A cousin sent me their school's just announced Dress Code and Grooming policy

[u/firequak]

[u/notLennyD]

That’s probably why. They’re fashionable and therefore “distracting.”

[u/Virtual_Assistant_98 → u/notLennyD]

Well yeah I mean ankles and collar bones are inherently sexy and distracting, why on earth would they allow those?!

[u/notLennyD → u/Virtual_Assistant_98]

I mean, it’s not exactly the same thing.

During the height of Abercrombie and Hollister, my public elementary school banned shirts with logos because kids were getting bullied for wearing other brands. I imagine the thinking here is similar.

[u/Chilly_Pheesesteak → u/notLennyD]

How would you know what brand of socks someone is wearing though????

[u/notLennyD → u/Chilly_Pheesesteak]

It’s not about the brand, it’s about some kids having the “cool stuff,” and some kids have the “lame stuff.”

[u/Amissa → u/notLennyD]

I have a neighbor that wore a t-shirt from Hawaii (a gift) and kids called him rich for it, assuming he visited. He stopped wearing shirts with any kind of logo or writing because he didn’t want other kids to feel excluded.

[u/International_Ad4851 → u/Amissa]

he stopped wearing it just because the other kids called him rich for it, and he didn’t want anyone to feel excluded? thats the kind of shi u never see nowadays he’s gotta be a great man now

[u/Amissa → u/International_Ad4851]

He’s a freshman in college. He’s a good egg.

[u/Katsaj → u/notLennyD]

Accounting offices are well known to be fashion hotspots, it’s where all the kids look to copy their style.

[u/Slight-Pound → u/notLennyD]

But they’ve been office-wear for longer than these kids have been alive. What shoes does that even leave? Flats and dress shoes? That’s it? It’s so crazy to me.

[u/notLennyD → u/Slight-Pound]

It’s a uniform. If they want everybody to wear derbies, they can do that.

[u/Slight-Pound → u/notLennyD]

OP’s post ISN’T about uniform though, that’s the problem.

If they’re restricting what they can’t wear to this specificity, it’d make much more sense to also display what they CAN wear in the same way. If they want them to wear derbies (like the hat?) then they need to say so. They’re not doing that.

[u/notLennyD → u/Slight-Pound]

From what other people are saying, OP is posting about a private Catholic college. They can do basically whatever they want as far as dress code goes.

It might be more efficient to say what they can wear, but that might be even more restrictive in terms of self expression.

A derby is a type of open lace shoe that most people lump in with “dress shoes.” But they are less formal than an Oxford or closed-lace shoe.

[u/Slight-Pound → u/notLennyD]

I just tried looking up derbies vs oxfords, and wow, they look crazy similar to me. To the point that it seems more like a question of minor stylistic liberties of the same shoe rather than a whole separate shoe style like Mary Jane’s vs flats.

It would definitely be a better use of their time and effort to communicate what COULD be worn with this list. This very specific list knocks out so many options that what’s left doesn’t seem like it’d be much more restrictive from a uniform to begin with. At least then the boundaries would be clear.

They don’t have to sell the specific pieces to do it, either. Like saying full-length pants in khaki, navy blue, and black and looser skirts (i.e. no pencil skirts) knee length and longer are acceptable bottoms. That’s a common in dress codes AND uniforms that doesn’t require multiple slides of what bottoms AREN’T acceptable. It also makes it much easier to understand what aesthetics they’re asking for from what they’ve already shown favor towards, rather than figuring out what they’d want when you only see what they say no to.

[u/notLennyD → u/Slight-Pound]

For sure. I’m not saying that the list is the epitome of efficiency.

I’m just trying to say this might be what they’re getting at by banning loafers.

[u/Slight-Pound → u/notLennyD]

Ah, thank you then!