Tuesday, August 17, 2010

When Summers Sizzled

When I was about 12-13 years old, my mother made me an outfit that we referred to as a "sizzler."  It was a very short* dress with matching panties sewn from the same fabric.  When people see pictures of me wearing the thing, they say, "What the heck were you wearing?"  I respond, "A sizzler" as if everyone should know what a sizzler was.  Like, "Duh, a sizzler?"  Yet, I still get the same blank looks.  Jeesh, doesn't everyone know what a sizzler was?  My cherished sizzler was made out of a slippery, yet sort of puffy jersey knit with colorful math symbols all over it - well, +'s and x's anyway.  (*Please note the length of my mother's culottes and my sister's shorts.  I wasn't the only one wearing short stuff in those days.) 

While looking at vintage patterns the other day, I came across what I believe is the very pattern my mother used for this outfit... and lo and behold - it was infamously labeled, "the sizzler!"  Sure, there were plenty of hotpants patterns in the early 70s, but this brazen little pattern sought to take things one step further and turn the hotpants into bikini bottoms!  Imagine!  And obviously, since so few people seem to know what a sizzler is, it didn't catch on... except for a few of us brazen tweens.

19 comments:

  1. U Look sooo hot !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Any more pictures of U in your sizzler dress??? please??????????????????

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  2. Oh, the blasted anonymity of the internet! Who is this??? No, no more pictures of me in my sizzler unless you tell me who you are!

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  3. Looks like anonymous has no nerve, I remember those dresses way back in 72-73 when I was in high school,My high school girlfriend had 4 diffrent sizzlers, she almost always wore one whenever we went out on a date,and always looked hot in hers,just like you of course,dont be offended please...and may I have the privlage of asking if you can post more photos of you in your sizzlers...best wishes........

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  4. Ah ha ha! So sorry to report that the only media left of me in that sizzler is video converted from super 8 and it's of me vamping on the hood of my brother's car. ...and no, I will not be posting that any time soon. I'm pretty amazed that I had the nerve to wear that thing, but it was a different time - mini skirts and hot pants were all the rage.

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    1. Wow are the memories rolling now! In 1975, as a 7th grade student in California I wore a sizzler dress that my mom bought for me. It was button front, white pointed collar with matching cuffs on the long sleeves. Cute, colorful 70's print polyester fabric. Very very short with the matching panty, of course! I loved the dress, felt fab in it and wore it often. Thanks for the nudge down memory lane!

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  5. "Vamping huh???",....whatever,Your so right !972-73 was a very diffrent time,fashions like that were the in thing back then,my wife remembers the sizzlers back then to. She didnt get one..she was just too shy!!!Thanks for bringing back an almost forgotten memory,and maybe if theres anyone out there that has old pictures of them in thier sizzlers??....... Best wishes.

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  6. WOW!
    I had 2 of these, bought in 1971 & 72, at a department store! ;-)
    One with short sleeves, cream background with small light blue flowers, and the other was kind of a rust color with a white, yellow and pink floral pattern, white cuffs and collar! <3
    BOTH with matching panties, of course! I wore one or the other to school and/or church 2 or 3 days a week most of the year, even in the snow - Boots, with wool tights (until I got to school *wink*).
    Always with pantyhose (my mom said "Proper young ladies don't go out with bare legs!" - actually a form of contraception, in my opinion), and either my tan sandals or a pair of white knee boots!
    Sadly, mom sent them to Goodwill sometime in the 80's, and now that I'm back in shape, I wished she had kept them!
    I look for pictures of me wearing either of them, to show the kids, but no luck, in 'full length view', at least! :-(
    Thanks for the memory - You were CUTE! ;-)

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  7. Since this post, I have seen more sizzler patterns and a print ad from a department store for sizzlers. They were definitely the hot item for a couple of seasons in the early 70s. Thanks for sharing your sizzler memories! Boots with wool tights? I never thought of that!

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  8. I remember sizzlers well. I had two of them. One was a silky rapsberry with tiny white hearts all over, and the other was a slightly ribbed satin - royal blue with red and white stars - that one had the long sleeves and collar. I can't believe any of us wore anything that short, but I LOVED those sizzlers.

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  9. Glad to see there were more sizzler lovers than just me. Since this post I have seen other sizzler references and patterns from the early 70s, so I guess they were more common than I originally remembered. Well skirts and dresses are once again THAT short - only minus the matching panties...

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  10. Hello ! I'm new here. I have been looking for a picture of the type of 1970's Sizzler my mum made me. They all had built~in chokers. Any pictures of them would be great ! I loved my Sizzlers!

    Blessings!

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  11. Wow, that's a new take on the sizzler - a built in choker? Sounds like a 70s innovation, but I've never seen one. Good luck finding a picture of one!

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  12. I was a teenage boy in 1971-1973 and I certainly remember what a sizzler dress was and I loved them, so much so that I never forgot what they were. Boy, were they sexy. Those were the GOOD old days!

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  13. I had two of them, a pink one and a really colorful print...

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  14. isn't it interesting how the moral pendulum swings. If a parent let her daughter wear one of these today they would probably be arrested.

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  15. Well, apparently you haven't been in any middle or high schools lately... nothing is left to the imagination at times. But I agree with you in amazement that I even wore that thing and that my own mother made it for me! So completely out of character for my family or for me if you knew us now.

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  16. I remember the Sizzler well! My older sister had several and I was the same size as her so I decided to wear one to school one day. I was in the 6th grade, and let's just say the school wasn't pleased by it, at all! The funny thing was that it was not actually illegal for me to wear! The dress code said that as long as the skirt reached fingertip length it was ok to wear, and I have VERY short arms! lol. They did however send a note home requesting a little more skirt in future.

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  17. I'm reading Prince's book The Beautiful Ones. In it he speaks of a girlfriend during his school days in the 70s wearing sizzlers. Being a Millennial, I had no clue what he meant (thankfully he explained it). I wanted to see a picture of one so I Googled it and ended up here.

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Lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet-
But the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.

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