image via ErokCom
Since I’m away from home, I have substituted my daily posts with some questions from the Style Statement book. Today’s question is this:
If I could have been born into a different culture or time period, it would have been…
I’m not sure about an alternate culture, but I instantly think of the 50’s as an alternate time period. Maybe it’s the poodle skirts, or maybe it’s because I’ve watched John Travolta one too many times in Grease. Whatever the reason, that’s the era I would choose.
It seems like the 1950’s were a simpler time. I’m all for women’s rights, but sometimes I wonder just how far we have come…For women, job opportunites have grown tremendously, and I applaud that. What troubles me is that women are now expected to bring home the bacon, fry it up in an All Clad pan, serve it on Pottery Barn tablescaping, while helping the children with their Kumon homework. Instead of upgrading our plates, we’ve just added a lot more to them.
I am extremely lucky to be a stay at home mom, but I carry a lot of guilt for not contributing funds to our bank account. I have a feeling that if I were a mom in the 1950’s, I wouldn’t have any of this guilt.
And yes, I also really, really like the clothing fashion of the 50’s. The poodle skirts and the feminine silhouettes of the dresses would have been perfect for my shape.
If you could have been born into another culture or time period, which one would you choose?
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I would agree 100% with the 50’s. I am also a stay at home mom that used to be a working mom. I have found that it is not always an easy transition to make. I wish more moms were stay at home moms like they were in the 50’s. Most of my friends work.
I got to think about this one. You might want to read my blog today when you get home!!
Lets see…I’ve always been sort of enchanted by the 40s. I have great pictures of my grandmother in her pencil skirt and red lipstick. Big bands and USO dances. Of course, my grandmother turned into a housewife of the 50s, so I guess she had the best of both decades!
Great question! I would have to say the 1920s (flappers! bobs! Chanel!) or the 1970s (hippies! flower power!). It would be a tough call for me…
I am with Positively Present on this. 20’s or early seventies. I love the flapper freedom thing, with the parties and all. And then the - hmm - late sixties early seventies, proper hippy, long hair, sunkissed skin, all ideals and folk music and travelling overland in a camper van to india….
am also with you on this stay at home mum business. I think being a mum is hard these days, because you are still expected to contribute half towards the finances. How can you do that if you are pregnant and raising little ones? It was a mighty shock to our marriage me not working. Hub still thinks I should be earning a crust. Quite frankly I think that is his job! He certainly sees childrearing and house keeping as mine!
Hmm, really not sure what my answer to this would be. Probably any time when life was simpler.
Had to laugh at this; women are now expected to bring home the bacon, fry it up in an All Clad pan, serve it on Pottery Barn tablescaping, while helping the children with their Kumon homework.
Well said and so true.
Not sure — maybe the 70’s? minus the drugs…
The 50’s would also be pretty cool — definitely when life was simpler and their weren’t so many distractions…
I love this post and can concur with Sami that that is a great quote from this piece - LOVE IT!
I have been drawn to the ’40s for a long time. I think because I love the music and love the old black-and-white movies of that time. The ’30s would have been too depressing, the ’20s too In-Your-Face for me, the ’50s a bit too smiley
I could probably really dig the ’60s too though with all of the movements, the great poetry (love the Beats) and the music explosions happening all over the place.
Loved how fun this post was!
I’m a late 30s-40s girl myself. The great movies and music do it for me, and of course the fashion. And in those days as a woman you really had to be an adventurer to have a great career, or to get a PhD, or anything like that - but I like to think I could have done it. Sometimes I think about all the great events and movements I could have been a part of - doing my part in WWII, working in some way with the Civil Rights movement, being a glamorous movie star and entertaining the troops (hey, someone’s got to look fabulous). And that’s usually when I have to stop myself and realize that in my real life, in 2009, there are great moments and movements awaiting my contribution. I just have to open my eyes to see them.
Sorry, didn’t mean to blog in your comments section.
Great Post K and I couldn’t agree more. I honestly think your job as a stay at home mom is harder than working at times
I think I’d like to go back to simpler times when people were nicer but not too far back because I am all about equal rights…maybe the 60’s or 70’s