Nurses’ fashion remedy: pants

June 8, 1970: Nurses were allowed to begin wearing pantsuits to work at Queen of Angels Hospital after a group of young nurses successfully petitioned the heads of the hospital for the right.

“Florence Nightingale has had it,” The Times quipped in a fashion column. “Nurses traditionally in white uniforms, and well covered ones at that, are taking a new fashion direction.”

The pantsuits were a sign of the times, one unidentified administrator told the newspaper: “These young girls are more stylish and have more fashion consciousness.”

The column suggested that the trend would soon spread -- in nursing and beyond: “The nurses’ protest for pants could also help other professional women win their battle for the pantsuits at work.”