. Read the school magazine article about teenage fashions. Do you know how your grandparents used to dress when they were your age? I found out that until the 1940s, young people had just dressed like their parents, so there were no fashions specially for teenagers then. That’s really hard to imagine now, isn’t it?
A couple of days ago I was looking at some family photos and talking about them with my grandma. As a result of what I saw, I decided to look further into the history of fashions for young people. I discovered that in the late 40s and 50s, major changes were starting to take place. For one thing, people began to have a little more money to spend. Also, man-made materials like nylon were becoming really popular. So materials that people had worn until then, like wool and silk, soon fell out of fashion.
Another change was that teenagers going to college in the 50s began to wear casual sweaters and trousers, or tight skirts for women, instead of dressing more like their parents. In fact, that style of dress became almost like a uniform among young people. In America, it was the first time that the fashion industry had made clothes specially for teenagers. And in the UK, the Teddy Boy movement brought in the first fashion style just for teenagers. Men wore smart jackets and narrow trousers, with thin ties and brightly coloured socks. I even found a photo of my father dressed exactly in that style!
There were lots of interesting photos in the family album, but there was one that really caught my attention and I copied it and put it on my wall. It was of my grandma as a young woman, when she was walking with my grandfather arm in arm near the beach at the seaside. She was wearing a long, stylish ‘swing-back’ coat, a tight-waisted dress and a close-fitting hat. She looked incredibly smart and well-dressed, but not in the kind of clothes we’d consider suitable for the beach today!
Are the sentences True (T) or False (F)? If there isn’t enough information in the text, write Doesn’t Say (DS).
1. Lucy was surprised to discover that teenagers hadn’t always had their own particular style of dress.
2. The family photos that Lucy found were given to her by her grandma.
3. One factor that influenced what people wore in the 1940s and 50s was the wider range of materials available.
4. College students in the 1950s still continued to dress like the previous generation.
5. Lucy suggests that Teddy Boy fashions brought an important change in teenage styles in the UK.
6. In Lucy’s favourite photo, her grandfather was dressed in a similar smart style to her grandmother.
7. Wool and silk remained popular even after new materials had come along.
8. Lucy found evidence that her father had once dressed as a Teddy Boy.
1t 2ds 3t 4f 5 не знаю 6ds 7f 8t