FLS spring fashion model remembers fishnets and Dippity-do

FLS spring fashion model remembers fishnets and Dippity-do

I was a fashion model once — "once" as in one time, a long time ago.

I débuted and retired on the same day, March 25, 1969, in the The Free Lance–Star spring fashion edition.

The Free Lance–Star published an annual advertising section featuring Fredericksburg-area residents wearing clothes from area businesses.

The 1969 edition invited readers to "Preview spring in the pages of The Free Lance–Star, then see it in the stores all over Fredericksburg."

I appeared on the left side of a "trim trio" on Page 15 of the day’s 16-page newspaper. My fellow models were Lynne Johnson and Dwight Carr. I’d never seen them before, and, as far as I know, I’ve never seen them again. I am guessing their modeling careers were as brief as mine.

The fashion shoot took place in the community room of the newspaper office on 616 Amelia St.

The edition, delivered with the daily afternoon newspaper, enticed readers with drawings, photographs and articles. One article took on the topic of women’s "foundation garments" including long-legged panty girdles to "solve thigh problems and pave the way for pantsuits." No visuals accompanied the article.

Some advertisements featured dress-up clothes for Easter. Quite a few girls wore white gloves.

Nelson Brooks and Barry Fitzgerald, FLS staff photographers, took the photos of the locals.

The teen models came from James Monroe, Stafford and Spotsylvania high schools with cooperation of school staff, Mrs. Mildred Chick, Mrs. Ruth Smith and Mrs. Betty Sacra.

I was only an eighth-grader at Walker–Grant Middle School, so I don’t know how I was volunteered, but my dad, Curt Miller, was a news editor and I often tagged along to the office when he worked after-hours, so I guess I was such a familiar presence that someone thought to include me.

Like the other models, I was assigned to represent a specific store: Mine was Grant’s, a department store at 925 Caroline St., on the corner of William Street (now River Run Antique Mall). For many years, Caroline and adjacent streets were the only shopping areas in town. By 1969, a couple of shopping centers had opened just west of town: Fredericksburg Shopping Center at the bottom of a hill on the U.S. 1 Bypass, and Fredericksburg Park and Shop (now Eagle Village), at the top. Grant’s advertised a second store at Fredericksburg Shopping Center, but I have a trace of a memory of going to the downtown store to pick up the dress I would wear. (See photo for the choice, a classic one-piece dress with a black-and-white checked vest.)

Grant’s was hardly high-end fashion. The newspaper advertised Grant’s women’s dresses for sale between $7.99 and $11.99.

Given a choice, eighth-graders wouldn’t seek out budget deals, but I liked that dress. I would have worn it again if I hadn’t had to give it back right away.

I liked the white fishnet tights I wore, too; lots of middle-school girls wore them. We had mandatory school dress codes banning pants, so tights were often paired with our skirts and dresses.

I am guessing that the shoes might have been soft suede-type Hush Puppies from Leggett Department Store at 1010 Caroline St.

The hairstyle—with that sweeping face-covering curl—came from Dippity–do, a pink (or green) gel in a jar. Lots of us used it. We’d shape the hair, then crisscross pink hair tape over top of that curl to set it all in place overnight. It smelled good, too.

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