Is this fashion or not? We were visiting with friends and discussing attire from years ago. Three of us had similar life experiences, but one very different.  The female friend went to school with current fashion designers.  She was unfamiliar with what many experience in life.  We all entertained her with our accounts of attire in public schools.

Speaking of dress codes when enforced in schools.  Dress codes meant that girls always wore dresses and boys did not wear jeans. Children sent home if the dress did not meet code.  Public schools did not have uniforms, private schools did.

In Junior High School girls needed to kneel down while in lunch line.  Knee length was approved length of dress.  If dresses didn’t touch the floor while kneeling they were sent home from school.  Girls rolled skirts up at the waist to make them shorter, until lunch line!

Boys could not wear jeans and needed to wear pants with buttoned shirts tucked in.  Buckled belts with pants at the waist.

Younger girls wore dresses to school but needed to keep warm in the winter.  They wore bulky leggings under their dresses or tucked their dresses into these leggings to keep bare legs warm.  Young girls wore ankle socks and not pantyhose.  Leggings were very similar to bulky snowsuits.

One friend grew-up in Long Island, New York, attended private schools and went to school with Donna Karan and other fashion designers.  She sat their listening to our stories of childhood school stories.  She said she’s never heard these things.  Much to our surprise, we felt bad she was left out to experience real life!

When she questioned what leggings were?  Her husband replied “They definitely weren’t fashionable so I’m not surprised you don’t know about leggings!”  He continued to say, “They definitely were anything but a fashion statement!”  We broke out in laughter understanding how ugly and bulky these things looked on girls.  Imagine, tucking in a dress and looking 6-8 sizes bigger!  Who wants to look like that?  We decided there definitely was no thought into fashion. Maybe practicality!  Leggings kept girls bare legs warm.  Like popular leggings today that are cute, practical, and warm! Not bulky!

Too bad it took so many decades before girls began wearing the current “leggings” under dresses that simply kept legs warm without all the bulk!

girl wearing leggings photo cropped from flickr photo by lebonbonmulticolore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Always dress for comfort!  Even when you must dress for success, comfortable matters and improves confident.  Comfort doesn’t mean sloppy, it simply means a style that fits your personality.

We’ve learned that when fashion were a priority you’ve missed out on many things in life!  Sure was fun sharing these experiences.  It was even more fun to watch the expressions of someone who found these experiences of all three outlandish!

As we age fashion isn’t a priority … or shouldn’t be!  Comfort, safety, and practically is the dress code!  Everyone makes their own fashion, and it should be acceptable!  Unfortunately there will always be someone poking fun at attire at every age in life.

No one is here to judge others!  Flat shoes with rubber soles are important, and flat shoes are coming back so we’ll all be fashionable in time!   Wear what you want!  No more dress codes!

Do you have any unique experiences with proper or improper attire?  What do you recall from your school days? Have you found looking back 5, 10, 25, or more years how ridiculous pictures look and how it’s all about style and fashion?