How to Wear a Turtleneck Sweater Without Looking Dated (The 1970s Way)

🔗 How We Used To Dress, My Complete Illustrated Collection: 📗 https://clarasamericanattic.com This video is about how the 1970s turtleneck sweater was actually worn, tracing its history from medieval armor to 1970s mail order catalogues to explain why the style looks dated today and how it was originally layered. I go through old mail order catalogues from the early 1970s, including Sears, Montgomery Ward, and JCPenney, to explain why the turtleneck was such a common piece of clothing and how it was combined with other garments. I trace the collar's history from its use under chainmail, through fisherman's and naval workwear, to the thin ribbed sweater that came out of Paris in the early 1960s. I also cover the DuPont fiber that made the thin, washable turtleneck possible, and I compare 1970s catalogue photographs to recent autumn and winter runway shows to show that the same layering pattern has repeated for decades. What's covered in this video: - I trace the turtleneck's origins from a knitted collar worn under chainmail in the fifteenth century to a piece of fisherman's and naval workwear from the late 1800s. - I explain how the playwright Noël Coward and later Beat era artists and philosophers gave the black turtleneck its mid-century reputation. - I describe how Sonia Rykiel designed a fitted maternity sweater in Paris in 1962 that became known as the Poor Boy sweater, later bought by Audrey Hepburn in fourteen colours. - I go through DuPont's development of Fiber A at its Buffalo, New York plant, which became the acrylic fiber Orlon in 1948 and changed how sweaters were made and cared for. - I walk through specific pages from the 1974 Sears catalogue showing an olive turtleneck worn under a striped sweater vest, plus turtlenecks from Montgomery Ward and JCPenney, including one with a false V-neck knitted into the front. - I explain the difference between a turtleneck, a mock neck, a roll neck, and a cowl neck, and why the fold at the throat matters for warmth. - I describe the dickey, a false turtleneck front worn since 1850s Britain, including a 1964 Coats and Clark knitting pattern in field green yarn. - I look at how the jumper dress, or pinafore, and the sweater vest were designed to be worn over a turtleneck rather than alone. - I discuss Diane Keaton's black turtleneck worn under a floral dress in the 1977 film Annie Hall as an example of layering a sweater into another season. 00:00 The Sweater In The Drawer 00:20 A Tape Measure On The Chair 01:02 Four Pieces To Collect 01:22 Older Than The Decade 01:41 Fishermen And Sailors 02:01 Artists And Thinkers 02:25 The Word Thin 02:46 Paris, Nineteen Sixty Two 03:06 Fourteen In Every Colour 03:26 The Poor Boy Crosses Over 03:47 Into The Earth Tones 04:08 The Queen Of Knits 04:29 Bought From A Catalogue 04:49 Fiber A 05:09 The Care Free Life 05:32 Why Acrylic Mattered 05:52 Fall And Winter, Seventy Four 06:11 The Olive And The Stripe 06:29 How Tight Is Tight 06:49 Stripes And Ribs 07:11 A Pretend Layer 07:31 What The Knitter Knew 07:51 Shirts, Sweaters, Dresses 08:10 Sold As A Shirt 08:31 Turtle, Mock Or Roll 08:50 Once Or Twice 09:10 Which Collar Suits The Day 09:31 Sewn At Home 09:49 Stretch Knits Only 10:07 The Thick One 10:27 A Closet With Both 10:47 Just The Collar 11:05 The Clerk's Trick 11:24 Five Ounces Of Field Green 11:46 Extra Wide, Extra Deep 12:04 No Bulk At The Elbows 12:32 Still Sold In Fours 12:54 The Jumper Dress 13:13 From Mod To Mid Calf 13:34 The Arithmetic Of Two 13:54 Three Outfits From Four 14:13 Knit On Knit 14:35 Under A Jacket 14:53 The Cuff Below The Sleeve 15:14 Annie Hall, Seventy Seven 15:35 Nothing From The Sixties 15:56 What Was In Your Drawer 16:15 The Colour Piece 16:34 Busy On Top, Quiet Below 16:54 The Frame Under The Chin 17:13 Snug, On Purpose 17:35 The Sweater With No Choice 17:53 Long Enough To Tuck 18:12 What Went Below 18:33 Loosening Up By Seventy Eight 18:55 Light Even When Loose 19:16 Why The Photographs Look Odd 19:36 Fair About Acrylic 19:57 Still Turning Up 20:18 Shrunken Tops, Nineteen Ninety Something 20:37 Two Of The Four 20:55 On The Rails This Autumn 21:15 Watermelon Red 21:35 Celine To Ralph Lauren 21:58 The Pretend Layer Made Real 22:18 A Runway Is Not A Closet 22:37 Hold It To The Light 22:56 Check The Length 23:16 The Tag Inside 23:36 The Thrift Shop Rail 23:56 The Dickey Today 24:16 Caring For A Thin Knit 24:35 Fourteen, Or Three 24:56 The Palette Still Here 25:18 The Summer Dress Trick 25:38 Under A Shirt 25:57 Under A Cardigan 26:15 At Work, The Blazer Way 26:35 Silk For The Evening 26:54 What The Pieces Add Up To 27:15 The Order Of Things 27:35 A Collar And Two Cuffs 27:53 The Question You Came With 28:11 The Picture People Laugh At 28:32 Thin, Snug, Long, Under 28:51 One Minute At The Mirror 29:12 Catalogue Or Needles 29:31 The Box On The Windowsill