Reading for Form

Abstract

A s the winter of the Starr inquiry daily dissolved the Clinton presi- dency into scandals involving Gap dress and power tie, the New York Times offered relief with a foray into the subculture of teenage fashion."Cracking the Dress Code: How a School Uniform Becomes a Fashion Statement" provided a less lurid moment of cultural formation.1 "It's how you want to look," said one student, unflapped by the prescription at the School of the Incarnation for white blouse, navy skirt, or slacks for girls, white shirt and navy slacks for boys.With the dressers performing as both critics and artists, the basic material proved negotiable, the dress code itself an inspiring resource.Subtle accessorizing ( just cautious enough to evade a bust) was one route, a use of artful supplement, perhaps so artful that only the wearer knew for sure.The school uniform itself proved multiform, its deformation the syntax of fashion-statement: the arrangement of collars and cuffs, the interpretation of white, the use or nonuse of sweater buttons, the number of rolls to take in a skirt waistband, form-fitting to baggyslouching pants, knotting the tie, indulging the frisson of unseen underwear -all opportunities to perform with and within the uniform.One student's gloss on this material culture casually and cannily fell into the form of an irregular couplet (I render the lines):They know you're not going to totally conform because half the time you don't want to be in perfect uniform. 1