acrilan, crimplene and orlon (man-made fibres)
American Tan tights
back-combing (your hair)
brushed nylon dressing gowns
cocktail parties
coral lipstick
electric carving knives, gas powered “corkscrews”, garbage grinders
frumpy taffeta evening dresses with beaded bodices
melon (It was in everything, and it was very hard to say you didn’t like it.)
nylon nighties
nylon sheets
oxtail soup
Pakamacs (foldaway plastic raincoats)
pale blue eyeshadow (It was almost obligatory and suited nobody. But only beatniks wore brown, grey or green.)
passementerie (braid glued onto lampshades and wastepaper bins)
plastic bath hats
plastic raincoats
progress (that you couldn’t stand in the way of – it always meant “knocking something down”)
prosciutto con melone (raw, cured ham with melon)
replacing town centres with shopping “precincts”
rice salad made of plain white rice, frozen peas, diced carrot and peanuts, with no dressing (It evolved – people added raisins and red pepper and it was even less edible.)
roll-ons to hold up your stockings
rollers (for creating a back-combed, bouffant hairstyle)
rubber swimming caps with chinstraps
sleeveless dresses and nylon stockings that dictated extreme “personal grooming”
smoking
steak Tartare (raw minced steak with a raw egg)
the Mass in English (and the disappearance of plainsong)
Toby jugs (hideous ornaments in the shape of fat old men)
The 50s
> replacing town centres with shopping “precincts”
ReplyDeleteI find it more depressing that those shopping precincts which were mostly still public spaces are now being replaced with privatised, corporate-owned, "shopping malls" .