Tonic Woven Trevira material that looked two different colours when viewed in different directions. Normally the following colours; green/brown, pink/purple or blue/black. Ideal for those short of money who wanted to make it look like they had more clothes, as long as they walked backwards sometimes! (Early 70’s)You could buy Trousers, skirts, and jackets all made out of this unusual looking material.
I always loved the weird effects this had when people were in the sun, as sometimes it looked like people were wearing two skirts or trousers. I tend to remember that they were not comfortable trousers to wear, I recall having the material occasionally pull against the hairs on my legs.
But this was the 1970s, no need to worry about pain, when you can put yourself into the heart of the school ground fashion. So many of us would wear the tonic trousers around the schoolyard and act like prize Peacocks. Did it really look that bad?
The “must have” tonic item of clothing for girls was the tonic fan pleat skirt. This was a short tight skirt with a pleat fitted in the back of the skirt so that you could actually move your legs and was the height of school girl fashion in the early 70s.
Towards the end of the 1970s, tonic suits were the suits to wear. The Gary Numan style of suits, with shiny trousers and jackets, which were perfectly OK as long as you did not move. The moment you sat down, the material seemed to crease and look bad. So people would look like statues at parties, trying not to spoil the image of being so cool by moving.
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