This photo was taken c. 1973, shortly after my parents emigrated from Argentina to Israel. My mother is wearing high leather boots and my father a buttoned down shirt- a style foreign to their new home. They will soon adjust to the warm climate and will trade their tailored clothes with light weight t-shirts.
Lara Roter
To enter My Family Portrait book giveaway see details here
To enter My Family Portrait book giveaway see details here
This photograph, of my parents and I, was taken in 1977. I love the VERY 1970s style of my parents’ outfits, especially my father’s unbuttoned shirt.
Sharon Roter
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This photo is from my sixth grade dance in 1999. I think it is interesting for a few reasons. It’s always fun to look back and see what you THOUGHT was fashionable compared to what you think is fashionable now. I also think it is unique that this photo was taken at the close of a very interesting fashion decade. I remember buying these sparkly purple hair chopsticks because I had seen them in the film Clueless. My dress cost $5 from the sale rack because there was a hole at the hem, but my mom sewed little butterflies on the edges to hide it. It fit me perfectly and was my favorite dress for a long time. And my best friend (to my right) wore a classic 1990s slip dress – I think it may have even been Calvin Klein!
Katherine Lapelosa
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I like the style of this 1973 photo of my children and myself taken in N.J. because it depicts the artistic ununhibited aproach to color of that period. The shirt I’m wearing is in fact a woven cotton bodysuit designed to be worn inside the low-waisted bell bottom pants illustrating the fact that law-waisted pants can be worn without over exposure. Although generally speaking I’m not a flower-prints person, the exceptional color combination of this specific print “took me by a storm” and I just couldn’t leave it in the store. As for the bell-bottom pants I loved the extra width of their hemline which made them appear almost as a maxi-skirt, and their especially long length which balanced their width covering the colorful platform shoes. I believe that the final touch of the large plastic sun glasses in red and yellow adds a glamorous aspect to the look.
My children outfits in more subdued shades of red (in fact in wine red) and forest green also express the liveliness of the period’s style. I like the fact that they are sort of matching yet individually different.
Nurit Bat-Yaar
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This is a picture of my family in High Park in Toronto. My parents, especially my mom, were always buying me clothes. In this case, my mom picked out my denim jacket, which I think looks pretty cool. I still love jean jackets. I’m also crazy about my brother’s matching hand knit ensemble – we were always getting sweaters from our Dutch nanny, Hani. I inherited the leather jacket my dad wears here. My mom’s outfit remains a mystery. Even though our clothes don’t match, I love this picture because we all fit together just right. – Emma K-P
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(left) Evening dress, Lanvin-Castillo, 1954-55. Collection of The Costume Institute, MET. (right) “Snowflake” evening dress, Alexander McQueen, Fall 2008. Collection of the Museum at FIT.
I love this photograph of my maternal grandparents, Esther and Ruben, on their wedding day, 1927 Morocco. I am especially intrigued by the contrast between their fashionable European dress and the Moroccan carpet in the background. Esther gave birth to sixteen children (!) out of whom only nine reached adulthood, she died giving birth to her sixteenth child, who did not survive as well. This picture captures a promising innocent moment for the newly weds.
Keren Ben-Horin.
****This post was not entered to the contest, but I still wanted to share one of my favorite family photographs with the readers of Pins & Needles.
To enter My Family Portrait book giveaway see details here
To celebrate our one year anniversary On Pins and Needles is giving you the opportunity to win a copy of the book Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.
What do you need to do? Send us an old picture of your family or yourself with a few words on its style and its significance to you. Your pictures will be published here and the winner will be announced August 1st.Those of you who will also subscribe to email notifications from the blog will receive a bonus surprise!
Please send jpeg attachments, with the subject line: my family portrait, to kerenbenhorin@gmail.com and enter to win!
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