70s Icons for Hostel Dwellers

While we are on the subject of hostel life - notwithstanding that I stayed at a differest hostel altogether - I'd like to share a few memories with all of you.

Remember perennial Adidas Stan Smith? What about that pair of hardy Lee Chetopa Twill? And those wonderful Fruit of the Loom T-shirts that came in a few hundred colours? Remember these icons of the 70s? I suspect you do, even though we can't find these these in the local shopping mall anymore. Isn't this a shame?

OK, I'll admit that we will no longer look as good in Chetopa Twills and Fruit of the LoomT-shirt like we once did (frankly, they were never designed to fit anyone with a 42-inch waistline), I still miss them. I guess their nostalgic value far outweighs their aesthetic contribution to our present physique; for me, at least.

But looking back, these things weren't cheap, were they? I remember my first pair of Stan Smiths set me back a whopping RM60! And at RM80, my first Chetopa Twill broke my grandma's bank account. And these were 1976 prices! Unless I am badly mistaken, a clerk at Malaysian Airlines only earned RM175 a month back then. Do the maths, babe!

Now, some 30 years later, even with a reasonble job, all I can afford is the occasional RM10 shirt from the reject bin of FOS. And for the first time (this is maybe 30 years too late), it occurs to me, how did our parents afford to give us all those things?

Maybe they dealt drugs and did bank jobs when we weren't looking...