Believe it or not, I actually wondered about this today. No idea why it all of a sudden hit me.

When Charles Manson and his 'family' were put on trial, circa 1970-71, they sought to sway the jury by appearing "all-American" in appearance, all save Manson.

Charles "Tex" Watson, who pretty much killed the four men who were murdered in the two day killing spree, would appear in at his trial in a snazzy sports coat and sporting a hairdo like Ian McShane used to have back then.

The three women, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenweinkel and Leslie Van Houten, would wear basically Shirley Temple dresses with long puffy sleeves, up about mid-thigh, and had pony-tails, one on each side of her head, not a single pony-tail in the back.

I've never seen their feet in those old film clips, but surely they were wearing knee-length white socks with black buckle shoes.

Now my sisters dressed this way as little girls, but my sisters are about ten years younger than Atkins, Van Houten and Krenweinkel.

In watching all of the tv shows from about this time, I never recall seeing any of the girls on Brady Bunch dress this way, nor did the Scooby Doo girls dress like this. I don't know, I might recall Jan and Marcia wearing the dresses like that, but their hair was never in the pony-tails fashion. Even still, those were teens, the Manson girls were all in their twenties.

The closest one off the top of my head that I can think of would be Judy Strangis (Dyna Girl from Electra Woman &) who pretty much always sported her big pony-tails when she was on Room 222, but she never wore those short little girl dresses, or I don't recall if she did.

Why on Earth were the three Manson women dressed that way? Was it supposed to make them look naive and innocent?

I cant think of any tv show or movie from this same time period that had a full grown woman (the Manson girls were in their early to mid-20s) dressed in such a fashion.

I half thought that they were trying to mock 'the system' by appearing like that.

Was that a legitimate fashion for women of their ages back then?

They sound like they were trying to look like children.

I may be remembering incorrectly but I think there was a 'jeune fille' type of look around then. You remember the hippies with the long dresses. There was a long dress look and a short dress look. Susan St. James in "Macmillan and Wife" comes to mind - she had a tendency to dress quite youthfully (and why not; we're the same age) and perhaps wore a dress or two like that - and maybe even the hair, but just hanging around the house. Again, I might be going nuts.

That was an awful case. Now that Mrs. Tate is dead, Sharon's sister (who might now be either ill or dead) would show up at the parole hearings. I did see Leslie van Houten's parole hearing maybe once or more. She has changed a great deal (DUH) and I suppose she's reformed, but she's not getting out and that's that. Some mistakes you can pay for; some you can't. The LoBiancos show up too. The last time I saw them they asked, "When is our parole?" Can you imagine - having to keep on top of this for 38 years or so and being forced to relive it. Mrs. Tate took to her bed after Sharon's death and became a vegetable until she heard the death penalty was repealed and parole was possible. She then became a tremendous activist in getting reforms for victims' families. A great tragedy.

Here's one description from around that time period, although there was more than one style: The shapes Quant designed were simple, neat, clean cut and young. They were made from cotton gabardines and adventurous materials like PVC used in rain Macs. They almost always featured little white girly collars.

I would have thought that had the guy, Tex Watson, garbed himself like one of the Brady kids, but he looked like Ian McShane.

Granted, I know none of this was Manson's doings. Clearly the lawyers thought it was a good idea, but I was just puzzled as to who dressed them like that.

As to the girls, I saw them, Atkins, Van Houten and Krenweinkel on a talk show, perhaps being interviewed by Barbara Walters, and they have 'reformed', but they fully understand freedom will never really take place in their lives to amount to anything.

Last I heard, Susan Atkins had married a wealthy man, but clearly that isn't working to her advantage.

And one of the LaBianca's daughters (Rosemary and Leno LaBianca, by the way, were the couple murdered the second night) championed for Tex Watson's release, feeling he had reformed, or more than likely, she had fallen for him.

I remember seeing Doris Tate trying to talk to her in the courtroom, and all the daughter would say was 'thank you for sharing that with me.'

Who was she fooling?

Doris had some more words outside the courthouse for her. You hear Doris, don't see her, but that was all you needed. She meant business.