I wore a uniform everyday for three years, while I was in the U.S. Army. There was a comfort in not having to pick out your clothes each morning; a kind of freedom, knowing that, with minor variations, everyone you encountered that day would be dressed the same way. You didnt have to worry about how you would be perceived or labeled, based on the particular fashion you adopted. This was NOT the case in college. The student body was divided, roughly into Frats, Freaks, Dormies and Commuters. Each had their own uniform and those modes of dress were just as rigid and uncompromising as any olive drab getup ever was. Because womens fashions have always been far more difficult to catagorize, Ill stick with the guys. Frat guys wore dark blue polo shirts and khacki pants, belted high on the waist like really old guys wear them. Dark blue socks and golf shoes completed the ensemble. There was a little more variety among the freaks: blue bell bottom jeans were a requirement, of course, but one could wear a t-shirt with them or a blue chambrey work shirt. Footgear included high heeled boots (preferred) or sandals, depending on the weather. Dormies and Commuters dressed pretty much the same as they had in high school. Frats wore their hair short and Freaks wore it long. Commuters were in the short camp; Dormies were a mixed bag. Beyond fashion, the style of dress a person chose also reflected their political outlook. Freaks were liberal; Frats were Conservative. Freaks were for civil rights and against The WAR. Frats supported both the status quo and The WAR (not for themselves personally, of course, but in general). Commuters tended to be Conservative, as well. Dormies fell into both camps politically. I started out as a Dormie, but by my 2nd year, I was firmly in the Freak camp, except I only had really long hair the two or three times I was in a play that required it. By the time I was a Senior, the Freaks had won the fashion battle. The Frats clothes were still more expensive, but they were all in the hippy style. This occasioned the creation of the phrase plastic hippie to describe those who affected the dress but not the values of the counter culture. Then, the 70s came and everything went to Hell.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Jul 2014 11:37:40 +0000
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