As girls huddled in the Commons after Town Hall to talk about dress code, they expected conversation regarding enforcement, compliance, and potential punishments. However, the ensuing talk presented a shock to GCDS students, as the possibility of completely banning dresses from the dress code was brought up. 

Trouble surrounding students’ clothing – specifically dresses– emerged in the Spring of 2022, and as Dr. Winters recalls, “parents and members of our own school community were commenting that the dresses, in particular, were not aligned with our dress code.” With the complaints in mind, GCDS’ admin made the decision to enforce a stricter dress code the following fall. Dress code enforcement has taken a whole new form this year. In an email sent on September 5th, Dr. Winters declares, “Students arriving to school out of code will not attend class until a family member brings them appropriate clothing. Students with multiple offenses will face school consequences including being sent home for the day… Ultimately, GCDS teachers and staff will determine what is, and what is not, appropriate attire.” The dress code, and the potential ban of dresses, became the source of a lot of concern and confusion in the GCDS High School community. However, Dr. Winters hopes “[GCDS] will continue to try to eliminate confusion and enforce full compliance.”

Isabelle’s Cabinet, a dress shop popular among GCDS students.

And so, when banning dresses was brought to students’ attention, junior Stella Melucci recalls being outraged by the idea, remembering, “I thought it was ridiculous. I thought the idea of [banning dresses] was dumb.” She was also confused by the contradictory nature of the potential ban, noting, “a big thing with our dress code is that they want us to look nice and dresses tend to be a thing you wear when you’re trying to look nice so it doesn’t make sense.” Similarly, Anna Lonski, another junior, discovered the blurry lines of enforcement, pointing out, “it’s kinda dumb that if you’re allowed to wear a skirt and a top, you’re not allowed to wear a dress.” 

The dress code and its new enforcement are causing concern and discomfort surrounding sexualization in school. As senior Paige McDonnell reflected on the experiences of herself and her friends in regards to the dress code, she noted that, “There was an example used that if you were wearing dresses you would wear to a party, you shouldn’t wear it to school; and that the male teachers in our school are looking at our chests and our butts and I thought that wasn’t a good example to use. It was also very uncomfortable.” 

Teachers understand the conflict from the student body when it comes to the banning of dresses; “There was a little push-back at the beginning of the school year… a lot of the students who wear dresses weren’t particularly pleased with it,” shares Ms. Allen. She believes that the main reason for the resentment was, “[GCDS students] purchased new dresses and were excited to wear them to school; I could understand their frustration, hearing there might be a ban when they had just gone back-to-school shopping and I sympathize with that.”

Similarly, Ms. Wood notes the threat to ban dresses was, “good for the first few weeks after that threat was made from Ms. McDonald and Dr. Winters but I do think in the past few weeks–because it has gotten colder–people have gotten a little bit sloppier with their dress code.” Recently, she notes that the issues she is seeing within the school have a lot to do with, “things that mostly females wear, like dresses that show too much skin. I’ve been seeing too many belly buttons.” Ms. Wood added that “I wouldn’t be surprised if there was another threat like that coming up for the second semester. I’ve been seeing a lot of dress code outfits and people are going back to their old ways a little bit.” 

Overall, the continuous changes to the dress code –and the potential ban of dresses– cause notable tension in the GCDS High School community. In the eyes of some students, the reputation of GCDS could be affected by the decision to ban dresses. As Stella Melucci puts it, “I think [banning dresses] would give [GCDS] more of a bad name because people would be complaining… and everyone would just hear them –all the complaints– rather than the good things.” GCDS is a community that values acceptance, expression, and exploration. Can these values live on with the banning of dresses looming?

*NOTE: This is a two-part article. Read “Dress Code” for more!