Christmas Past: The Black Glorias
Woman in the Middle | December 15, 2011It is that time of year when I think back to Christmases past….
It was early 1980s, a few weeks before Christmas. My mother and I were browsing in the Broadway Department store. That was when I saw THEM and the angels sang! They were a pair of black Gloria Vanderbilt jeans. I had never seen black jeans before and it was love at first sight! I told my mother right then and there that I wanted those black Glorias for Christmas. But those jeans were about $40, a substantial sum of money back then for a pair of jeans. Remember the hey day of designer jeans? They weren’t cheap! Mom poo pooed me, saying they were too expensive. Sigh! I didn’t have a lot of hope that those Glorias would be mine.
My family opened presents Christmas morning. I opened a package and there they were! The most perfect pair of jeans ever made! That present was right up there with the spinning ballerina doll I got when I was 7 and the new bike I got when I was 12 as best presents ever received. When college started back in January you can bet I was there wearing those black Glorias. I am pretty sure I was the first girl to hang out by the bell tower at UC Riverside in black jeans.
According to Wikipedia, Glorias were more tightly fitted than other jeans of the time. That might explain one phenomenon I experienced while wearing them at the bell tower. Those puppies got VERY hot in the sun and even the rivets would heat up and start to get uncomfortable! But I was willing to pay the price to wear those Glorias.
I admit it, while I am many pounds away from ever wearing them again, I still have those Glorias. Some things you just can’t give away.
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