There was a time and an age when the thrust of most educational institutions was entirely on academics and sartorial matters were a side issue, if not a non-issue! Fast forward to the present and you have a scenario that is vastly different as the reverse almost seems to hold true. Never has the attire of youngsters been debated as hotly by parents, teachers and students themselves as now. Official rules of dressing are declared periodically only to be promptly broken and the debate over what defines decorous dressing for youngsters continues unabated.
Over the past decades, cities like Kolkata and Chennai had always epitomised the modest while Delhi had been associated with snazzy high fashion. Bombay was always famous for being the enfant terrible of the fashion world with youngsters trying to outdo each other in the bizarre quotient.
But at this point of time, all of it stands levelled as most metropolitan cities boast (or cringe) of the same fashion quotient and same degree of sartorial madness in their youth. Parents, teachers, institutional heads, administrative figures and family elders unfortunately continue to be trapped in a time warp demanding extreme decency and decorum and the youth of today finds itself caught in the crossfire of a cultural confrontation.
“It's a classic case of tradition versus the modern. I would like to dress like Lady Gaga — beehive hairdo, impossibly high heels and all — and grab eyeballs as I enter my college campus but my grandparents will have none of it,” laments Pakhi Agarwal.
Pakhi, the youngest member of a huge affluent joint family, is subjected to a strict scrutiny before she departs for college. “Very soon, we will be looking for a bridegroom for Pakhi and we don't want her getting a bad name for herself in our closely knit community,” says Brinda Agarwal, Pakhi's grandmother.
Attire, it is obvious, is a direct representation of a youngster's personality traits for the older generation and skimpy or outrageous clothing is a sure-fire indication of an unreliable character.
Against the code
Some time back, the ancient and very aristocratic St. Xavier's College in south Mumbai astonished the city by coming down hard on the dressing styles of students. The premier institution which boasts of luminaries like Shabana Azmi, Zubin Mehta, Sunil Gavaskar and Ismail Merchant in its alumni roster, took a rather stern stance and firmly stated that no student wearing shorts, spaghetti-straps, micro-minis, three-quarter pants, vests or sleeveless tops would be allowed into its hallowed corridors. Xavier-ites were thrown into a complete tizzy.
“Xavier's has always epitomised the bohemian free-spirited nature of Mumbai's youth. Our annual festival Malhar is legendary and considered a yardstick for excellence by most other colleges. Putting the brakes on our exuberance is so very unfair,” fumes Neeru Correa, a second year student. It is the logic-defying stance that confounds most students.
“While personally I have no hassles adhering to the codes of dressing, it is the illogical approach that gets my goat. Knee-length skirts are permitted and so are long trousers and skirts. But the three-quarter length in pants or skirts is a total no-no. Do you spot any remote kind of logic in this crazy rule?” frets Subarcha Banerjee, a third year student of Economics at St. Xavier's.
Well known poet, literary critic and novelist Eunice de Souza who has been the head of the English Department of St. Xavier's for decades is refreshingly vocal on this matter. “I never paid the slightest attention to my student's clothes; I was more interested in what they were doing, in terms of their work. I don't believe in being judgmental in these matters and I'm proud to say that I've taught some very bright students! It was one puritanical principal who thought of enforcing dress codes and the whole matter got blown out of proportion. Besides, the students of today are so youthful, so energetic, so slim…nothing can look indecent on them!” she states emphatically.
Call for modesty
The professors of some other colleges beg to differ and are firmly lined on the side of parents in this eternal war of wills between the generations. “It is for the sake of their own good that we make these rules. Cheap ways of dressing and an unnecessary show of flesh only succeed in distracting minds during the lectures besides leading to unsavoury incidents of eve-teasing and molestation. We like to keep the campus atmosphere clean, healthy and conducive towards academic progress,” says Vice Principal Keka Mishra, of the suburban Tolani College of Commerce.
Her colleagues echo this sentiment vociferously and are quick to condemn fashion trends like body-piercing, excessive tattoos on any one student and male jewellery. Boys with braids or hair longer than shoulder-length, bandanas and students in knee-high boots or leather clothing are also frowned upon and viewed upon as gimmicky and attention-seeking individuals.
“We've never had to enforce any rules officially as the teaching faculty and the students operate on a basis of mutual regard. We respect and understand each other's wishes fully. The students know how far they can go in the matter of clothing and style and consequently, we respond to their willing obedience by giving their creative urges all the support we are capable of. Though we are primarily an institution teaching commerce, we are proud to have spawned some formidable talents in the field so of playback singing and acting,” continues Keka Mishra.
Let them be
Mumbai-based psychologist and counselor Nalini Shah feels that rebellion against authority is a natural part of growing up and the fact should not be given undue importance. “The urge to experiment with the forbidden and the unconventional is an age old phenomenon in adolescents. To that, in the present day set-up, add extreme peer pressure and the desire to belong and you have a heady cocktail. By trying to curb the natural (but short-lived) tendencies we may be attributing to future psychological problems in our kids,” cautions Nalini.
Mumbai continues to be the quixotic quintessential city it always is and in a surprising leap of the paradoxical, the city's youth made a fashion icon of a very unlikely figure — the diminutive Anna Hazare. Suddenly every youngster on social networking sites was sporting white khadi and small Gandhi caps!
Professionally speaking
Engineering students all over the country are notorious for dressing down rather than dressing up like the rest of their student counterparts and the IIT Bombay faithfully adheres to this age-old belief. The campus is filled with unshaven boys wearing rumpled clothes and with a look in their eyes that says that they have got more pressing matters to attend to rather than clothes!
The girls likewise, are quiet and understated in their attire though bursting with an intellectual fire. “Dress codes won't work here. We end up dabbling in so many campus activities that we simply have no time for fashion and fripperies,” laments N. Srinath, a third year student of engineering at the IIT-Bombay. “I wish our campus girls would glam up a little more though,” he adds wistfully.
The aspiring Mumbai medico is a unique entity perennially trying to juggle multiple issues. Of these, hostel woes, grinding academic pressures, hospital duties while all the time trying to snatch a bite of passably decent food, head the list. What role does fashion play in her/his busy life? “We are too busy to dream of wearing anything other than freshly laundered clothes. The enforcement of dress codes seems utterly ridiculous to me. A medical student is old enough and intelligent enough to know what to wear while attending to patients and doesn't need to be guided by higher authorities. I'm in my third year and I've yet to see any fellow student dress provocatively,” says V. Sujatha, a student of the Grant Medical College.
The city of Mumbai comes with subtle fashion demarcations that are rarely spoken about openly. While folks residing in the central suburbs are considered the least fashionable, generally dressing for functionality and daily travel, their western counterparts considers themselves definitely more savvy and flamboyant. The south Mumbai sophisticate in turn, is contemptuous of his suburban brothers with their loud fashion statements and is content to rest on his aristocratic threads. Recently however, the influences of the film industry (mainly Bollywood and Hollywood) and the easy availability of designer stuff (authentic and fake) have levelled all fashion geographies to the same heights.
Fashion is fickle, one discovers; trends may come and trends may go with the passing of time. Debate over what is socially acceptable and what is not continues unabated and shows every sign of becoming a truly timeless argument.
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We react
Essentially we're in college to study and not to show off, so we should be allowed to wear what we feel comfortable in. Why would you tell young adults, and adults who have a mind of their own, with their own beliefs and thoughts, how to dress? Even if an individual does not dress like the way the majority of the others do, why should they be discriminated against and forced to wear clothes that don't define them? Dress codes limit an individual's self-expression and personality. On one level we boast about being a highly democratic country looking to move forward with very liberal ideologies, on the other we are being asked to speak up against being ‘babied' by certain ridiculous rules. If misconduct has to take place, the clothes one wears certainly won't prevent it. In fact, being repressed could fuel more rebellion.
IHA DIWAN, II Year, BBA
I would never want to enforce a strict dress code in colleges. College-goers are mature enough to dress appropriately and express themselves in a way they would like to be perceived. Dressing is a form of expression and is unique to each person. As for the opinion that dress codes help maintain discipline, discipline should come from within, irrespective of dressing.
SHANKAR RAMAKRISHNAN, V Year, B.Arch
In my opinion, the concept of dress code has both positive and negative effects. Although it prohibits the rights of some students to wear the dress of their liking and express themselves, it helps level the social, economic and financial differences that exist among students. Ours being a highly conservative society, it is inevitable to find more dress codes to be biased against the female gender to prevent possible distractions and safeguard the social culture and general concern for protection of women.
HARIPRASAD RAVISHANKAR, I Year, B Tech EIE
Dress code is meant to maintain the discipline and decorum in any institution whether school, college or office. Yet the fact that only women are made the prime targets of this regulation shows that women in India are still perceived to be a vulnerable lot. They are still not regarded as the better halves of society. They are still considered to be the pawns in the chess game being played by men.
URVI SHAH, I Year, Integrated MA
Dress codes are necessary at certain times. You cannot walk into a formal atmosphere in torn jeans. In that sense, one needs a code to dress up appropriately. The only point of a dress code is that it should help people dress in ways suiting the situation. People seem to always think that women invite trouble by wearing revealing clothes. If you look at it, whatever you wear, there are guys who look at you the ‘wrong' way.
ANISHA PALAT, I Year, BVA
The concept of dress codes has taken a whole new stance today. Initially introduced with the view to help maintain decorum and a professional atmosphere for every individual in society, today women are being targeted. The ongoing debate on women “attracting”' attention because of their dressing is in a way unjust. True, that there is a place and time for everything; we should be able to dress to our liking without anyone passing comments or pointing fingers at us.
ANJALI ADLAKHA, I Year, BA Economics
As told to YASHASVINI RAJESHWAR, I Year, IIT-M
