Changes

More treasure in pictures. It's interesting to see the very composed pictures

of the 1960's and early 70's in Germany and then Thailand and Usa

 as compared to later in the decade when we moved to Italy

when people like Versace, Bowie and Sarah Moon were influencing fashion in Europe and well, everywhere.  Fashion, especially with the advent of 'off the rack' and pret a porter suddenly made it easier to have well made clothing and simultaneously be more glamorous. I think it added to women expressing themselves through their bodies in a more free manner.  Instead of emulating the 'perfectness' of  how they 'should' be this new fashion allowed them to be less constricted. Especially hair and makeup and of course clothes the pictures show women were more playful in mixing and overlapping styles.

I remember my mother wearing Greta Garbo wide pants and 40's inspired triangle tops with 70's glam platforms.

Her hair was shorter and lighter and her makeup more natural.

I mean really, she always looked like a movie star and still does. The pictures from a box that I discovered made me realize that for women like my mother, the seventies must have been a really liberating time.
The idea that as a woman you could have more control over your own lifestyle was new. That you could  make your own choices without necessarily asking your father, brother or husband first -  that possibility was just opening up for women at that time.

 It's easy for me to see all this in the reflection of her changing style and fashion. The arch of the eyebrow remains but the movement of the hair, the unconstrained clothing challenge the past.  I guess I never saw what was obvious all along. We have always been lovers of style and fashion. Culturally, it really goes so much deeper than just buying a 'new look'. At the time of these pictures she was working with a well known Tuscan consortium to bring Italian fashion to the rest of Europe and specifically America. She spoke 5 languages and traveled to Africa, the Eastern Bloc countries and America. The 'liberated' woman with flair.

Mom took every opportunity to further herself and was highly regarded as a business person and a woman of style. I will forever be grateful.