This seems to be a thread for the ladies among us, but here's a bit of male input:

When I went to Maidenhead County Grammar School in the late forties and early fifties, we were forced to buy and wear the official school uniform, a grotesque purple and gold creation with a very silly cap. If you were seen going to or from school without it, it was caning time. The girls' Grammar School, (on the opposite side of town of course), had similarly gross uniforms (but with skirts).
To be seen talking to one of the girls while in uniform would produce serious repercussions, even expulsion. How's that for segregation!

I don't remember much about our dress codes, since we had little money for such luxuries as new clothes, and rarely got close enough to a girl to check out her hair (let alone anything else), but I distinctly remember the "Teddy Boys". They were the bad (rock & roll) kids, who had velvet lapels on their jackets, "DA's" (duck's *rse hairstyles) all brylcreamed and shiny, "drainpipe" trousers and "winkle-pickers" (pointed Italian shoes). They used to sew fishhooks behind their lapels, so if anyone grabbed them threateningly, they got a handful of hooks. Not pleasant people.

You got new toys twice a year if you were lucky (Christmas and Birthday), and I remember my pocket money going up to sixpence a week (about 2 cents?).

Yes indeed, those were the days! - Or were they?