# Short Skirts in 1970's/80's junior high and high school. What hosiery did they wear? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 21, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630 "2019-09-21T23:19:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/21 "2019-09-22T08:18:54Z")
For the dress code of my early-mid 80’s class you’d have to consult three very different references: Any Willie Nelson video, wardrobe from the movie _Purple Rain_, and _The Preppy Handbook_. I was in the socks-match-my-izod-shirt camp. We went through a lot of panty hose, sheer or opaque, but also knit stockings and even cabled knits in the Winter time. For while there Madonna (or Sheils E. ?) made ripped tights The Thing. But honestly, you’d see a lot more prairie skirts than minis; it was the age of Gunne Sax. The boys were jerks and would pull your skirt up, so most of us also wore shorts underneath regardless. ---
**Author:** ![brainstall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/22 "2019-09-22T11:18:05Z")
When I was in grade school in the early 70’s we wore pants. There was one girl who had very conservative parents who made her wear a skirt every day. We felt sorry for her. My mother tried to make me wear a skirt to school one day and I cried until she relented and let me wear pants. The humiliation of showing up to school in a skirt for anything other than picture day would have been unbearable. If I had worn a skirt around that time it would have been knee socks or leotards underneath. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/23 "2019-09-22T12:20:36Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Dang, dude. You had some serious facial hair for a teen. Shhhh. I think he was held back a few years. Appears he’s in his mid twenties. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/24 "2019-09-22T14:24:26Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Mrs. Aceplace may have been super-strict about makeup, but she apparently had no problem with [piercings](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14957098&postcount=1). > :dubious: We never considered a piercing a big deal for an older teen. Belly buttons are usually covered by clothing. There are exceptions but the people at school & church didn’t see the piercing. There’s certainly more rebellious things a teen could explore. We got off pretty lucky with our daughters. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/25 "2019-09-22T15:56:44Z")
My parents would’ve flipped their lids before letting me get a belly-button piercing. Where did you go to church? I mean, when I started wearing make-up, I was still at a CATHOLIC SCHOOL, and they didn’t say anything. We wore those butt-ugly uniforms and everything. Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/26 "2019-09-22T16:57:08Z")
Went to junior high in the 1970s ( yes that’s what we called it) in Nebraska. Our skirts could not be higher than the knee cap. Wore knee high socks. Not allowed to wear jeans or pants. In Detroit where I went to High School we couldn’t ware minis. But we wore those bell bottoms. Then Madison, Wisconsin mid seventies jeans. So cool man:D ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/27 "2019-09-22T17:16:38Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Kind of creepy asking us to reminisce about what girls wore on their legs under their short skirts in junior/senior high. Only if you make the creepy assumption that talking about fashion must be sexual. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/28 "2019-09-22T23:01:17Z")
By the time I was in high school (1974-78) in a suburb just south of Cleveland, young ladies’ fashion had gone almost completely over to tight blue jeans. On occasions when short skirts (or any skirts) were worn, I am pretty sure they went for non-opaque pantyhose. Bare legs were worn with shorts only. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2019, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/29 "2019-09-22T23:06:43Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Only if you make the creepy assumption that talking about fashion must be sexual. You tell ‘im! As a teenaged boy, I was a _keen observer_ of teenaged girls, and I won’t have my expertise belittled. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/30 "2019-09-23T00:16:01Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Only if you make the creepy assumption that talking about fashion must be sexual. You really can’t imagine old guys talking about mini skirts on pre-teen girls could ever be salacious, huh? Defensive, perhaps. Anyway the conversation seems to be pretty ordinary right now, but the OP did make me twitch some. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/31 "2019-09-23T06:39:54Z")
board seems to be having problems ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/32 "2019-09-23T06:38:51Z")
In my school, the girls mothers bought uniform skirts for them when they entered year 7, at age 12-13, with room to grow into. They wore those skirts for the next 5 years. And for sport the girls were still wearing the shifts their mothers had bought, but now with bikini bottoms instead of culottes. No hosiery was worn. We were generally pretty innocent, and I was exceptionally innocent. And it was the 70’s. I think I remember that in the final year (yr 12), we’d all stopped wearing the uniform, and were studying, not playing sport. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/33 "2019-09-23T13:34:50Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Anyway the conversation seems to be pretty ordinary right now, but the OP did make me twitch some. Given some of the OP’s past thread topics about adolescent female sexuality, it made me twitch some too. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/34 "2019-09-23T14:52:05Z")
I graduated in '72, and in our district, girls weren’t allowed to wear pants to school till my senior year. Once I got out of 8th grade (and out of Catholic school) I wasn’t about to wear socks - they were for babies!! So it was panty hose unless it was really cold, then it was flesh-colored tights. All these years later, I can’t remember the last time I wore panty hose - maybe 15 years? And the last dress I wore was 3 or 4 years ago when my niece married. All hail jeans, socks, and sneaks! ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/35 "2019-09-23T22:36:15Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Given some of the OP’s past thread topics about adolescent female sexuality, it made me twitch some too. Whoops…I’d forgotten about that. He’s not whackin’ off to this, is he? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/36 "2019-09-23T22:49:31Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Whoops…I’d forgotten about that. > > He’s not whackin’ off to this, is he? why are you asking me? :dubious: 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2019, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/37 "2019-09-23T23:52:50Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Whoops…I’d forgotten about that. > > He’s not whackin’ off to this, is he? Do you really want to know? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/38 "2019-09-24T00:43:48Z")
It’s a vintage fashion thread. The early seventies was a transition from skirts to jeans. It’s part of my childhood and it’s interesting to reminisce. This was inspired by the Marcia Brady Bunch thread in Cafe. That show and the Partridge Family were another big part of my generations childhood. The costumes they wore were classic early 70’s fashion. Slightly exaggerated for tv. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/39 "2019-09-24T11:16:19Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > It’s a vintage fashion thread. > > The early seventies was a transition from skirts to jeans. It’s part of my childhood and it’s interesting to reminisce. > > This was inspired by the Marcia Brady Bunch thread in Cafe. That show and the Partridge Family were another big part of my generations childhood. > > The costumes they wore were classic early 70’s fashion. Slightly exaggerated for tv. So, is that a “yes” or a “no”? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2019, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630/40 "2019-09-24T12:28:38Z")
I went to high school in the early 1970s. A lot of the girls dressed like Marcia Brady and it was nearly always sheer pantyhose under their minis. I don’t recall ever seeing bare legs in school and I don’t think shorts were allowed because I don’t remember any girls wearing them, and it would have been unheard of for boys to wear shorts to school. Both genders were free to wear jeans when they wanted. Most girls probably wore skirts or dresses 1-2 days a week and jeans otherwise. For the guys, it was nothing but jeans. I think in the 1960s, girls in our elementary school were finally allowed to wear pants to school, before that skirts and dresses were mandatory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/short-skirts-in-1970s-80s-junior-high-and-high-school-what-hosiery-did-they-wear/840630.md?page=3)