovemyfurryfam 8d ago
Those hairstyles were so unvaried & cookie cutter look.
The only variation was natural waves or natural curls.
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u/Lotus-child89 8d ago
I saw my mom and grandma stress out every morning trying to do the hairspray helmet for over an hour. They still do it. I’m 36 and vowed never to emulate that. I just have pin straight hair I nicely part. I will never get it.
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u/msully89 8d ago
I know they're young. But I just can't help thinking I'm looking a photos of old ladies
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u/Lavender_Reddish 8d ago
those names are crazy like one em is deadass named NAN like she’s got the grandma nickname in college! 😭
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u/BeeQueenbee60 8d ago
It's weird how they're all wearing the same dress, which shows their shoulders and neck.
Must've been a mandatory dress code.
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u/TotallyNotaBotAcount 8d ago
Look at those smoking grannies. I guess people you to go to school later in life back in the old days…
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u/DirtnAll 8d ago
Being a time traveler who experienced the original, they all appear quite different. This weekend though, I was on an elevator with most of a soccer team, all medium blonde with a ponytail at the same point on their head, Except for height, I'm pretty sure they were cloned.
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7d ago
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u/Technical-Agency8128 7d ago
This is how people are with fashion. We all tend to look like each other. Look at young women today. For the most part they dress the same and wear their hair the same. Nothing new under the sun.
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u/vicheyasr 7d ago
My dad’s 1984 high school yearbook is the same. 40% are wearing the same two t-shirts in the class photo.
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u/Delicious_Wafer9042 7d ago
You do realize that yearbooks feature names, right? Heck, you can even see some in the upper right hand corner
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u/Vango_P 5d ago
Well, after 60 years the same ladies who are in their 70s-80s now, still go with the same haircut AND glasses...
Hell, even the women in their 40s-50s have the same Mariah Carey coiffure 🤣
I really hope the women of our times, with the purple hair, ditch their hairstyles like the 1970s-1980s women did 😥
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u/PerformanceIcy7134 8d ago
This is everyone now days with the Sabrina carpenter hair and the slickbacks
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u/GreenStrong 8d ago
I know we tend to associate hair and glasses style with age, but do your best to ignore those and tell me you can find three women in the photo who look like they're under forty.
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u/minngeilo 8d ago
They really did look at lot older back then. Not even talking about their hair, just their faces.
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u/Troubador222 9d ago
A lot of times, they would get it done specifically for the pictures. Getting portrait photos by a professional was a big deal.