I’m trying to remember when and how and why I first crossed paths with today’s guest blogger.
I’m wracking my brain but my brain is feeling a bit like mush …
… and all I know is the first time I crossed her path, I was hooked. She was bookmarked. I signed up to get her delivered by email. Because I didn’t want to miss a single word that Kirby at Kirb Appeal has to say …
…and I get Kirby. And she gets me. Each and every deliciously sarcastic word worth of getting …
Oh, and don’t get her started on words and grammar. She’s a teacher. And I’m guessing a favorite teacher among the students at her school …
Take it away Kirby …
Hi! I’m Kirby, and normally I blog at Kirb Appeal, but today I’m here at Linda’s awesome blog. I am really happy to be here, because I rarely get asked to guest post…mostly because I’m a loose cannon and folks are scared I will totally hijack their blogs. Which may or may not happen.
The end of summer can mean many things: trimming back the hydrangeas, changing from the sunshine flag to the apple flag, and quickly finishing the gin because it’s tacky to drink it after Labor Day. But most importantly (and most fun, except maybe for the whole gin thing) is back-to-school shopping.
First of all, a little history.
Do you remember magazines? I know that seems like a dumb question, but they disappear almost daily. I remember my mother getting McCall’s, and I cut out the Betsy McCall paper doll in the back, solidifying my love of magazines forever.
Over the years, I subscribed to a variety of magazines, mostly fashion (like Mademoiselle, now defunct) and home decor (like Mary Englebreit’s Home Companion *little sob*) and lifestyle (like Victoria, which disappeared and then reappeared, like a magician). But this isn’t a history of magazine publishing in the US, so I’ll get back to business.
The very first magazine my mother ever bought me.
Seventeen.
The back-to-school issue.
Back when I first started getting Seventeen, it was a large-format magazine, like the old Life and Look. The full-page photos of back-to-school clothes were stunning (even though it was the ’70s, and clothes were basically hideous), and I devoured every one. (Here’s an explanation of why this was important: my fashion sense up to this point was “who cares?”) Thanks to my mother and Seventeen, all of a sudden I cared about how I looked when I went back-to-school.
From then on, I paid careful attention to back-to-school fashion. And in one issue of Seventeen:
I saw them. The object of my desire. My fantasies revolved around them. I wanted them so badly I could taste it.
Frye Boots.
The choice of fashionably-shod teens everywhere.
But being a small-town girl where employment was limited to babysitting for 75 cents an hour, Frye boots would remain outside my grasp.
Like so many of my favorite magazines, Frye Boots disappeared for awhile. Oh, I’m sure that they were around somewhere, hiding beneath the jeans of motorcyle boys, but Frye Boots as fashion were no more. But when they reappeared (in Belk, a local department store) when I was fifty, I was no longer babysitting for 75 cents an hour. I was babysitting for a salary! And I took a whole bunch of that salary and bought myself some Frye Boots. After a love affair that lasted more than thirty years, they were mine.
Guess what I’m wearing when I go back to school?
Oh, I have to chime in on this one! Frye boots … yikes … I’m having flashbacks of Matt Dillon (back in the day when he was all dark and moody and oh so cool) and the movie Little Darlings … I don’t know if he wore Frye boots in that movie. But I envision him wearing them. As he leans against his motor bike. With arms crossed. Giving the camera a smouldering bad boy look …
Thanks so much for inviting me to post, Linda! But we can’t wait ’til you’re back. Get outta the sun and get on home.
Ha ha!! Yes, those Frye boots are all OVER the place now… what’s old is new again if we wait long enough. Let’s hear it for salaried babysitting (and finishing up the gin). Love Kirby!
xo Heidi
Kirby….there are rules and timelines for drinking gin???!! What am I supposed to put in my tonic water after labor day??? My limes will be lonely. Funny about the Frye Boots. I felt the same way about a Bomber style jacket and then when I got it…it was too boyish…duhhhhh.
Hi Kirby, nice to meet you! Love those boots too, what’s with the no Gin after Labor Day though???
Heather–I know, right? I’m in the south and they have rules for EVERYTHING!
I don’t know what the ones were called that I saved every penny of my babysitting money for, but they were brown swede lace up boots. My mom said no, thank goodness for that babysitting job.
Just think, now yours can be used if you need to kick the ….. opps, you wouldn’t do that.
~Bliss~
Frye Boots!!!! OMG – I’d forgotten about them, much like most of the other hip 70’s attire that we were so crazy about. Although, like Karianne said – it’s every where now. I bought a pair of Dr. Scholl’s sandals a while back – you know the wooden ones with the clasped leather around the toes??? How the hell did I ever wear those damn things!! Most uncomfortable shoe on the face of the planet. They went to Goodwill…..
oohh I like these!
I want a pair of Frye Boots so bad! One of my friends has a pair and they are awesome!
Kirby, you want to hear something sad. My husband still has a pair for Frye boots from the 70’s (I never did get a pair) he also has some of those tire tread sandals that he still wears almost daily in the summer. His side of the closet is more of a shoe museum. Thanks for the blast from the past!
Linda, hope you are not getting sunburned with all the fun in the sunny you have been having. Hurry back!
Lynn
I had me a pair of those boots and I went to see Matt in Little Darlings 5 or 6 times…and don’t tell but I drink my gin after Labour Day!!! reckless I know…great post – I have been following you for a couple of weeks now…like your work
Cheryl from Ontario
Oh- I love her- I went over and signed up to follow- she is fun and witty and sarcastic…a real winner in my book! xo Diana
“Now I’m babysitting for a salary” <-- haha! You've gotta be the most fashionable teacher in the whole school, Kirbs!
All things come full circle…while running through the mall today, I noticed children’s clothes with “Peace signs”….and suede boots with fringe…actually loved them…!…As a teenager, I could not wait till the Back to School issue came out … those were the days!….Loved your post Kirby!
So I guess I’m really gauche because I drink gin whenever I want! But never if there is wine around….Ah yessss, Seventeen Magazine. But my favorites were still my mom’s Family Circle and Woman’s Day. I couldn’t wait until she got them from the grocery store. But she was one of those people that doesn’t want you to read her magazines before she does. I would get so mad – and say “what do you think I’m going to do, steal the words out of them?!!!” I get all flustered even typing that! I’m so happy that you finally got some Frye boots. I always had a fantasy that I would be an old woman with curly grey hair, frye boots, and all denim. It may still happen…
Ah Kirby, I even remember that issue of Seventeen pictured. Loved the large format, in fact I loved everything about that magazine but the back to school issues were the best!! Never got the Frye boots either but my mom always was a cool mom with issues of Cosmopolitan and New Woman magazines along with the Glamour and Mademoiselle. I learned a lot about the facts of life reading those. I really miss Mary Englebreit’s magazine it was THE BEST!