Summer's coming! Beachwear fashions!

Today was a beautiful Spring day: the skies were blue, the sun was bright, the daffodils nodded and the banks of the River Thames were inaccessible due to the congestion of canoes and people in wetsuits waiting to flex their muscles! If today was a Spring day then Summer can't be far away! Summer conjures up sunny days, only one layer of clothing and pleasant days on the beach. Does your beach wardrobe look anything like this:

Let's look at the 'Lady' first (since this is a family album she might be one of my Great Aunts!) The year is 1925; she's wearing flat, sensible, walking, maybe lace-up shoes and good old English black tights - except I don't think they called them 'tights' back then, they're probably woollen stockings! A heavy looking skirt and jacket, which if she found herself overcome by an over-ambitious wave, would have added some serious stones & pounds (equivalent of kilograms & grams!) and hampered her rescue! A fur stole? On a beach?! It takes all sorts I suppose! And please note the black umbrella she's holding possibly with a bamboo handle - this is England after all! All topped off with the black brimmed felt (?) hat.  Now the boy: He looks barely into his teenage years and the knee-high socks and long shorts would be the acceptable attire for a young man. Note that the shorts may be long to the knees but they're also probably quite high up on the waist - none of this halfway down the bum fashion! Not only does he have a white shirt and tie, he's also wearing a waistcoat and with a watch chain by the looks of it too! A school cap tops it all and the dog is a good looking accessory!
This is one of my Great Aunts, and I'm happy to see her smiling here as in most of the photos she looks quite miserable! So here once again we have the reasonably sensible black shoes - can't go barefoot like the children, there are pebbles on the sand! - black stockings, and the heavy black coat and fur stole - are those pom-poms on the coat? Great Aunt is wearing a simple hat this time, but gloves and even  pearls make a beach outing the social occasion of the year!

Two young lads having a paddle in the shallows! Funny thing is, when my hubby saw this photo he said it could have been him and his brother! I don't think so! I think he was born at least a decade later than this was taken! School boys never wore long trousers; you had to be a 'man' before you could graduate out of those knee length shorts! But at least they were easy to roll up or hold up. Once again they're in the 'regulation' tie and jacket, and I wonder if they got into trouble if they arrived home very wet and sandy!

This is Great Uncle Fred - always identifiable in photos because he's lopsided! He usually has a stick but I don't know if he was injured or had a defect from birth or childhood. Such white legs Great Uncle Fred!  Once again, not dressed without cap, shirt & tie, and jacket, but at least his trousers are rolled up! He's probably hoping the photographer - I wonder if it was my Great Aunt? - would hurry up because the water's cold!

This looks better! Although you can't see the sea or sand, the buckets and spades give the game away! The ladies are now in their nylon stockings, wearing hats, black jackets and carrying demure handbags. The men wouldn't be dressed without their hats, shoes & socks and a tie, no matter where they were. Little girls' pretty peep-toe shoes shouldn't be worn without little white ankle socks, and even if the little girls are wearing a light cotton summer dress, always combine it with a dark cardigan or jacket! Fashion has a tendency to repeat itself, as we see in the felt cloche hat of lady number three on the bench! D'you think wearing ties, hats, shoes & socks to the beach will come back?!

These two lovely people are my maternal Grandparents - Walter & Lydia Ash (nee Hawley). This is how I remember them so I'm guessing this photo was taken in the mid to late 1960's. There's the famous Blackpool Tower and just looking at Grandma's hair it may have been a bit windy! Maybe only the 'upper class' came to the beach in their furs and pearls, or maybe we got wiser as the decades passed, because Grandma's not even wearing a hat! She seems to have a knitted scarf over her head and around her neck - haven't the shops been advertising this fashion accessory this past winter?! I'm not sure that Grandma and Grandad would have gone to the seaside in the winter, so I'm wondering if England is getting warmer - since we wouldn't normally take our heavy coats, gloves and scarf on summer holiday - would we? Another hint that this photo is later than previous ones is that Grandad isn't wearing a hat! In fact I can't remember seeing any photo of my Grandad wearing a hat (except a gardening one that looked like a plant pot!) However the tie is still there and the casual jacket, but that looks like a knitted waistcoat or pullover, I wonder if Grandma made it for him!

And finally ... probably about 1967 at Lytham St Anne's. I loved those sandals (worn with white ankle socks!) but I'm glad I don't remember those toffee-striped shorts! Are those bruises all up my shins! Light blue peter-pan collar blouse (probably didn't call them 'shirts' for girls then) and a pretty light green lacy cardi - nice and summery! Not sure about the hairstyle though, I think Mum cut it around a pudding bowl! Mum looks like she's just had her hair permed and I wish I could say I still had that red plaid blanket, it looks very nice!

I am so glad fashions change!