On clothes
Mrs. Margaret Thatcher the battling new MP for Finchley, opened the National Children's Wear Association trade fair in London yesterday.
And she said a few words to ruffle the 300 buyers and manufacturers there
Some of her points:
* School clothes. “My pet aversion is the high collar and tie which headmistresses insist is the proper school wear for small girls.”
* Play clothes: “What parents look for is value. What they don't want is fabrics of such inferior quality that they rub delicate skins.”
* Special occasion clothes: “I have twins, Mark Thatchera boy and Carol Thatchera girl. When they were younger I searched high and low for brother and sister outfits and finally had to buy on the Continent.”
[end p1](2) Birmingham Post, 10 May 1960:
Woman M.P.'s Simplified Clothing Sizes Plea
Mrs Margaret Thatcher, M.P. for Finchley, a barrister and the mother of seven-year-old twins, opened the Junior Fashion Fair in London yesterday.
She said that once school age is reached parents have little choice in what their children wear for a large part of the time. She thought that a visit to such a fair might encourage the disappearance of some of the uglier items of schoolwear.
She made a strong plea for better and more understandable sizing codes, pointing out that even if these were unintelligible to the buying public at least sales assistants should be able to explain them clearly to the purchaser.
She urged manufacturers to continue to concentrate their energies in producing washable clothes in every category of a child's wardrobe in preference to garments that needed cleaning, and to try to find some alternative to what she feels are the ugly striped pyjamas which appear to be the only nightwear available for small boys.