Ode to Units

I was looking at the swimsuits in Weirdgirl's bikini post and was reminded of something. On the "vintage" suit, the waist reminded me of a cummerbund I use to have to wear in junior high choir. I'd purchased it from a place called Units that was all the rage at the time.

Anyone else remember Units? It was modular clothing that was designed to be mix and match and sometimes the pieces were convertible. They didn't come in tons of colors - they were meant to be wardrobe foundations. For example, my red cummerbund - it could be a belt/cummerbund, or you could slide it down and stretch it into a tight mini skirt. Or you could slide it up and make it into a bandeau/tube top. Or even a cowl/scarf kind of thing. Or you could go all the way and just make it into a really tight, slutty, tube dress.

I did some research tonight and learned that the chain was sold to J.C. Penney. The designer, Sandra Garratt, tried again and created a similar line called Multiples, which sold to Macy's. Eventually both lines collapsed.

HOWEVER. I did some more digging. Sandra's still making clothes. Sandra's got her own website, and she's still doing the modular clothing thing. She also owns a Mac. But her "modern" collection is totally the Units style. Here's her "Peg Pant:"



And this is TOTALLY the cummerbund that I wore in junior high choir. For $8 it could be mine again!



So tempted to place an order for some pants. It would be like wearing socially-acceptable PJ pants in public, right? Who else wore the Units stuff? And did you wear the cummerbund as a dress? That plus the big hair would have been the ultimate hotness.