As a girl who was subjected to the public humiliation ritual that is a middle school dress code violation, I was curious to hear from my University of Minnesota peers if they had felt the burden of an unspoken dress code in college.
More specifically, do students’ majors or graduate school studies shift how they feel they can present themselves?
I assumed students in undergraduate and graduate fields that are typically viewed as more professional would feel some sort of invisible obligation to adhere to the “dress for the job you want” adage.
But when talking to students in law school and STEM majors, I was pleasantly surprised to learn they generally felt pretty free to express themselves through their aesthetic choices. Not only were tattoos, piercings, casual clothes and bold colors allowed, they were even encouraged.
School dress code culture has already caught up to the times. It’s the corporate world that’s behind.
University first-year law student Emma Evans said she hadn’t felt the pressure to dress a certain way to meet the expectations of peers or professors. She said her classmates didn’t appear to be limited in their style choices either.
“People come to class in sweatpants,” Evans said. “Another girl wears pink every Wednesday.”
Evans added that while students had to dress business casual for one day of law school orientation, they were told not to worry about formal attire when attending classes.
“I think I was really concerned about that before I came to law school,” Evans said. “I wasn’t sure how those would be viewed, but people in my class have hand tattoos and it’s never been an issue. It’s never been mentioned by peers or professors, except as a compliment.”
When asked over email whether a student dress code was important, multiple law school faculty said they didn’t pay much attention to how students dressed. Fashion was not part of their expectations.
Similarly, in math, science and technical majors, where I had assumed people might dress differently to fit in, self-expression is just as important. It’s not limited to students studying design and art.
University third-year computer science major Wayde DeYoe said even in a STEM field, the importance of showcasing your creativity is felt. DeYoe mentioned how students dress or present themselves has never been an issue for those in his field.
“A lot of comp sci students are different,” DeYoe said. “There’s a pretty broad range of people who do the degree, and as long as you’re doing the work and learning, I guess none of that really matters, in comp sci anyways.”
The significance of expressing your style and personality through aesthetic choices is something that is often taken for granted in work settings.
Feeling comfortable in their appearances lets students better focus on the more important aspects of being in college. The dress code culture that is often emphasized in the professional world has not bled into academia with as much severity.
If students and faculty felt that learning excelled just the same whether people dressed in business casual or all pink, why is the workforce so strict when it comes to appearance?
It’s easy to find gaps in the dress code regulations adopted by companies that detail how employees can and can’t present themselves.
Too often, dress codes have been used as a form of workplace discrimination against people in marginalized communities. Women have to dress differently from their male peers based on their body type, and traditionally, Black hairstyles have been viewed as unprofessional for certain work environments.
Additionally, having an excess of tattoos and piercings can entirely change how people view you, despite it not having any bearing on your professional skills.
Although some companies have made strides in allowing more employee creative freedoms, the unspoken dress code culture still pervades much of the modern-day workforce.
University professors understand that student aesthetics have no weight on academic ability, and students themselves can perform better when they style themselves in ways that make them the most comfortable.
The need to find and express self-identity that is so integral to the college experience doesn’t just go away when you graduate.
The professional sector could benefit from adopting a sense of lightheartedness that I was surprised to discover when researching whether your major affects your style choices.
