A cape, shawl, whatever it is
Brightly colored belts
Heels and a pencil skirt? Yes, please! (Definitely better than the ugly maroon penny loafers I was forced to wear!)
Adorable colored cardigans and a jumper to spice things up
A cute ruffled blouse (not that I didn't love the polos I wore and still wear)
Now, to compare to my "lovely" uniform:
I didn't get to wear colored shoes until my senior year and that was a privilege that could be taken away at any moment (so we were told). Senior year we also added a new polo shirt color: light blue (instead of only white and navy). I think this came from seeing the uniforms of our sister school in NY. They had so many polo color options. I was so jealous they could wear pink polos!
For your viewing pleasure, my high school uniform:
Note the maroon penny loafers
And the blazers
Readers, your turn to share. What were your uniform highlights?
I went to public school, but we used to wear black pants, skirts, and tights all of the time. Now everyone at that school wears sweatpants all of the time. It is just strange. I almost dread watching GG (ALMOST) because I get so jealous of Blair's clothes!
ReplyDeletewhen i was away at boarding school in VA we didn't have uniforms. we just could not wear jeans and our skirts had to be below our knees. there were a couple of other things but i can't remember, it's been a long time!
ReplyDeletemy school now has uniforms, thank god they didn't have them when i was there! ha! ha!
Hmm...well...
ReplyDeleteWe had to wear skirts that touched our knees. No exceptions. When we knelt they had to touch the ground. They were navy and green plaid. Knee high socks. We were allowed to wear heels less than 2 inches. They had to be navy blue or brown. I went with navy blue. Blazers or cardigans. White or blue oxfords with no logos. Hair down with a headband or up in a ponytail with a black hair tie. You couldn't just have it down, because they didn't want it in your face. Luckily I have short hair...so no worries there.
I actually really liked our uniforms. I wish I could find pictures...but my mom has them all.
I went to a Catholic school and the plaid actually was not too bad. We spiced thing up with our hair accessories. Granted I graduated in 91 so we had the ever so stylish scrunchies and really big Espirit bags.
ReplyDeleteThanks for calling out "GG" and other TV shows for ridiculously glamorizing school uniforms.
ReplyDeleteMy uniforms were pretty lax - polo shirts in white, blue, or green, (itchy, unattractive) plaid skirts or (itchy unattractive) khakis, shoes of our choosing so long as they were deemed "appropriate". The skirt-length enforcement - had to touch the ground if you knelt down - was fairly strict, although of course we "rolled" them whenever the principal wasn't around.
We wore a green Hunter MacLean kilt, white shirt, green knee highs or tights and a tie: plain green if you were a regular student, plaid if you were a prefect. Black flat shoes only. Then we had the v-necks, vests, cardys, and blazers.
ReplyDeleteYou'd get a uniform pass for something as simple as if you didn't have your socks pulled up, so I know none of the things you see on GG would fly!
Those nonexistent skirts Serena wears would have gotten me written up in a heartbeat. We had a one-inch above the knee rule, or something like that (that was like 15 years ago so I barely remember:)
ReplyDeleteMy uniform in elementary school was a plaid blue and white jumper with a blue peter pan collar ~ YUCK. High school was worse, in the summer a white button down with a BROWN A-line skirt, and in the winter, your choice of brown or yellow sweater with a tweed-ish pleated skirt. YUCK! The girls around here in Lower School have to wear horrible jumper things. The upper school girls look a bit better with cute skirts and polo shirts. But the Boy's schools have a dress code so they have more options. Best, Becs
ReplyDeleteReading everyone else's comments...my uniform was pretty lax.
ReplyDeleteMonday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday we could wear:
Skirt/jumper/dress (had to touch the ground when kneeling and a slit had to come to the bottom of the knee) in-burgundy, black, gray, navy or khaki.
Collared shirts (button-ups, turtlenecks or polos) in-white, navy, gray or burgundy.
Socks and jackets could only be those colors also. If we wanted to wear something like a ski coat and it was some other color we could only wear it outside.
Shoes couldn't be open toe or heel. There was this one guy who would wear orange high-top Converse...that WAS allowed. Shoes were probably the most lax.
On Wednesdays we had chapel. That day we had to wear a navy skirt/jumper/dress, white long sleeve collard shirt (unless wearing a dress), nude nylons (little girls could wear white socks) and black dress shoes with no more than a 1.5 inch heel.
Our P.E. clothes (no matter how hot it got...and it would easily get to over 90) were navy sweats and navy tee (guys got to wear a gray tee). At the time it seemed really crazy (especially because some of the more popular girls got away with a lot) but compared to others, it was pretty good. :-)
*Hugs*
I went to private school in NYC- we didn't have a uniform, but a dress code, so I can see wear the Constance Billiard "uniforms" come from. We were allowed to wear a dress pants or a skirt of our choosing, although they weren't supposed to be short- but you should see what we got away with! Shirts had to be button up with collars and were supposed to be tucked in. Closed shoes, but no rules on height. Socks if wearing pants, stockings or knee highs with a skirt. Any sweater as long as the collar of your shirt was visible and then we had to wear the uniform blazer at all times around the building. At first I was really excited about this, but eventually I was jealous of all the other private schools with their adorable seersucker fall and spring uniforms and tartan winter plaid!!!
ReplyDeletewhen i was in elementary school, my sister and i went to private school and the uniform was awful. a royal blue jumper, white blouse w/ peter pan collar, navy cardigan if it was cold. navy knee socks or navy tights and black and white saddle shoes. no exceptions. then, we moved and i did middle and high school at a public school in the 'burbs. i was so happy to wear whatever i wanted i high school!
ReplyDeleteHey there is something to be said for the non flexibility of a uniform. But what's with the hair bands...don't think they would fly at most private/parochial schools.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in school pants had to be able to have a coin drop from waist to ankle -everything tucked in-and skirts below the knee and tights or knee socks and of course loafers.
I would have gladly gone to a prep school if we were allowed to dress like they dress on gossip girl!
ReplyDeleteOMG!! Did we go to the same school ??? I agree could imagine the nuns if we wore the pencil skirt with the nude heels? I got a detention for black eyeliner in the 8th grade.. sad but true
ReplyDeleteI went to an all-girls catholic high school and our uniforms definitely were not that cute. White polo, turtleneck or oxford, green and navy plaid skirt, tights or kneww-highs (navy, white, black or green) and brown or black shoes, no big heels. We also had this really ugly Champion sweatshirt with our school logo on it that we could wear any day except when we had Mass, and then it was mandatory (even if it was 90 degrees out) that we wear a green blazer. Yuck!!
ReplyDeleteI went to public school and cold only WISH to wear uniforms. It was so annoying to find new outfits. I wish I could wear one even in college, except I'd love to put a Gossip Girl sping on it!
ReplyDeleteGarnet and grey plaid kilt with garnet knee socks, I opted for cable knit tights and penny loafers...which I adored! I was in highschool in the 80's!
ReplyDeleteI went to public high school, no uniforms. When I watch GG, I kinda wish we had uniforms. The GG girls look so cute. I never thought about how uniforms really aren't that cute in the real world. :0)
ReplyDeleteYour uniform skirts are minis in comparison to mine! I went to Catholic school and ours technically had to be at or below the knee. Luckily I was tall enough that they were above the knee on me and I could get away with it...
ReplyDeleteYour uniform is SUPER CUTE compared to mine. That's all I'm going to say. (You don't want to see mine!)
ReplyDeleteI went to public school, but I always wanted to be able to wear those uniforms! I used to wear pleated skirts (minis though) with knee socks and cardigans ala Clueless all through high school. Those were the days!
ReplyDeleteYour uniform looked just like my senior year pics. We had the grey skirt for seniors and a plaid for everyone else.
ReplyDeleteThey went crazy my junior year and allowed polo shirts in Spring. other than that it was the button up in white, yellow, or blue. People would try to jazz it up with colored undershirts and socks...but there was a crack down on that. BTW: I was uniforming in the grunge era so my shoes were heinous Doc Martens.
I loved my HS uniform (plaid skirt, white button down and penny loafters with any color socks). But my grade/jr high uniform was horrid. Navy poly skirt (below the knee!), white button down and a red sweater (lower grades) or red blazer (7th and 8th grade). It was terrible. It was also south Florida. Just the place you want to wear a sweater! I still think all schools should wear uniforms though. Go figure!
ReplyDelete