When I was in highschool in the 1970s we were using home economics texts that were 10 to 15 years old (published in the late 1950s) for the recipes, since baking powder biscuits and pineapple fluff had not evolved any.
The other half of the book was the sewing and self care section, which was a hoot. We didn’t use it in class, but I read it for giggles.
The book laid out a basic wardrobe for a high-school girl that was something like three skirts, four blouses, two cardigans, a winter coat and a pair of shoes. If you did sports or hiked you could have a pair of shorts. You could put Vaseline on your eyelashes, but makeup was tacky. And you could make all your own clothes. You came home and took off your “good clothes” and put on a “house dress.”
We already had extensive wardrobes of jeans and Tshirts and Adidas and Cougar boots and high heeled clogs and ski jackets and down vests and silver eyeshadow, despite the 70s being relatively less materialistic than what followed. Already most of what we wore was not so easily made at home, and brands and styles mattered (especially jeans and footwear).
