Driven by her friend’s parents, Molly Appleford (1946) had her suitcase packed with shorts from Best and Company in Grosse Point. “They had buttons down the side and I loved them. So did  Marsha Immerman, who thought they were so “in”, so I bought her a pair,” said Molly. Tucked in with those coveted shorts were tee shirts, blouses, saddle shoes and bobby socks and maybe even a pair of jeans, although they were not worn as much back then.

“I was a tomboy, but I was into Ship ‘n Shore blouse, Lollipop panties with the days of the week on them, cuffed gabardine sailor shorts with sailor buttons and a stripe down the side of them, the “whites” for Chapel Hill and photos, blue and white Keds and jeans, “said Marsha Immerman (1947-53). “I got my first pair of boy jeans at the Mill End store, which seemed more fitting to wear for horseback riding. I also had brown Frontier pants that zipped on the side and had buttoned pockets. I did bring up my cowboy boots, but never wore a hat or a helmet.”

Although her family did not have much, they were able to send Mary Jane Keschman (1944-54) to camp. The year she wanted to go extra weeks, she realized she did not own enough underwear. With finances tight, her Mom sewed extras from feed bags. Coming from those circumstances, her envious memories of the sailor double- buttoned shorts that the girls from Birmingham owned were fresh in her mind.

“There was no dress code, except for whites, and we wore them to Chapel Hill which I loved, “said Anne Duffield (1947-50), but there were some beautiful shorts or pants from Best and Co. that were sailor style with stripes and big white buttons. I loved the pastel ones and the coral ones, but you could get them in dark green or blue also. All the “in girls” had them. I was probably in a clique and we probably stuck together because I found I didn’t meet a lot of people until I was an adult.”

The clothes that Bev Lemanski recalled from the forties, besides her whites, were her Ship “N Shore plaid blouses that were so popular, they almost became the uniform of the summer.

Tami Nagel remembered Picture Day, where she wore her dress whites, and her grandmother had ironed all the labels into her clothes. “I only had one pair of white shorts. I don’t remember why I was laughing, but I wet my pants and I had to wear my blue shorts. You can still see the photo where I am the only one in blue shorts.”

Flash forward to the sixties and seventies.The fads during Amy Johns’ time (1967-68) included the “heinous fashion” of boob tubes over overalls. “We would also wear those kerchiefs over our hair, so no one would know how dirty our hair was and just HAD to wear those Dr. Scholl’s wooden sandals, even though they gave us terrible blisters.”

Kim Moore also remembered the Dr. Scholl’s sandals and bandanna in her hair during the sixties and seventies. “It was fun to feel part of the “cool group” because I was on staff. We could have a flex schedule and hang out in our cabin next to the lodge when we were on break and listen to Carole King and Judy Collins. I thought I was HOT Stuff!”

Sue West (1975) recalled a girl nicknamed “Spaz” (Cindy Knapp), who was constantly tripping over everything. “She wore those wooden Dr. Scholl’s sandals and wore painter pants, so of course when we drove back home, I had to get my own painter pants.”

“My Mom would send me letters and care packages with cookies and candy, and she also would stop at the “SubDeb” shop in Bay City before she came to pick me up,” said Kimela Peck (1966-74), “She would load up on all these clothes for me to try on and my friends would tell me what looked good and what didn’t. It was great. I went to school with a new wardrobe after modeling for them. I was a tomboy, but I went through the fashion thing, but I was never into skirts. I would have pants outfits with long tops.”

“For some reason we had to wear socks. I wore these geeky little anklets, until I realized the cool kids had “peds”, but at some point the sock rule just disappeared,” said Cara Prieskorn. “I know there were these terry cloth tee shirts with Maqua on them, which I always bought and then my account would run out of money and I would worry what my parents would say to me and if they would be mad when they picked me up because my money was all gone, but they never got mad. “

“I did not go to camp with anything special to wear, except the tee shirts and shorts, but I remember the girls from Birmingham had some of the coolest clothes. They wore Ladybug brand. By the time I got to Senior Village, I finally had my first piece of Ladybug, which was a bathing suit, and I think it was my first year of junior high. But, the COOLEST thing was the year these girls from Seaholm High School came with the same gray tee shirts with blue letters and their high school name on the shirt. One year Sue Purdue received a package. She was my counselor when I was in Cabin A. I was so envious when she opened it and about ten tee shirts with different state names were printed on them. OK, maybe not ten, but a lot….”

“I was very conscious of clothes, especially since my parents had been older and I always felt like a clothing outcast, ” said Andrea Gale (1970-74) “There was a girl named Lori who always had these cute halter tops on and I was always slightly pudgy and insecure about my weight and wished I could wear them. I had a terrible body image and didn’t want my tummy to show, but I thought they were so hip and cool.”

Do you remember the fads during your camping days?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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