High School Fashions, 1969

FREE IMAGES I posted this first picture on my Facebook page last night and quite a discussion ensued about the fashions shown here.  Many schools still had dress codes in 1969 and girls would not have been allowed to wear their skirts this short.  In addition to skirts being no more than 2" above the knee, girls could not wear pants to school until the dress codes were abolished.  Here in Boston, the dress code at my school was thrown out in 1968 after a group of boys started growing their hair longer than their shirt collars and refused to cut it.  After they were all suspended, their parents protested to the School Board because the length of one's hair has nothing to do with learning. The School Board caved and after that, we could wear mini skirts, pants and even hot pants, but jeans were still taboo until 1972.

The photos shown here were all taken in 1969 by Arthur Schatz.  I get a California vibe here, and wouldn't be surprised if that is where the photos were taken.  The hippie looks did not become popular here on the East Coast until a couple of years later, but the mini skirts, bell bottom pants, wild prints, long straight hair and knee socks are spot on.