We were discussing earlier this week the revivals of knickers that have taken place over the years. One was in the early 1980s, reportedly triggered by a photo of Princess Diana taken while on her honeymoon. A quick look through the vintage patterns at Etsy confirmed that knickers were big in 1982.
I remembered that knickers were a bit of a fad for a short while during my high school years, 1970 through 1973. Again, I turned to etsy, did a search for “knickers pattern,” and quickly realized that 1971 was the year of the knickers.
I would have been a sophomore or junior during that year, and while I can remember some of the girls at my school wearing them, I was not tempted by the knickers. At the time I was into really short skirts, and especially, short culottes. It’s a bit strange that they were allowed due to our no pants rule in the dress code, but a blind eye was turned to culottes and knickers. I think the attitude was that they were better than the short skirts we were wearing.
It was a good thing that I did not buy into the knickers fad because it came and went very quickly. Had I acquired a pair I’d have been stuck having to wear them because clothes were expensive and we had to wear what was bought until we either outgrew them or wore them out. I would have been a fashion has-been!
The Vintage Traveler 