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Gender Mystique

What neutral kids' clothes looked like in 1962.

1/21/2012

 
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I just acquired a 1962 Fall/Winter Sears catalog from a new friend, and have been enjoying the trip down memory lane. 

So many of the play clothes, like those on the left, were neutral -- plain, solid color styles that could be worn by either boys or girls and handed down to younger siblings.

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I'd forgotten that pink used to be pretty much a spring color. Fall clothes meant fall colors: more saturated hues, fewer pastels, heavier fabrics.


There were four pages of "school dresses" like these, and not a pink dress among them.

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These blanket sleepers came in three colors: blue, yellow and a "nursery print" of pink and blue animals on a white background.

Katharine Rollwagen
2/19/2012 06:37:34 am

I'm in the midst of a study of teenaged fashions in the Eaton's mail order catalogue (in Canada) in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, and I also found that pink was a rare colour in clothes for girls. In my sample, blue, white, red, and green were the most common colours for girls' dresses. Only 12 of 166 girls dresses I looked at were pink, and all of them, as you mentioned, were also sold in blue. Purple was not even mentioned.

Looking forward to reading your new book!

Jenny jones link
11/30/2015 10:09:02 pm

In the Smithsonian in DC it has the history of clothes from the 30,40,50
And how they progress through the years. I was Baptist in a while lacey dress with white tights. All of us regardless of sex were the same gender.

Jo Paoletti
2/19/2012 08:10:52 am

Wonderful! Would love a chance to compare notes with you on your findings. I have also noticed that pink appeared more in the spring catalogs than the fall ones. Right now I am in the 1970s, Sears. Hope to post more images soon.


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    Jo Paoletti

    Professor Emerita
    ​American Studies
    University of Maryland

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