I've been enjoying this thread quite a bit. I graduated in 1972, in
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Some of our experiences were similar:
When I started 7th grade, in 1966, all the girls with delusions of
style rolled their skirts on the bus on the way to school. The dress
code said skirts had to touch your knee but I don't remember anyone
ever being sent home for short skirts. They must've tossed the
hemline rule the following year because I remember skirts going to
thigh-length--but we still had to wear dresses no matter what. By
the summer of 1968, I couldn't wear off-the-rack dresses unless they
came with matching bloomers--which some did!--because I'm long-
waisted. I remember vividly walking around with one hand holding my
books (no backpacks! that was too casual) and the other tugging at
my hem in hopes that no one would see my underwear. The other wierd
thing about rising hemlines is that pantyhose were fairly new and the
quality wasn't good; they didn't stretch much and the dark "panty"
part was always showing at my hemline. Yuck.
In the fall of 1968 (9th grade for me) we petitioned to be allowed to
wear slacks to school, based on the argument that skirts had just
gotten waaay too short. We were turned down, of course, by a school
board made up of adults who feared we would become just like those
riotous students on campus.... So in the spring of 1969 we organized
a protest: a bunch of us made MAXI skirts and agreed to wear them on
the same day, accessorized with love beads and flowers in our hair --
none of which was forbidden by the dress code, so they couldn't send
us home. Pretty soon thereafter, we were allowed to wear "tailored
slacks" (not jeans!) to school. By 1971, jeans were allowed but I
don't remember exactly when the transition happened. I had the
coolest red-white-&-blue pin-striped bell-bottom Levi's (which my
children still do not believe, LOL). Shorts were not allowed, of
course, at any time.
While hemlines weren't very often measured, I do remember that boys'
hair was checked to make sure it didn't touch their collars.... That
must've changed sometime around 1970.... By 1972, the boys who were
able <g> were wearing moustaches as well.
Thanks for the memory trip!
Suzanne
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