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Fashions from the ’60s and today

It’s senior year for Taylor Bryson. She walks through the front doors of West, her flip-flops softly clicking

behind her, and is immediately bom-barded with the new styles and trends for the fall of 2009. As she and her fellow students walk the halls, their eyes fall upon the fads of skinny jeans with flats and sundresses matched with boots. “We read our magazines and watch TV to see what’s becoming popular, so as the styles change, we change with them,” Bryson said. “I think in pop culture we’ve really branched out and become diverse. We’re learn-ing how to do our own thing and put our own spin on trends.” Pop culture is constantly changing. When popular stores change their style of clothing or celebrities walk the red carpet in new dresses, teens instantly change their style and clothes to fit in with the rest of the fashion world. “It doesn’t take but one person to influence a trend. When celebrities wear something new to the Grammy Awards, the next day everybody goes out and buys it,” Bryson said. “Ev-eryone in high school wants to fit in, but there’s always someone doing something new and stepping out to be bold.” Pop culture from previous de-cades has been very different from the 2000s. From the disco age that characterized the 1970s to the grunge era that dominated the 1990s, each decade has had a signature focus. Bryson said that although the miscel-laneous 2000s lack a main icon, trends and fads from prior years have come together to create an ideal decade. “In the ’90s everyone wore giant T-shirts and stirrup pants. In the ’80s,

they had bleached-out jeans and two-tone jeans,” Bryson said. “Now we have many different views on pop cul-ture. There are lots of different things coming together to make the 2000s good.” While every decade has some-thing that represents it, there are always trends that continue to stay “in style” or come back every 10 to 20 years. Pop music that developed in the ’80s has stayed on iPods throughout the years along with the ’60s rock ’n’ roll CDs that have accumulated in the cabinets of the typical American household. “A lot of the music that was popular from earlier years is pretty

much the same as it is now,” Bryson said. “I personally listen to a lot of alternative stuff, but we have groups of people that like rock and groups that like rap.” Since the 1950s popular television show I Love Lucy, tele-vision and movies have changed throughout the years. The develop-ment of television over

time has not only strongly influenced pop culture, but society as well. “I can sum up the difference in television shows now and then in one word. Sex. In the ’50s you’re never go-ing to see innuendoes and now it’s in everything we see,” Bryson said. “Ev-erything has just kind of turned into something that’s a little more mature. There are so many more bad things on television now.” As prior styles are frequently be-ing brought back, Bryson said West has gained an eclectic group of students who choose to be unique individuals. “If we come back 20 years from now, we won’t see just one thing that represents our pop culture. When you think ’60s, you automatically think hippies, but we’re so diverse now that we don’t just have one perspective,” Bryson said. “We have a lot of views now and different things we like.”

Senior shares views on trends

Bryson’s grandfather reflects on 1960s

Senior’s mother remembers 1980s

Tanya Smith Bryson woke every morning at 5 a.m. to the sound of her buzzing alarm clock. Armed

with cans of hairspray to perfectly tease her hair, she dressed in the latest styles from Seventeen magazine Bryson, the mother of current senior Taylor Bryson, attended West in the late 1980s. “I was very conscious and aware of what the trends were. I was very much a follower,” Bryson said. “It was important to me to have a lot of friends and know what was going on. For me it was maybe more important than it should have been.” Bryson graduated with honors in 1991 and had an active so-cial life. Even though she enjoyed her high school years, she said having to transfer from Hendersonville High School at the start of her junior year wasn’t easy. It was difficult for Bryson at first, but she made lasting friendships during her time at West. “There were parts that I enjoyed; there were parts I’m glad I don’t have to do over again, but overall I would say I enjoyed high school,” Bryson said. “My best friend from high school is still my best friend now. We had a lot of good memories and a lot of fun.” Music from Bryson’s high school days was dominated by the rock genre, full of ’80s bands such as Def Leppard, Metallica and Guns ’n’ Roses. Besides the prevailing rock bands of the time, country music began making its way into the mainstream. “The big country music move-ment was more popular towards the end of high school when I graduated,” Bryson said. “I went to concerts for Skid Row, Van Halen and such.” The political events taking place while Bryson attended high school

were becoming evident in pop culture and even making their way into the curriculum at school. In the 1980s, Geraldine Ferraro was the first female vice presidential candidate. Bryson participated in frequent debates and discussions about the election while in school. “It was just a big push that started even though it had been going on for a while, but it was a push for women to have a higher position in politics,” Bryson said. “More equality for women was making a big impact on politics and the work force.” Bryson and her friends frequented movie theaters in the time they were at West and thought of movies as cutting

edge. Bryson said today’s movies have come a long way from the films of the ’80s. “My kids love to watch the old ’80s movies and laugh because they are so cheesy, but back then they seemed really advanced,” Bryson said. “Compared to what we have now, it’s not even close.” Fashion from

Bryson’s high school years in the late ’80s is beginning to make a comeback among teens today with skinny jeans, flats and leggings. The styles of the ’80s and the 2000s have many similarities. The major difference is the lack of “big hair” today. “Fashion trends weren’t that dif-ferent than they are now,” Bryson said. “The skinny leg jeans and tunic-style shirts have come back around. The trends have kind of come full circle.” Pop culture from Bryson’s high school days shares a lot with the fads of today. “Things have progressed in a lot of ways. In the last 20 or so years, we’ve gone through many fads and now a lot have come back again,” Bryson said. “A lot of the styles are like what we wore in the ’80s, so it is not that much different. It’s funny how pop culture in the 2000s has so many elements from when I was in school.”

On a Saturday night in 1967, the majority of West students, including Ray Bryson, grandfather of current senior Taylor Bryson, could be found

eating a hamburger at Brock’s or watching the latest box office hit at the Joy Drive-In Theater in their 1963 Chevrolets. “Dr. Zhivago, The Graduate, Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte — a lot of the girls liked that movie. I guess The Graduate was the most popular movie at the time it came out,” Bryson said. “It was one of the few movies I actually saw twice. I took one of my girlfriends to see it, and I liked it so much I took another one of my girl-friends to see it the next time.” In spite of the widely held notion that1960s fash-ion consisted entirely of hippies’ style, Bryson said the psychedelic fad didn’t reach the small town of Hendersonville until the early 1970s, with few excep-tions. “People were starting to show anti-war sentiment and anything that had to do with the Vietnam War; you were either for it or against it. People wore American flags, some of the other people wore the flags upside down; they had the peace symbols, the long hair, stuff like that was kind of trendy,” Bryson said. “It wasn’t really popular at West when I was here; I think in the early ’70s it became popular.” There have been some trends that have lost their original meaning throughout the years, such as having long hair. Now long hair is more of a fashion statement than the anti-war statement it represented in the ’60s, Bryson said. “A lot of guys were starting to let their hair grow long,

but it wasn’t that popular. We were still a bunch of red-necks around here and had a lot of patriotism,” Bryson said. “Most of the guys were really patriotic and they looked down on people with long hair; they were con-sidered to be hippies, anti-war. It wasn’t really popular to have long hair, but that changed really fast. I think a lot of the war sentiment had to do with Peter, Paul and Mary and the groups that were singing songs about the war.” The acceptance of context in the music listened to today is completely different from the acceptance in the ’60s. Many songs in the ’60s with suggestive lyrics were looked down upon. Now, according to Bryson, many people tolerate lyrics that may even go beyond suggest-ing and actually state an inappropriate message. “I think the moral standard of this country has really been lowered by the music. The songs that I hear today, like rap music, some of that stuff just turns your stom-ach,” Bryson said. “If you think about the music today, it’s really sad that our country is going down the drain really fast. I don’t like the way we’re headed with music; it’s just sad that we have to stoop that low.” Of all impacts on pop culture and life in general during the ’60s, the Vietnam War ruled, Bryson said. Most Americans knew someone in the war, and most wanted to do something about it. Some protested; others supported. Some fought; some burned draft cards. Some made it back home; some didn’t. “The Vietnam War definitely had a lot of impact on pop culture. I was so patriotic that I didn’t want anything to do with the groups that were anti-war,” Bryson said. “I did not like the anti-war groups, even though I loved Peter, Paul and Mary, but I could not like their songs that criticized the war. After I got involved in the military and saw the politics involved in it, I turned 180 degrees on my thinking about the war because it was such a waste.”

Mariah CaseNews Writer

Hailey JohnsNews Writer

Amy TaylorNews Writer

’50s•

’60s•

’70s•

’80s•

’90s•

2000s•

1. Leg warmers, boom boxes, scrunchies

2. iPods, Rainbow flip flops, vampire novels

3. Poodle skirts, cat eye glasses, drive-in movies

4. Furbies, Tamagatchi, snap bracelets

5. Pet Rocks, streaking, platform shoes

6. Lava lamps, British Invasion, mood rings

do you knowyour decades?

”

I feel that if we come back 20 years from now, we won’t see just one thing that represents our pop culture.

“Taylor Brysoncurrent senior ”

Fashion trends weren’t that different than they are now. The trends have kind of comefull circle.

“Tanya Smith Bryson

1991 graduate

Three generationsof family reflect on time

spent at West

Answers: 1.‘80s; 2. 2000s;3.‘50s; 4.‘90s; 5.‘70s; 6.‘60s

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