I came across a jacket and dress set I made to wear to go see Nanci Griffith in the mid 80s.
yikes.
My kids, I am quite sure, can sing you, from memory, the lyrics to "Ford Econoline".
"She drove west from Salt Lake City, to the California coastline...
She hit the San Diego Freeway doing 60 miles an hour..
She had a husband on her bumper, she had 5 restless children,
She was singing sweet as a mocking bird in the Ford Econoline......"
I don't have the set here at the new house yet...but I will add a picture to this post in the next few days.......
Picture a simple sleeveless jumper dress with an empire waist, a gathered skirt just about calf length.....made of a lightweight cotton, with full blown pale pink roses and pastel old-fashioned flowers of blue and yellow and green leaves, in a summer garden floral print....(I know you remember the big flowers of the 80s!)
Then the jacket I made to match.....I was heavily into fringe (still am...). I used a lovely periwinkle blue lightweight denim for the jacket, a simple style, with a deep V western-style yoke edged in white rayon silky fringe...and I lined the jacket in the same pretty floral print.
It was so....angelic and yes, pretty. Back then I was flipping back and forth from a Laura Ashley romantic look to Cowgirl, to Morticia Addams...
Sometimes, I mixed them all together...
the reason I am listening again to Nanci Griffith, is ......she was a Fashion Sistah then, an inspiration.....and again, I feel like ...socks. all. the. time.
I wear socks a lot. I love socks. I have many many more socks than shoes, and I have a lot of shoes, and boots.....
I didn't listen to any Nanci for a while but after a 2 year hiatus, well, I kinda wore it out. I played her music so much that I felt I was in a rut. Well, Nanci is back in the rotation......and not just her music...
In the early 80s I first spotted her cassette (!) in a music store in the Country section (!) and this was the cover....
See the little socks? I wore little socks all the time with skirts and tennis shoes, and flats and sandals....With dresses!I wore cowboy boots all the time with dresses too, having been influenced by Patsy Cline from my childhood.
I had to have this! I didn't know any other grown women outside of Utah cults, that dressed like that....(it was actually a Southern thing, and a European thing...)
So, I bought the cassette and it became one of my lifelong faves. So much so, that I hog-tied my ex-husband into spending real $$ on me and going to Seattle to see Nanci Griffith perform. I can't remember where now, but you had a choice of dinner first with the show, or just the show. I chose dinner and a show!
It was an amazing feat...my ex hated anything that didn't involve guns and John Wayne for entertainment.
All Nanci Griffith is wonderful!
And I'll be back to wearing socks with sandals all summer long...if the day isn't too hot...and I'll be...." singing as sweet as a mockingbird in my Ford pick Up Truck"....
;-)
She's a Texan and she almost always wears her LBJ button!
Here are 2 fairly recent pics of Nanci, and below, one with Janis Ian....another lady who was very important to me (still is!), but that's another post....
