Here is part of the letter for the dress code for the girls for a high school graduation awards ceremony. I can’t believe someone actually thought this was Okay to send out.
‘Choose modest attire. No bellies showing, keep “the girls” covered and supported, and make sure that nothing is so small that all your bits and pieces are hanging out. Please remember as you select an outfit for the awards assembly that we don’t want to be looking at “sausage rolls” as Mrs. Elliott calls them. As you get dressed remember that you can’t put 10 pounds of mud in a five-pound sack.’
Maybe someone was just trying to have a sarcastic sense of humor?! Yikes.
My D graduated 2 weeks ago from an all girls private high school. Many events those last couple of weeks for seniors. If I heard “no spaghetti straps!” one more time I was ready to strike someone! Apparently spaghetti straps are “the devil” - haha.
So ridiculous that we had to ban spaghetti straps but the girls could wear halters, mile high heels, micro mini skirts/dresses etc.
Nasty? You bet. Offensive? Very much so, but I wonder what precipitated this kind of a (quite inappropriate) letter. Did the young ladies constantly ignore the dress code during the school year? Was the administration frustrated with dress code violations so numerous they could not keep up with policing them? I’m not saying that the administration is a bunch of saints, but there is usually two sides to each story.
I cannot even imagine either of our kiddos getting a letter like that from their HS principals.
At least she didn’t say “10 pounds of s**t”. To be fair, they also called out the guys with their underwear hanging out.
Why do people get so offended over stuff like this? Kids are probably going to just ignore it anyway, although the more colorful language might make a bigger impression than the standard institutional boilerplate.
This is excellent fashion advice, but I would choose different language for an official school document, especially since some young people may be very sensitive about being overweight.
Not really related to the instructions to the girls, but the instructions to the boys are just stupid. I’d say these people aren’t very good at writing dress codes. I mean, wear khakis and a collared shirt, but if you must wear jeans and a tshirt, just use good judgment and make them nice. Really, if you trusted the kids to use good judgment you wouldn’t need a dress code. No wonder you have violations if that’s how you give instructions!
And yeah, if you can’t be more professional than those instructions to the girls, that’s not really demonstrating the maturity you seem to want from students.
1or2musicians- “trusted the kids to use good judgment.” Have you looked around lately? That’s true in the workplace, too. We are a casual company, but we have dress code issues all the time. I assure you, it needs to be pretty bad for our HR to speak to someone! I think a message like this would work fine in our workplace (yes, it is in poor taste and somewhat immature) and would get people’s attention.
MichiganGeorgia- It’s not a dress code. It’s a communication telling how to observe a dress code, which I’m sure has been published previously.
I think one of the issues is that it seems overly focused on what young women’s appearances will be vs the young men’s. There was no mention of boys’ sausage rolls, man boobs, etc (not that there should be).
I think the whole thing should have been handled more diplomatically if they wanted to get the “dress nicely and be covered up” message to come across.
I remember at my kids’ graduation, there was a “no cleavage” rule for girls.
This dress code is evidently just for the awards ceremony – not for school in general.
This means that some kids may need to buy new clothing for the awards ceremony.
At my son’s high school, the dress code for the awards ceremony was stated in more dignified terms, but it required him to wear “business casual” clothing – something that was not required for regular school and that he didn’t own. We spent considerable money on the necessary outfit (including a pair of shoes since sneakers were forbidden, and they were the only kind of shoes he owned), and then he never wore any of the clothing again. By the next time he needed a business causal outfit several years later, he had lost some weight, and the outfit from the awards ceremony didn’t fit.
We could afford to buy clothing for this occasion that was never used again, but for some families it would be a hardship.
The same dress could look very different on a flat chested girl and on a very well endowed girl. It is a touchy issue to handle. But I don’t like the tone of letter, especially as it seem to emphasize weight. But of course, the same dress could look very different on a skinny girl vs. a very curvy girl. Difficult issue.
I agree, missypie, but, unfortunately, that is a lesson young women (and old women) need to learn. What works on a smaller female can be a disaster on a larger one (body type or height).
The school population is 20% Hispanic. SPECULATION: Looks like a possible farming community.Taking a guess at some migrant worker families without much income. (40% economically disadvantaged)
I think the language just opens the door for fat shamimg and mocking the heavy girls with mud sack comments. Why would adults give kids extra bully fodder and implied permission to speak this way?
@MomofWildChild , I’m not saying they should assume kids will dress appropriaty. my point is that they are bring too vague. it’s just dumb to say “if you choose to wear a t-shirt, make your choices wisely.” You obviously don’t trust them to make choices.
I suspect that they want to avoid inappropriate slogans, etc. so say no tshirts with images or slogans. Or whatever it is you mean.
Okay, it was blunt but to the point. More instructions should be as clear. And I’m sure the author knew their target audience when they wrote it. Just sayin’ it like it is which a lot of people probably appreciated except for the PC police. How to dress for an awards ceremony (pictures that last forever).
Guys weren’t ignored— Guys need to pull their pants up because “underwear choice should be a private matter.” LOL.
I’m pretty sure the target audience knew who they were. Including guidelines on T-shirts (everyone else just said polos/khakis and quit reading).
Dresses should be long enough because the stage is RAISED and the audience is looking UP at you (and under a short skirt). If you can’t manage it, wear slacks. Unless you want to flash everything and risk facebook humiliation for eternity. That’s GREAT advice by the way that most don’t ever consider.
And yes, no sausage rolls (leave the super tight shirts in the drawer)–just wear clothes that actually FIT.Make grandma proud. Not a club outfit. It actually is not about weight but appearance. Not that hard for special occasions.
Re:#15 I agree.
I was quite endowed when I was younger ( 32E, when you could not even find 32 D or DD bras- I’ve since had a reduction)
I wasn’t chubby, but otherwise petite & thin.
I could not find clothing that fit, and my attempts at tailoring my clothes were amateur at best.
I just wanted to wear the same clothes as my friends, and not have to wear a sack.
It would be more appropriate for school districts to address manufacturers about producing clothes that are styled to look better on a range of bodies, rather than shaming kids who are likely just buying what they are finding in local stores, and who want to fit in.
