Local Life

Retro Rumson Boys of Spring Dancing & Madras Mayhem

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Rumson boys ready for some dancing in 1973
Photo/courtesy of Bill Dey via Facebook

If there’s any way to summon the spring sun, it’s with some 70s madras fashion. That’s the way they did the spring dance in Rumson in 1973.

The B-52s’ Dance This Mess Around might have been the song that summoned these dudes in that pre-dance line-up, if only it had been released, much less written by that year. But, to be fair, they weren’t a real mess, more like a mass mess of blinding color and pattern.

They were all-the-rage 70s dapper in that preppy, bright tartan plaid look made for not only warm weather but true Rumsonites. “Yes, indeed, a madras fashion statement from Clayton & Magee,” Bill Dey, a dude in the crew (guess which) said. And a fashion statement they were. Let’s put it this way: Where there was madras, sear sucker, topsiders and bright colors, there were Rumsonites, no matter the age.

To be fair, these boys had no clue at the time that they were trending … and clearly stylin. They were just that 70s pre-dance fashion show after a harried raid with their mamas to, yes, good ol’ Clayton & Magee in Red Bank. Remember that must store for the coolest? There was Kislin’s for Levis and those cords, topsiders and duck boots, too. How about those thin gold clasp belts that were a preppy must for girls’ khakis at Rumson Roulette?

But we digress … It’s not just about fashion, even though it’s pretty preppy forward in this snapshot. It’s about springtime and that dance in this Retro Pic of the Day.

Never mind the style hit among these Rumson friends, fabulous as it is. Let’s put some context to this pic with a little imagination and some truth or dare. Who in this crew do you think got the first middle school slump slow dance with the coolest girl? Last dance? Hmmmmm … Girls?

Now, we know who these madras-clad boys of Rumson are. Do you? They’re still friends. Now, that’s something to dance about. But, what would they wear now? And who gets the slump slow dance more than 50 years later?

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