Janet and I are not two women who are nostalgic about winter. We grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, a prairie city with winter temperatures regularly lower than the Russian Steppes. ("Please comrade, don't send me to Winnipeg -- I'll take Siberia!")
In fact, as children, the threat of winter began to loom as early as late September. That's when our mom made us start wearing 'leotards.'
Please don't confuse these thick woolen stockings with the fun and colorful leggings of today. This was the mid-1960s, when the Matrons of Design believed that any little girl who wore bright colors to school was in danger of becoming a Beatnik. There was a choice of brown...and brown. And the 'one-size-fits-all' nature of little girls' clothing meant that the crotch was mid-thigh by the time we walked the six blocks to Lord Selkirk Elementary.
Of course Janet and I begged our mom to let us wear knee-socks to school. (At least then we had a choice of green or red!) "Go stand in the porch and see what the weather is like," she always said. Well, the porch was a sagging, unheated add-on to our little house, with a linoleum floor as cold as ice. Hopping around in our nightgowns, we always wound up 'choosing' the leotards.
Mom was a smart cookie.
But what does this mean to the doll on the street? 1) February's La Boutique collection will have nothing to do with winter. 2) No doll will have to stand in an unheated porch to make her fashion selection.
