$22 for apples

Ah, what the fashionable toddler was wearing in 1973! (Thanks dad for writing the date on the back.) I believe this fetching red number is a top-and-pants combo, in red knit, accessorised with colour-coordinated lace-ups. My sister is undoubtedly wearing a polyester mini, and her legs are clad in the double fashion crime of white ribs and open-toe sandals! Gold.

What makes me most nostalgic are the hairpins we are both wearing: enamelled apples. Who else remembers those? They also came in cherries, and I recall my sister and I used to wrestle over them. Sometimes she would win (being a brute) through sheer strength, but very often the baby of the family got her way (moi). Sadly these hairpins disappeared along with my baby fat.

Imagine my joy when a few years ago whilst browsing in a vintage boutique on Barkly Street in St Kilda, I discovered hanging behind the counter a large card to which were pinned ten pairs of apple hairpins! When I excitedly questioned the salesgirl, she informed me that these were the original seventies hairpins, imported from Germany, and no, she regretfully told me, they didn’t have the cherry ones. I immediately bought a pair for $22 – a bit steep, but no cost is too high for recaptured youth.

Here they are:

Their only design flaw is that the apples pinned to the right side of my head will always be upside down. A small price to pay.