NOSTALGIA: Boston girls ‘go mad’ for maxi-scarves in 1970

“It’s not enough simply to wear a maxi-coat to be in the fashion swim these days – a swinging yards-long maxi-scarf must complete the outfit,” The Standard wrote this week in 1970.
By David Seymour
Published 29th Jan 2020, 12:00 BST

The mammoth woollies were proving popular in Boston at the start of the Seventies.

Doreen Pick, manageress of Bellman’s Scotch Wool Shop, in Strait Bargate, said: “The girls are going mad for them. We’ve sold about 200 sets in the last fortnight!”

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The kit comprised 12 balls of double knitting wool, an enormous pair of maxi-knitting pins, and a special pattern given away by the firm.

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Carolyn Potts, assistant in Belman's Scotch Wool Shop, at work on a maxi scarf in January 1970.Carolyn Potts, assistant in Belman's Scotch Wool Shop, at work on a maxi scarf in January 1970.
Carolyn Potts, assistant in Belman's Scotch Wool Shop, at work on a maxi scarf in January 1970.

The pattern gave instructions for not only the scarf but for a pert ear-hugging cap to match.

Mrs Pick said: “I’ve never known anything to catch on quite like this before. All our branches are promoting it and it’s just as popular at all of them.

“It’s not just girls with maxi coats who are knitting the scarves either. If you wear a mini-coat you simply wrap it round your neck a few times to shorten it!”.

Related topics:Nostalgia