Middle School Memories

It may look like your typical fleece sweatshirt, but for me, the memories came pouring in the moment I saw it.

This yellow Old Navy performance fleece was in a more recently stowed box in the attic, about 15 years ago. (As I said before, I found a ton of crap of my mom's from the early to mid 1980s over the weekend.)

I'm pretty sure this was the first thing I bought at Old Navy. It was either this, or flare jeans. Either way, all of the cool middle schoolers had performance fleece. I think it was probably the North Face of middle school in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

I mean, Old Navy even had a commercial jingle for it, so it was legit.

These things were so popular that I'm pretty sure this bright yellow was one of the only colors left in my size. I could never imagine my 11-year-old self digging this yellow number up as my first choice. Regardless, I can still remember wearing the hell out of this.

I guess this means I'll have to start scanning photos from my awkward middle school years, to see if I find any photos where I'm actually wearing it. I don't know if I ever took it off back then, so hopefully those photos won't be too hard to find. ;)

Mom Wears

Some of the things I unearthed in my parents' attic on Sunday, like some of my mom's clothes that she hadn't seen in 30 years, could be akin to dusting off the DeLorean and taking it for a ride.

Mark has been begging to get up to the attic since there are old Hallmark Christmas ornaments up there somewhere. (Along with other holiday items, beanie babies, and old, outdated wedding gifts from the early 1980's.) The weather was pretty mild for a mid-July evening, I thought I would finally muster the courage to go up and do it.

Before long, I was practically knee deep in dust balls and dead stink bugs. Unfortunately for Mark, I only found a handful of ornaments.

However, I benefited a lot more. Not only did I find a few gems from my middle school past; I started to find bin upon bin of my mom's clothes, all labeled in sizes that would fit me. Blouses, rompers, and skirts from the early to mid-1980s. Some things were dated, like windbreakers and turtleneck shirts, but the various rompers and blouses, striped, floral, and patterned, I took a particular interest in, since it wouldn't take much to modernize a lot of them.

There were a few crop tops and novelty screen printed shirts, which I think would be an easy sell at the vintage secondhand shop.

A side note: As I've been sorting through and scanning old family photos, I've been asking my mom about certain outfits she wore back in the day. These photos have some really cute outfits from the 70's and 80's, but nothing I found the other night. (That adorable powder blue romper/coverup, and her senior photo, wearing a blouse with an embroidered smiley face and smiley face buttons.) She never recalled saving anything. The bins full of stuff, however, was undeniable proof she was wrong. Ha!

There may be a good reason why a lot of it was long forgotten about: Several of the garments still had tags on them! Many were from stores closed long ago. Former local department store staples, like Kaufmann's and Hills.

My mom was shocked to see some of the stuff again, but did recall wearing some of it.

"These clothes have been up there your entire life," she told me.

Strange but true.

I think I have enough clothes to sort through to create an occasional series, chronicling the clothes I found of my mom's that I will wear, reconstruct, and sell from my mom's really old, untouched stuff.

Have you ever scored great vintage finds from a relative?