Dress Codes

In EducationLife there’s an interesting item on clothing as communication—depending on the area of country, there are different dress codes. For example, in Boston the vintage look is in; clothes have to look like they were bought at a thrift store. At the U of Miami men wear fitted tops and faded jeans while women dress up, “very skimpy, very clubby.” In the Midwest—at Northwestern, for example—pragmatism wins out; clothes that keep you warm are in. And in LA—at USC, for example, men wear “denims by DSquared and sneakers by Paul Smith” while women wear Prada and Marc Jacobs. After reading this, I wanted to run into class and discuss the dress codes my students followed and how important they thought they were to ultimate success and enjoyment of college.