Photos from the Vault

1963 Junior Matron Fashion Show

It was touted as clothes suited to San Luis Obispo from local stores.The photo is of Mrs. Robert Montgomery at the Jr. Matrons fashion show.  My guess is the event was held at the Veterans Hall in San Luis Obispo judging from the light fixtures in one photo.The Junior Matrons, that name wouldn’t make it today. I wince when the clerk calls me sir.The fashion photos ran in the paper a few days after the event but the day of the fashion show the front page of the paper had one of the iconic horrific images of the Vietnam War. The Roman Catholic Diem regime of South Vietnam had killed Buddhist protest demonstrators in the spring and a series of monks had self immolated in flaming gasoline over the summer. This was the sixth. Ngo Dinh Diem had been installed by the west to fight the communists but was unpopular with the majority Buddhist population. The media’s understanding of the region was so poor at this point that the story did not include the monk’s name.America had not yet committed its full strength to the war. In a matter of weeks Lyndon Johnson would be elevated to the presidency after the murder of John F. Kennedy and he would decide to accelerate involvement in the war.