Hi Sandy.  How was your weekend?

It was good, Linda  – I got a lot accomplished.  I finally cleaned out my closet.

Doesn’t that give you a good feeling?

Usually it does – I like getting rid of things I don’t use any more, or wear anymore, but this time it really depressed me.

Why?

I don’t know –  I’m really in a funk.

Do you think you’re going to regret giving away some of your clothes?

No, it’s not that – I mean most of the things I gave away were ten years old, and there is no way I’d ever wear them again, even if they still fit me, which they didn’t.

So what’s the problem?

I just found it depressing – I guess I kept finding things like the dress I wore to Nancy’s wedding –

Which wedding?

The first one – and the pantsuit I wore to David’s graduation, and thinking about how long ago that was, and now he’s over 30 and married and has a child, and a whole part of my life is over.

So maybe it’s time to go shopping for new clothes.

Are you kidding?  I can’t shop without you – how could I ever make a decision?

I know, I’m the same way, Sandy.

But you always know what’s in style and what looks good.   I need you to tell me what not to wear.  I’ll make mistakes without you.

No you won’t. 

Linda, how did we ever manage to pick out clothes when we were young?

Don’t be ridiculous –Mom picked out everything for us.

True, but I do remember once, when we were really young, that when it was time for us to get new winter jackets, we went to Susan’s on Hope Street, and Mom let me choose the one I wanted.  I had my heart set on a bright turquoise jacket trimmed in black, and she bought it for me – even though it was probably the ugliest jacket ever made. I thought it was beautiful.

I didn’t get a jacket like that.

No, you probably knew how hideous it was and picked something else out.

Yeah, Mom probably made me get a plain cloth coat.

What are you talking about?

She probably thought it would improve my grades.

No she didn’t!!

We always had to wear practical things – nothing too fashionable.

And Mom always went shopping with us, didn’t she, Linda?

Of course, she had to make sure we bought the right clothes.  You know how important it was to Mom and Dad that we look “proper.”
 
So we were never allowed to buy our own clothes?

Maybe in high school, but when we were younger, she’d take us to Casual Corner, so she could approve what we  picked out  there.

Casual Corner had nice clothes - Villager and Ladybug.

Right - preppy and conservative, Sandy.

Oh yeah – plaid wool skirts, or a kilt, with matching knee socks and a crew neck sweater.

And a white blouse with a Peter Pan collar.

But no jewelry –

Nope, no i.d. bracelets or pierced earrings, because they were cheap looking.

And no tight Bermuda shorts –

Because that looked cheap.

And no halter tops –

Cheap.

And we wore our hair long in a flip or a page-boy.

Except I had to wear a headband, Sandy, and you didn’t.

That’s because I had bangs, so I didn’t need a headband.

I had to keep the hair off my face, and out of my eyes, so I could read better –

Or see better –

And not look cheap!

But we did wear cinch belts -

And Levis and Capris - 

We didn't call them Capris – we called them pedal-pushers.

And we had saddle shoes.

I thought we were only allowed to wear Keds.

No – we had saddle shoes, and you got to have them first, Sandy, because your feet were bigger than mine.

What did bigger feet have to do with it?  You probably didn’t want saddle shoes, Linda, because they weren’t cool.

I loved saddle shoes, Sandy, they were definitely cool.

Well, I’m sure you had them at the same time  I did, Linda.

I don’t remember that, but I do remember where we bought all our shoes when we were young.

 Lad and Lassie Shoe Store on Hope Street.

 I loved sitting in those Bunny Chairs.

Everyone loved the Bunny Chairs.

That store was like an institution, Sandy.  When I moved back to Providence, my goal was to go back to Lad and Lassie and try to sit in the Bunny Chairs, but I could never fit my rear end into them.

Oh, come on!

True.  Do you know those chairs were originally designed by RISD students, and when Lad and Lassie closed, I tried to buy them, but they told me the chairs were going back to RISD.

That’s amazing.  But that’s not the only place we went for shoes, is it? 

No, we went to Thayer McNeill on Wayland Square and got black suede Hush Puppies.

Oh, those were cool. And didn’t we get our Weejuns there, too?

Yeah, but we weren’t allowed to have shoe boots, like the Sholovitz twins had.

Why  not?

Because Mom made us get those plastic gray galoshes to put over our shoes.

Linda, I can’t believe we went out in public in those things – it was like wearing heavy garbage bags on our feet.

I never wore mine.

Maybe we just carried them in our pocketbooks when it was raining.

We didn’t have pocketbooks, Sandy.

What did we use?

Ditty bags – those tiny little cloth bags that were so small, all you could fit in them was one Kotex pad.

Right, not even room for a lipstick.

Who wore lipstick?  And we’d only carry our Ditty bags once a month -

So everyone always knew exactly when you had your period.

Right – we might as well have used a baggie!

So how long did we dress alike, Linda?

Probably till we were married.

Seriously.  I don’t think we were dressing alike in high school.
 
No, but  Sandy, I remember we had the same dress that we wore to all the Bar Mitzvah parties – the Lanz dress with the bow in front.  Mine was green and yours was red.
 
I hated wearing that dress.

Why? I thought it was really pretty.

Oh it was a pretty dress, but it was sleeveless silk, and I was always nervous at those parties, so I would end up with big sweat stains under the arms.  So embarrassing.

I don’t remember that, Sandy.

That’s because you don’t sweat, Linda!  So, how did we decide what to wear every day when we were young, and still dressing as twins?  Did Mom tell us what to wear?

I don’t know, Sandy.  I think we just always agreed on what we would wear.

Every day?

Maybe we had the same clothes and just didn’t dress as twins every day.

I guess we had the same taste in clothes.

Or no taste.

I think we did all right when we were finally old enough to go shopping by ourselves – we used to go to Boston, to Bonwit Teller, Filene’s, and Pappagallo.

I loved those Pappagallo shoes.

Better than the brown tie oxfords we had to wear to Lincoln.

So Sandy, are you out of your funk yet?

Yup – I’m going out shopping right now.

Really?  What are you going to buy?

Sensible shoes – my feet have been hurting me.
 

Oh my God -you’re right – I DO need to go shopping with you!

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