Straight Out Of Dartford

JUNE MCMENEMY - PART 2

STRAIGHT OUT OF DARTFORD

BY SHANNON RANDALL

We are back with the second part of my conversation with June McMenemy. If you issed June McMenemy- Part 1, check it out online in last month’s edition of Dartford Living. This time we are discussing the ups and downs of 60’s fashion!

As a gift for taking part in the photograph for the shop opening -shown below-, the girls were given a pair of tights which June now finds mildly amusing but added that in those days were really quite expensive. It seemed to be cheaper to buy tights from the market despite the slight drawback that came with it…“If you were really unlucky, you would get a pair of rejects that had different sized legs or they would come with big holes in or something. It was just the luck of the draw!” Not only were they expensive, but they weren’t as stretchy as the ones we have the privilege of wearing today and their colour at the time was largely ‘American tan’ (a funny off-coffee colour.) However, tights in the 60’s were seen as a move towards freedom for women and even a show of youthfulness which I think makes them a crucial element of 60’s fashion.

When conversing with June, I couldn’t help but mention that suit that she is sporting in the photo which led us to the topic of womens trousers and suits. “It’s surprising actually, I’ve had quite a few comments back on Facebook of people saying ‘oh I had that suit, but I had it in a different colour.’ The one I had was a funny sort of camel colour and I’ve had somebody else come up and say they had it in teal and someone else say another colour. It obviously hit the spot with some people...If you wanted a pair of jeans back then, you had to buy mens jeans and it was a case of sitting in the bath to shrink them!” Compare that to the sheer amount of choice women have with jeans and other bottoms nowadays and it is quite overwhelming!

Boom Radio’s campaign with June’s photograph is being shown on billboards all across the UK and if you keep an eye out you may just see it for yourself before it comes to a close. June luckily managed to catch a glimpse of her photograph on one of the billboards in Manchester, saying “I went to Manchester and I was amazed at the size of the billboards! I said ‘Oh my gosh! I didn’t expect it to be that size!” She did travel up to London with her grandchild to try and spot it in Oxford Circus, but sadly wasn’t able to find it, so if you are out and about and do see it flash up, take a pic and send it in so we can forward it to June herself!

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