Interview Transcript:
Ambar Beltran (AB): Hi, my name is Ambar Beltran, and today I am interviewing Betty and Clyde Hill on their nineteen-sixties fashion.
Betty Hill (BH): I’m Betty Hill and I’ll try to answer all I can remember. Some of them was wild.
Clyde Hill (CH): And I’m Clyde Hill and I’ll try to remember all that I can and…
AB: Could you describe what type of clothing you wore in the nineteen-sixties? What do you remember wearing?
CH: Well, I wore overalls pants with a white string in the back like a shoestring and flannel shirt or like a t-shirt with stripes around the sleeves and things like that.
BH: I wore a skirt with a sweater or a nice blouse.
AB: I know there was an enormous change in fashion from the nineteen-fifties to the nineteen-sixties. How did you feel about this change in clothing?
BH: [There wasn’t] really a lot of difference. I think all the girls, we, if one changed to a new style, the other girls tried to follow her and stay in fashion.
CH: And we wore penny loafers for shoes and then some of them wore the square-toe boots.
AB: So, what do you think your favorite garment was, and why was it your favorite garment at the time?
BH: I guess the skirts and the sweaters. Of course, we also liked the little pants that come down (motions to area around midcalf).
AB: Like crop pants.
BH: Yeah, the crop pants. And we also liked the…the penny loafers. No, not the penny loafers, the oxfords. The brown and white shoes. We liked those pretty good.
AB: Did those have heels on them?
BH: (nods) Mhmm.
CH: (whispers) [You] wore them with socks.
BH: And we wore them with socks! Oh, yes! The little white socks come up just above your ankles.
AB: Did you have a favorite outfit, Clyde? (CH shakes head)…So, did you guys have access to a television, newspapers, magazines, or any other types of media?
BH: We had TV.
AB: Do you remember seeing any shows or advertisements on the TVs or like the newspapers and stuff?
BH: No, they didn’t advertise clothes too much right then like we do. I guess it was more mouth to mouth. Girls talking…You know…And getting together.
AB: Do you think your style was influenced by the media or, you know, what other people told you about fashion?
BH: What people told [and] showed you. That was my idea.
AB: What about you, Clyde?
CH: And you’d see something on TV and get an idea from that.
AB: Do you remember any actors or actresses that were really popular around this time…like Audrey Hepburn?
CH: Yeah, we remember Audrey Hepburn.
BH: Yeah, we watched them.
CH: And Marilyn Monroe.
BH: Marilyn Monroe. John Wayne. Yeah, we liked…westerns we liked those pretty good.
CH: And the Lone Ranger.
AB: And, do you think that seeing those shows or movies and looking at these actors and actresses influenced your style, your fashion?
CH: Yeah, some it did. And I know they had Lash LaRue and he carried a whip and Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.
BH: …I was trying to think…at that time…
AB: It’s okay if you can’t remember…So do you think that your professions or your beliefs influenced what you wore? Like maybe you believed that people needed to be more modest, or something like that, so you wore clothing that represented that? Or, you (to CH) worked in the coal mines, right? Do you think that maybe your fashion was influenced by that?
CH: Well, if you seen somebody wearing something that you thought looked nice you had to go get it. You know, if you could find it. Now, mostly what we wore was just overall pants and flannel shirts. Stuff like that.
AB: Comfier styles, right?
CH: (nods) Mhmm.
BH: I always wore modest, modest clothes. I never did wear real short shorts or something like that. I always wore nice, long shorts. I never did wear short skirts.
AB: So my next question is about Vietnam, and I wanted to know if the war in Vietnam affected how you or those around you dressed or how you thought clothing? Like maybe if the economy wasn’t all that great during this time, or…an example would be like…the hippies…[and] how they protested against the war.
CH: Yeah, well, really…I didn’t think that people…You know, they ought to support the soldiers and not protest, and that caused divisions because it hurts the people that’s out fighting the war. [That’s] my feeling on it. And I believe you ought to always support your country.
AB: But, do you think that affected…[I mean] the war itself and everything surround it, do you think affected how people dressed?
CH: Well, it’s a possibility. I don’t really know.
AB: I mean, like, in this area. If you remember. It’s okay if you don’t. Like, do you remember seeing hippies around?
CH: Oh, yeah. I seen hippies. BH: Oh yeah… CH: And I seen…Yeah, they dressed different than we did. And you know, they had long hair and some of them had big sideburns. And I guess, I never did go for that, though.
AB: So, there were also the rights for people of color and women around this time. Do you think these movements may have affected your personal fashion or the people around you as well? You kind of answered a little bit of this (to BH). You didn’t wear the shorter skirts or that sort of thing. Did you wear pants or anything like that?
BH: Oh, I wore long pants, but I don’t think it was…
AB: It wasn’t because of the movements?
BH: …movements. No.
AB: I only have a few more questions left. So, do you remember seeing any protest around the area?
CH: Oh, yeah, we saw protests. BH: We seen protests.
AB: Could you describe some of these?
CH: Well, you know people just get out and say things against the war and hollering stuff. Yeah, there was protests.
AB: Did anything stick out what these people wore that was maybe different from what you wore or what other people wore?
CH: No, I didn’t pay any attention much to the difference.
AB: We have a few questions about space exploration. What were your thoughts on space exploration at the time?
CH: I thought it was a good idea to explore space, but you know some of the older people didn’t think that they was really going to the moon. My mother thought that they was landing that spaceship in the desert. She said she didn’t believe that they went to the moon.
BH: It was hard for the older, real older people, to think that anything like that could go on.
CH: They said that you couldn’t go to the moon. They didn’t think you could, like somebody born around nineteen-hundred. They didn’t think you could go to the moon, but I thought it was a good idea to explore space and get the satellites up and stuff so that we know what’s going on about the weather and everything…where you get to have TV off of them and keep up with events that’s going on.
AB: And so, do you think the space age influenced maybe what you saw in magazines and advertisements or commercials, that sort of thing?
CH: Yeah, I think it influenced it.
AB: Did you see, like maybe for women, I guess futuristic sort of styles come into play, or for men as well? Like metal…
BH: Well, yeah. It had to influence things. It had to influence a lot of things in the country all the way around ‘cause it changed a lot of things.
AB: So, I thought of one more question to ask you guys. Did you see a big difference in fashion from the start of the nineteen-sixties to the end of the nineteen-sixties around the seventies?
CH: Yeah, you could see a big change. BH: You could see a big, big change.
AB: And, could you describe some of these changes?
CH: Well, they just made the clothes different. Like them Levi’s and stuff we wore then had big legs.
AB: Bellbottoms?
CH: Well, they weren’t exactly bellbottoms, but maybe in the last of sixties it was. Some people rolled them up, and they put their cigarette ashes down in them, you know, when they smoked. Which I never did smoke. The shirt design change some, and coats.
BH: Materials got better. Just fabric and everything changed, you know. Just better all the way around.
CH: (whisper) Wore a lot of polyester.
BH: A lot of polyester, right.
CH: No iron. BH: No iron.
AB: Did you see a difference in like the colors of fabrics?
BH: Oh, yes. CH: Yeah, you’d see…Yeah, [they] made it brighter. BH: Brighter. Just a lot of better things. CH: And more colors.
AB: More colors and more prints too, right?
BH and CH: (nod) Mhmm.
AB: I really enjoyed my time interviewing you two.
CH: Well, it was good to be here. BH: Enjoyed it, darling. CH: Not used to that, but we was glad to do it, though.
AB: Thank you so much!