It’s taken years, but finally this season’s crop of back-to-school clothing for girls does not include belly-baring shirts, blouses with plunging necklines or micro-miniskirts.
Clothing designers had pushed the envelope as far as they could. Parents and teachers were fed up with teen stores that offered little beyond provocative wear. So now, 2005 offers a break from all that overexposure.
What’s in for girls? Polo shirts, tunics and vintage T-shirts, all falling at the hip.
Even the messages on T-shirts have toned down. Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirts say things like “Lights, Camera, Me.” What a difference from last year’s “North Carolina, it’s great to be on top!”
Modesty might be in vogue, but some girls don’t know it yet.
Last week, I stood outside George Washington High School with a group of sophomores and asked them to remark on what students were wearing as they left for the day.
With me were Ambrosia Collins, Keara Edwards, Megan McCowin and one guy, Darohn Ransom, all 15.
Most of the girls were covered up. But about every 10th girl walking out of school was either exposing her belly or part of her breasts – sometimes both.
“That’s too much!” Abrosia remarked, pointing to a girl wearing a cleavage-baring lavender camisole with low-rise jeans.
Keara agreed: “She should put on some clothes.”
“She should be wearing that to bed, not to school!” Megan exclaimed.
“That’s just right,” Darohn retorted, as his female friends chided him. “No. That’s just nasty,” Megan told him.
Later, Darohn conceded no girl should wear that kind of shirt to school.
Schools might ban that kind of attire, but some girls get away with it, covering up with a jacket in the classes of strict teachers that will report them.
Looks like it might take a while for some girls to see that their look is not just trashy, it’s also outdated – a style that marketers force-fed them for years.
Styles may change, but to me it never will be acceptable for teens to masquerade in school as 21-year-olds heading to a nightclub.
It’s one reason why I support strict dress codes. If some parents weren’t so clueless schools wouldn’t have to set the tone. Most schools draw the line at plunging necklines and belly button exposure. Why not take it a step further and make young men wear dark slacks and an Oxford shirt and require girls to wear knee-length skirts or slacks with a blouse?
Parents and teachers should have more of a say about what kids are wearing – not clothing stores that mimic the styles of celebrities who earn a living by being daring.
Some teens I talked to agree.
Freshman Joy MacLean told me parents should examine what their kids are wearing before they leave for school.
Her friend Cindy Hernandez, also a freshman, said she doesn’t understand why some girls come to school with “tons of makeup” and wearing high heels and toting purses.
Shouldn’t they be carrying backpacks where they can stick their keys, wallets and Chapstick – not lipstick?
“They want to look older,” Cindy said.
“I think they dress that way for the attention,” Joy said.
Have they noticed a difference in the style of dress from last year?
“I noticed a lot of the inappropriate shirts are gone from the stores,” Joy told me.
What about on girls you see?
“It’s not as bad,” Cindy said. “Some of the girls are still showing a lot of skin.”
Joy thought about it for a second before concluding, “Maybe some of them haven’t gotten the message that it’s out of style.”
Cindy Rodriguez’s column appears Tuesdays and Thursdays in Scene. Contact her at 303-820-1211 or crodriguez@denverpost.com.
