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Rememories of the Mexican Wedding Dress: Then & Now
March 17, 2010 Cheryl McMullen

Rememories of the Mexican Wedding Dress: Then & Now

I went to college in the early 80s.  It was the era of the Official Preppy Handbook, the era before the Material Girl and Fer Sure, Fer Sure. 

You remember it:

  • Sperry Topsiders,
  • Button-down Oxfords,  (collars up)
  • Madras plaid shorts, (pink & green)
  • Lacoste polos
  • and ribbon belts.
Yeah, I had them all except the plaid shorts.  I wore a plaid, flat-pleat skirt instead.  (pink & green) Oh, and the topsiders,  I had a pair ($45 gasp), but I would trade them off every now and then for a funky pair of cowboy boots. Well, long gone are my preppy days.  The only thing to stick was the cowboy boots.  That, and one other little item: the Mexican wedding dress.  Must have been a Texas thing because I don't remember the Mexican wedding dress being listed in "the" handbook.  For sure the boots weren't. We wore them on Fridays before there was such a thing as Casual Friday. So here I am, twenty-five plus years later.  My cowboy boot collection has grown and my Mexican wedding dresses don't fit because well, I've grown!  
No giggles, please - really, how many of you can still wear your college clothes?
Huh? Be Truthful.
Anyway, I still love Mexican wedding dresses and all of that wonderful ethnic embroidery.  So here are a couple of pictures of my Mexican wedding dresses....Then and Now:

My roommate Peggy and I, Baylor University, Spring 1981

.

sidenote: Peggy was my roommate in college and still is a very special person and friend.  I spent an hour on the phone today with her consulting and shopping for cowboy boots online.
See? - the boots do have staying power.
So if you see a couple of 'ol middle-agers running around in cowboy boots and Mexican Wedding dresses - that's us.  Same 'ol co-eds just a little more ....never mind, I won't go there. Thanks for the rememories.  I love you, Peggy! 
Filed in: Baylor University, button-down oxfords, Casual Friday, co-eds, college, Cowboys Don't Cry, early 80s, embroidery, ethnic embroidery, Fashion, Fer Sure Fer Sure, Friends, Inspiration, Locoste polos, madras plaid, Material Girl, Mexican Wedding Dress, middle-agers, Peggy, Presley, Rememories, ribbon belts, Sperry Top Siders, staying power, The Official Preppy Handbook
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Comments

Emily Inthachak - May 16, 2016

Cheryl did you have the Bermuda bag with the interchangeable covers too? I graduated from college in 81 and had the button down shirts, Sperrys and also Papagallo shoes with a big flower blossom on them. I also had ribbon belts in pink, green, navy, etc with turtle buckles, shell buckles, and teddy bear buckles. My mom made me a kind of accordian pleated skirt with green frogs and all my sorority sisters would borrow it to wear with the green Lacoste polos. I still have it in the cedar chest. I guess the Mexican wedding dress was a Texas thing. Very pretty though. I love the one in your summer collection. Very pretty picture of you and your roommate.

Cheryl - May 16, 2016

Oh yes, Ann, I do remember! – you and your Mexican dresses were quite the envy! Do you still have any?
…..and I promise, PROMISE, I will call you when I am in Houston so we can “do lunch”! Love you – C

Ann Debes Watkins - May 16, 2016

OMG Cheryl! Do I remember my mexican dresses? I had an entire wardrobe! In fact, my girlfriends and their moms made a special trip to Nuevo Laredo to haul them back before we went off to college! My favorite mexican dress story was that one day I was walking across Baylor campus (could have been a Friday…not sure…) and I saw my freshman roommate wearing one of MY mexican dresses! (no…she didn’t ask!) Today…I blame the fact that I wore them post-pregnancy for the fact that I can’t wear my college clothes! WHEN are you going to have lunch here in Houston with me (and Shawn)? As you may recall, we were roommates …however, she is NOT the one I caught wearing my mexican dress…she had her own stash!

Peggy Thompson - May 16, 2016

Cheryl Ann,

On my! You have made my day, dear friend!

And, I DO love my new Old Gringo boots. It’s amazing how much more “tude” you sport when you wear a good pair of boots!

Thanks for the wonderful influence – style and otherwise -that you have had on this old gringo’s life!

Love,

Peggy June

Emily Inthachak - May 16, 2016

The Bermuda bag was also made by Pappagallo. It had a wooden handle and reversible cloth covers with contrast piping. The covers were removable and you could change them to go with all your preppy outfits. Lilly Pulitzer makes them now.

Trina - May 16, 2016

Oh yes, I remember….the Mexican dress fever. But, I wasn’t in college, hmmm- I think the 8th grade maybe. HAHA- My dress was yellow -and I must say as much as I liked it, I absolutely love my Double D black Mexican dress even more!

Cheryl - May 16, 2016

Emily, I am laughing just remembering the belts, but I don’t remember the Bermuda bag – I’ll have to research that one….and I totally forgot about Papagallo! lol – so much fun memories!

Ann Debes Watkins - May 16, 2016

Sadly…no…they were thread bare and went to that landfill in the sky years ago….

Cheryl - May 16, 2016

Donna what was your maiden name? I was class of 83!

DonnaDill - May 16, 2016

Oh my gosh! how did I know you went to Baylor? (i’m class of ‘84) mexican dresses everywhere!! my favorite outfit was a pair of levi 501 button front jeans, a madras stripe polo button down, sometimes with a pink or purple polo under it and i had a pair of white beaded moccasins. I think i wore a variation of that at least 3 days a week, alternating with sweats or these horrible overalls! I still love a good madras plaid! and if i could find a mexican dress pretty as the ones from back then, i’d buy it on the spot! Sic ’em bears!

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