Oh, my, things have changed here!

What happened to the "old Israel?"
Where did the informal Israeli with the sloppy haircut, khaki shorts, "kova tembel" and flat sandals with the simple straps disappear to?

Years ago, Israeli styles were... best left undescribed.
Clothes were rather uniform.

"Dressing up," for both men and women, meant wearing a white shirt.

There were no "end of the year sales."
At a certain date, the season's clothes were put in storage, and then a few months later they were brought back out. If there was a change, it was only the price-- gone up, of course!

Everything was practical and made to last. An entire family could put its possessions in closets smaller than what you see in children's bedrooms today.

In the windows of popular clothing stores, you'd see sleeveless dresses, with matching sleeves pinned to the sides, for women who wore sleeves. It was no big deal to get them sewn on.

When my children were little, their grandmothers and other American relatives bought them all of their clothes. They wore Carter's and Healthex, just like the little kids on Long Island. The orders for new clothes were carefully written on the aerogrammes I sent every week. There was nothing to buy here for kids that could compare. How did regular Israeli mothers manage without "babygrows" which easily snapped open, or overalls which did the same?

When my daughter was pregnant with her first, my mother called and asked what to bring. I said: "Nothing, we have everything here, and they're beautiful and reasonably priced."

Now, I'm the grandmother, and I buy lots of clothes for my grandchildren. The other grandmother does, too. Things have sure changed here.