There ARE ways to get around dress codes you just have to be a bit more creative. When I was a senior in High School I wore a T-shirt that had a title of “Ancient Chineese Secret” and what looked like Chineese cuniform. But if you turned your head 90 degrees and looked it said “Fuck this Shit”, almost got through the entire school day with it, until towards the end of the day I had a test and was sitting directly in front of the teacher and he spent a couple minutes trying to figure out what it said… he did though and only made me cover it up 
The students didn’t have much of a problem figuring that one out though. Was an exciting day.
My favorite dress code was when I worked at H&SS for 2 years: The more conservative the clothes, the more flamboyant the underwear (no one tried to enforce it, TMK). The other one was, the longer the tie, the bigger the tie (so we mis-tied our ties until they hung halfway to our knees.)
Your tax dollars at work, folks
As a pastry chef, I have to conform to a dress code, since health and safety issues do not allow me to express my individuality in what I wear. Sure, I’d love to show up in Birkenstocks and wearing my favorite rings, but I’d hate to explain my nonconformist wear to an OSHA inspector. My job is just one of many in which a uniform/dress code is a very appropriate component.
Most offices have at least a minimum of a “business casual” dress code; most public/customer service jobs expect their employees to dress and groom themselves in a certain way. Lawyers are expected to show up to court in a suit, every doctor I’ve visted wears a shirt and tie under his white coat, and most professionals tend to dress in a professional manner. I don’t deny the existence of companies that don’t care what you wear as long as the job is done, but they are more often the exception than the rule (although I’ve seen more and more casual office attire over the past few years, but I’ve always guessed it was a Los Angeles thing).
Sweet Moses, you make it sound as if pulling up your pants and following some basic rules will make you slip off into the Dark Side. When did dressing become such an important form of self-expression and personal freedom? What happened to all the other forms of personal expression?
"TRANIO
See not your bride in these unreverent robes:
Go to my chamber; Put on clothes of mine.
PETRUCHIO
Not I, believe me: thus I’ll visit her.
BAPTISTA
But thus, I trust, you will not marry her.
PETRUCHIO
Good sooth, even thus; therefore ha’ done with words:
** To me she’s married, not unto my clothes:**
Could I repair what she will wear in me,
As I can change these poor accoutrements,
'Twere well for Kate and better for myself.
But what a fool am I to chat with you,
When I should bid good morrow to my bride,
And seal the title with a lovely kiss!"
Taming of the Shrew Act III, Scene 2
Muffin & DDG: I shouldn’t have nitpicked on the spelling and grammar of the OP, as I well know that I’m not perfect in that arena myself. Thanks for reminding me about casting the first stone.
Actually he was talking about school uniforms not dress codes. There’s a big difference between the two.
Marc
One (public) middle school I attended had a rule forbidding any skirts or shorts that didn’t come down to at least two inches above the knee. Teachers had 2" wide rulers that they would slap right above the knee to determine if questionable garments did in fact meet the code.
Oddly, the shorts that came with the school-issued gym uniforms were extremely short.
One day my best friend and I wore out gym shorts all day. They were so short that our untucked tee-shirts covered the school logo. In fact, they were so short that our untucked tee-shirts covered just about everything except for the bottom hem!
Many teachers confronted us about the shorts and said we were in violation of the dress code. We’d then hitch up out shirts and say, “But the school sold us these shorts! The school wouldn’t give us shorts that were too short!”
We escaped punishment, but a new rule was added to the dress code stating that gym uniforms could only be worn during gym.
Sure, everywhere you go in the world, there are certain forms of clothing that are appropriate. Funerals, weddings, certain jobs. And in some ways, I understand putting a small number of limits on this particular freedom of expression for school-aged children.
But on the other hand, school is not a funeral, wedding, or one of those certain jobs. It’s not a branch of the military or a government agency. It’s a PUBLIC school. Paid for by the tax payers of the state. People send their children to such schools because they are choosing NOT to send them to private or military schools where such rules exist. Presumably, the parents are bright enough to decide what kind of clothes to allow their teenagers to wear.
And on the flip side, why is it the teachers’ or administrators’ job to police CLOTHING. I mean, don’t they have enough to do? Using rulers on skirts and administrating exactly HOW many sizes too big a pair of pants are allowed to be seems…well…trite.
The other thing that occurs to me is that as soon as you make a big deal out of these things, what happens? Kids rebel, hang on to their fads with a passion, find ways around the rules. It becomes more noticeable and a bigger deal than it would have been if they’d just let the fad run its course.
The argument that this is “preparing kids for the real world” is crap. In the real world, I have to decide what’s appropriate on my own. There are no “pants police” in my office. Though, the fun police do occasionally show up.
-L
I interviewed Frank Zappa a number of years ago for a magazine article(for those teens in the crowd, Zappa was a wonderful musician and about as counter culture as it was/is possible to be.)
I asked Zappa about dress codes for kids in school. His children were pretty young at the time. Surprising me, He said he was for dress codes. He said that for those people who needed structure in their lives, a dress code helped provide it. For those young people who needed something to rebel against, it gave them something also, and something without the danger of getting shot.
The question came up because at one of his concerts at the time (I think it was The Monteray Pop not long after Altamont)a guy was watching the event and was in a military uniform (I think he was a Marine). The anti-war sentiment was high as were many of the people in attendance and there was a general surge toward the military man. Zappa stopped the number he was playing, and said to the crowd, “Hey leave him alone. We’re all wearing uniforms.”
Everybody stopped and he started playing again.
He explained during my interview he felt all professions had some sort of uniform, whether they were doctors, lawyers, garbage men, professional athletes, underground journalists or rock musicians.
No apology necessary. Couldn’t have said it better myself. 
When I was in high school, girls had to wear dresses or skirts and said dresses or skirts had to touch the floor when they got down on their knees. No pants or shorts of any kind. All the boys had to have their hair clean cut. It couldn’t touch their collar. No t-shirts. Had to be button down shirts. Blue jeans were o.k. This was a public high school. On a side note, if any girl went to the dean of girls and said she was sick, she was asked if she was pregnant. This all took place back in 1966.
So with regards to the OP, you really don’t have it so bad. I mean, would it be that bad if you couldn’t expose your “private parts”?
There were pants police where I worked and I can recall at least one time where a female was sent home for improper attire. The the real world you get to decide exactly what you want to wear. Of course in the real world most places of employment have some sort of dress code.
Marc
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by cheezit *
**
[QUOTEWhen I was in high school, girls had to wear dresses or skirts and said dresses or skirts had to touch the floor when they got down on their knees.**[/QUOTE]
What the hell were the girls doing on their knees? That seems like an odd rule for a school to have. “Alright all you sluts…down on your knees…”
-L
Being a hetero guy, I of course love the Junior Slut look. But - having taught college - I can say that a little distraction goes a long way. Had one student who was decently attired while standing up, but when she sat down and leaned back in her desk, she revealed about 8" of absolutely adorable bare midriff. It occasionally made it hard to concentrate on teaching about vector spaces.
I pulled her aside once or twice to ask her to wear tops that actually tucked in, but it never did much good.
This was at an evangelical Christian college, so she was the exception, thank goodness. I expect the public schools are considerably more challenging in this regard.
Trite it may be, but it’s the administrators’ job to provide conditions that allow the teachers to teach. To the extent that that involves dress standards so that the kids don’t distract each other from the teacher (or distract the teacher, for that matter ;)), this is part of their job.
Needless to say, I second everything Hamadryad had to say. And FWIW, the dress codes we adults impose on the students are generally far less rigorous than those they impose on each other. (Although I guess Hammy more or less got that point across too.)
This happened in my middle school a few years back. A teacher came around and took everyone’s hat because it had an Old English “D” on it. (We had a no hats during class rule). Only problem . . . the hats belonged to our baseball team who had a game later that day. Coach had to go get them back after school.
I think that ‘Guy’s Wearing Skirts’ thing happened all over in the late '80s. Several guys came to my high school in skirts and kilts one day, and I was class of '90. I think someone did that on a TV program or in some news story and there was a flood of copycats.
I feel sorry for the modern stoner kids at my old school. One of the best ways to avoid getting picked on by the black kids was to wear the mose satanic and evil looking shirt you could find, then most would be scared of you. It wouldn’t protect you from the hicks and jocks, though.
It was simply the way that the old fuddy duddy dean of girls checked the girls skirt lengths. No, the dean of girls was not a man.
Oh,** Duck Duck Goose** used to feel MIGHTY Testes. But, she discovered yoga and St. John’s Wort, and now she’s just as right as rain .
Cartooniverse
At my job we have a “no jeans except on Friday” rule, but I’ve been routinely wearing black Levis in the middle of the week for two and a half years without any problems. Because here’s the thing…when push comes to shove there’s really nothing about a pair of khakis or Dockers which looks any more businesslike than a pair of jeans in good condition. I think it’s funny when I see grocery store checkout clerks, who are almost never allowed to wear jeans,
wearing ancient Dockers or Dickies that look worse than any pair of jeans.
FWIW, my work clothes seem to fall into three categories. Most days I wear skirts or slacks with blouses or sweaters, hose and heels, and maybe a jacket. Maybe dress a little more up if I’m meeting a client; maybe dress a little more down if I’m going to be holed up in my office. On Fridays I’ll wear jeans with a white or cream T-shirt or mock-turtleneck, a blazer and hush puppies. (Jeans are Friday-only in my office as well.) For court I wear a suit or a nicely coordinated skirt and jacket set. I ALWAYS wear a coat or jacket to court, and I rarely wear pants to court – too many judges and potential jurors still think that serious or formal wear for women means a skirt, not pants, no matter how tailored.
In short, I am required – well, I’m not required, but wisdom dictates that I do – to dress fairly formally, and it makes no odds how I would personally prefer to dress. This makes me rather unsympathetic to complaints that it is “unfair” that a twelve-year-old not be able to wear a navel-baring top to school.
To me, going to school is the equivalent of having a job in that it is where a person spends their day. I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect that people be required to dress appropriately for the activity they are engaged in. To my mind and where school is concerned, that includes dressing in a way that will not distract or offend your teachers and/or peers. But then, I’m all in favor of school uniforms too, being one of those people who was teased as a child for never having the right clothes to be considered cool.
The fine comments by folks in this thread started me thinking that it was time for me to buy a new suit. Lookin’ good! Thanks all.
The tie selection part of the expedition, however, was a bit unnerving. In addition to the young man who fitted me, there were several young ladies in the otherwise empty suit store. When I said that I would appreciate their assistance in selecting some ties, their practice from all those years of dressing up Ken clicked in with a vengance. For a few seconds I thought I was about to be capped with a bonnet, paraded about in a stroller, and finally cossetted away as their latest dressup toy. The young man looked at me in my distress, raised his hands, shrugged, and slowly and carefully backed away from the young ladies as they swarmed about me with their selections of cloth nooses. All in all, it was a pretty spooky experience, and one which I certainly have no wish to repeat.
Word got out that I had purchased a suit. When my boss heard the rumour, he called me up and, with the best of intentions and without any awareness of my near escape at the suit store, suggested that he take me out shopping for ties next week. AAAUUUGGGGHHHHHHH!
When I was in high school the school I went to in Florida for one semester had a rule that you couldn’t wear pants with holes in them. I figured this was because they didnt’ want people’s asses hanging out.
I had a pair of jeans cut off at the knee that had lots of holes in them, and looked really cool. I always wore them over a pair of cut off white stretch pants so they were perfectly modest. I wore them all the time at my school in Tucson, AZ… anyway the administrators stopped me in the halls and made me take them off. So I went around wearing just the white stretch pants cutoffs. I am not sure I understand how this was “better” but whatever. It’s not like they looked slummy or anything.
Personally I’m against dress codes that are more restrictive than, say, forbidding bare bellies, ultra short skirts/shorts, and offensive text.
I try to wear matching socks.
I wandered into chambers a couple of weeks back in the wrong outfit (I was in robes when I should have been in a suit). Present were the judge, the prosecutor, and the prosecutor’s student-at-law. The following conversation ensued, with the judge, the prosecutor and I somehow managing to keep straight faces in the presence of the student:
Judge: “I can’t help but notice your sartorial choice today.”
Muffin: “Yes, your honour, I had my courts confused, but at least I am wearing socks.”
Judge: “Socks?”
Muffin: “Matching socks.”
Judge (who leaned around his desk for a look): “Why yes, you certainly are wearing matching socks.”
Crown: “Your Honour, I would like to introduce you to Ms. X, who hopes to practice in this region after she is called to the bar.”
Judge: “Ah, welcome. What you you think of our local legal community?”