School Uniform: Pride or Fashion Disaster?

We think that uniforms, in general, have a similar generic template that schools can choose to play around and work with. As these clothes are meant to be worn almost everyday to school, it is of the utmost importance that these clothes are functional and comfortable to move around in. Thus, there is only so much that schools can do to modify the uniform to become more "fashionable" or "stylish", but ultimately, it has to be a shirt-skirt/shirt-pants/pinafore combination in order to fulfil the functional criterion. Usually, the school colours are chosen for the colours of the uniform but our school has decided to use white and blue. We are very thankful for that as a sky blue blouse and maroon skirt would just be disastrous. However, pertaining to the design of our new school uniform, we feel that the skirt could use less pleats like the old design. We have also received feedback from our fellow schoolmates that the material for the new pants is lousy and tears very easily.

However, we think that it is rather impossible to style our school uniforms after what we think is "stylish" or "fashionable" because trends come and go very quickly. If we were to choose what our uniforms look like based on what we think is nice, there would not be a standardised uniform for long because people will keep on changing their minds. Also, one man's meat is another man's poison. One design may look particularly attractive to a small group, but to another group, it may look ugly. Not every shape or cutting of clothes will be suitable for everyone as everyone is shaped differently. With this current generic cutting, design, style and shape of uniforms, it is easier for everyone to adapt comfortably to the uniform, even if they do not look as attractive than if they wore something else.

We feel that if and when schools decide to revise the school uniform, they should base the new design on students' opinions. Decisions such as choice of colour and design may be up to the school staff but materials should be up to the students as they are the ones who will be wearing the clothes.

RENA & PEARLYN! :D