Sunday, December 21, 2008

New Coats

I wish this photo, dated 1949, was in color -- a perfect example of two sisters showing off their new winter coats in their favorite colors !! Of course, mine was bright red and Shirley's was emerald green, although I believe her most favorite color was probably baby blue. I know we always had warm winter wear, but these two coats are ones I recall, whether it be because of the photo or the circumstances. When fall clothing came into the stores that year, Mom took us shopping for coats. The weather was still warm and back then, there was no air conditioning in the department stores. It was really uncomfortable trying on those winter coats, but, they had to be chosen and "put on lay-a-way" so they could be paid off before winter came. There was no buy now, pay later credit card plan for our family. When Mom picked this red coat off the rack for me to try on, I knew it was "the one". Gee, I hoped it was going to fit ! It was a bit too big, but, lucky me, Mom thought it was fine. It gave me "room to grow". Kids at school dubbed me "Red Coat" that winter.

2 comments:

Tammy said...

Did you always get storebought coats or was there something special or different about this year?

Ginny said...

I think Mom may have made our coats before, because that was the first time I can remember shopping for them. When I was 3 or 4, I can remember us having red
wool coats,snowpants,and hats. The coats had black velvet collars and the hats had black velvet brims. She made my doll a matching coat. She had copied the idea from a store window display, as she often did. I guess maybe that was a good year on the farm, because we also got a new 1950 Chevrolet around that time.