I was looking around wishbookweb.com, which I love to do a disturbing amount, and decided to flip through the 1977 JC Penny Catalog, even though I already did that a little bit before. Here’s what else I found:
JC Penny was really the place to get clothes if you were dead but didn’t know it yet. These days I’m not sure where the dead-but-don’t-know-it crowd get their wardrobes:
You gotta get a CB radio just in case you have an emergency.
First, “I’d like some sugar” could seriously be misconstrued. Second, if I were that horse, I would probably say “please free me from this torture device.”
There’s just not as many nightmare children’s toys these days. Tell me where you can find a good “horrifying clown plays peek-a-boo where you sleep” toy in 2013.
On the other hand, a Redd Foxx talking doll that says gems like, “Your daddy sat on me” and has two faces? I will give you all my money for one of those.
Now we get to the apparent inability for women to dress for cold weather.
The uncomfortable strangle-y feeling of a turtleneck combined with the more cumbersome bathroom experience a leotard brings topped with the 70s version of Uggs and then also freezing cold thighs. Fashion!
And then these people just don’t know what the hell they’re doing:
I guess maybe since it’s two of them they kind of egged each other on? Then they went out in the cold and died of hypothermia, I’m guessing.
You missed one important detail on the turtleneck leotard- snap crotch! Who’s cumbersome now, huh?
But I agree on the Redd Foxx doll. Where can I get me one of them?
Oh, snapcrotch, that changes the whole game…
In the last photo I first thought they were saluting. But then I noticed the girl on the right is leaning her elbow on her knee which I guess makes sense. But what’s the girl on the left’s excuse? This leads me to believe that the right hand mittens are actually sewed to the hat. Unpractical? Yes. But Fashion!
I think her other mitten is sewed to the knee of the other girl’s tights, too.
I used to have that same horse! Or, at least I think it was the same one? (Thanks to the the multiple concussions I suffered as a child caused by weak springs and my tendency to lean all of my body weight forward, my memory is a little hazy.)
And don’t forget the excruciating pinching from the springs if you put your legs in the wrong position.
Was “your daddy sat on me” a thing? If so, why isn’t it STILL a thing? I feel that’s a euphemism that should have endured.
The model on the left in the ski-pole photo looks like she seriously has to go to the bathroom, but is DELIGHTED about it.
Or she’s releasing a fart in the other lady’s direction.
The dead-but-don’t-know-it ladies are in party dresses. Party dresses! Why the potholder on a strap is essential to the outfit is a mystery.
I wouldn’t like Pennywise hanging off my child’s crib either. Is that a little hand clinging to his bow tie?
Yes! Man, that’s creepy.
I forgot how to close the door good buddy! LOL. Redd Foxx was super blue humor, I can’t believe they made a kids doll out of him!
None of these outfits are as bad as the crap Lucy Liu wears on Elementary.
Maybe her stuff is vintage Sears.
That horse looks really tall. How can the kid even get on him?
Also, I’d totally spend the extra money on the horse with the nonplastic hair.
Yes, many more braiding opportunities that way.
A hood . . . but no socks. Yeah, she’s doing it wrong. Oh 1977. How delightfully bizarre you were. And between the dead people staring into my soul and the creepy peekaboo clown, I shan’t be sleeping tonight, thanks.
Sounds like you need to CB the local pharmacist for some sleep aids.
duuuuuuuuuuude, a post! ZOMG!
I had that Lone Ranger getup as a young man of the 1970s. I’m not ashamed.
Do you have instagram? I’m lanceburson there. I posted a photo this weekend of the Suwanee, ga city hall. It looks just like the superfriends hall of justice.
Ooh! Gonna go look now.
Yeah, I’ll have to agree with wanting a Redd Foxx doll. That’s just crazy-amazing. It’s so mind blowing to look at that catalog. It looks more dated than I would imagine. Sweet lord.
And I like to think about what will make catalogs now seem dated in 35 years.
Ahh, 1977. When do you think a good time would be to bring back these looks? Because I’m in for anytime.
Me, too.
You must be one of us Mandela effected you spelled Penny the old way.
I had to look it up, figuring it was actually “Penny’s” I have never heard of this extra “e” – it’s clearly an imposter.