Follow the (Dress) Code
The spread of the western culture to an undeveloped countries can be a good or bad thing depending from which perspective you’re looking at. Most accept the western culture with open arms but there are some that still try to preserve the culture and old age tradition, old ways of doing things, but they seem to be fighting the losing battle, the obvious changes that we’re seeing are the changes in language, food and dressing attire. It’s very confusing for me to read the English language written in Thai Language, or Thai people speaking half English and half Thai, and this is a good example of absorbing the western culture, and fast foods are everywhere.
I am surprised to read an article from Koosang Koosom Thai Magazine called ‘My Lovely Daughter” and what caught my attention are the pictures of young Thai girls dressing in school uniform that are so short that they might as well not wearing the skirt at all because you can see their underwear, see for yourself.
The article is written in Thai language, translated by yours truly, and the author said,
“This is the time of the year of new school term and I don’t want to get out from my house to see young school girls dressing in their school uniform, every time I look at them, they give me a headache, sort of feel bad for their parents and teachers as well.
Very often that I would see them in the back of a new style motorcycle where the placements of your feet are a bit high, so it appears that their feet are up in the air, not to mention but it looks very much like the laying down position when I’m about to give birth, you get the picture.”
The skirt is way above the knees, extreme tight shirt, Japanese girl hair style, thick foundation that their face look ghostly white, with red cheeks and lips. They look more like ghost from the Chinese movie rather than beautiful.
There’s more and maybe I’ll translate the rest of this article some other day. Then I read about a dress code in (some) public school in America which has gotten stricter, seems to reverse here. In the US, public school students are not required to wear school uniform, casual street cloths are acceptable, but there has been problem in the past of girls wearing too short, such as short shorts, or short mini skirts, and guys wearing lazy pants, but those individual would get sent home to change.
Catawba county is in the Southeastern part of the United States, and the dress code requirement according to the article are,
“At Catawba Valley and Hickory High, they’ll be sporting a new look as part of a standardized dress code.
Students are no longer allowed to wear Abercrombie and Fitch, Aeropostale or American Eagle logo shirts. Pants must be pulled up at the waist and worn with a belt, and skirts and shorts must be knee-length or longer. Students must wear long- or short-sleeved knit shirts, button-up dress shirts or turtlenecks.”
According to Marcia Hammond, assistant principal at Hickory High, she expects all the students to dress appropriately the first day.
“The plan’s been published and mailed to parents and students, and we expect them to be dressed the way they should be,” she said. “The seniors traditionally dress for success their first day, in church or business attire, so they’ll set the pace for the rest of the school.”
According to Hickory Public School, the guidelines are,
Tops:
- Colors: garnet, gold, white, pink, grey
- collared short or long sleeve knit shirts with button centered plackets;
- collared long sleeve, buttoned dress shirts;
- turtlenecks
- sweatshirts without hoods - must have collared shirt underneath
- must be long enough to remain tucked in when arms are raised.
Bottoms:
- Colors: khaki, black, navy
- pants, shorts, skirts, skorts, capris
- no cargo pants or jeans (of any color)
- must be knee length or longer
- must be worn at the waist
- belts must fit the waist
- belt tail cannot hang down lower than four (4) inches
Then first day of school, Monday 8/25/08, 90 percent of Hickory High School pupils comply with attire rules.
I like the idea of dress code, I think that students go to school to learn, and not to make a fashion statement.
I believed Laos has not gone that far in comparison to Thailand, as they are still trying to preserve the Lao culture by preserving Lao traditional clothing for Lao girls and women. They are still very stable in their conservative way of dressing, such as wearing Lao Sinh as the school uniform, from Kindergarten to University.
High School girls in Vientiane, Laos, photo by Madaboutais
Also when conducting business with officials, I would imagine that it is required for Lao women to wear Lao Sinh, otherwise one would be considered not dressing appropriate, imagine dressing in short shorts or bell-bottoms, I don’t think you’d get anything accomplish, I’d imagine that it’d be very insulting to the people that you’re conducting business with.
You don’t see too many bad news (if any at all) in terms of dressing too revealing or even rated music videos coming from Laos, and magazines are censored before publish and most are about promoting the Lao culture and Lao tourism.
As for the new Lao (Thai) movie, Sabaidee Luang Prabang, this is the first real Lao movie in 33 years, and they’re hoping that this will launch pad for a cultural revival. After watching the movie, I do have to say that Khamly Philavong presents herself well, she looks beautiful in her Lao Sinh, and her usage of the Lao language and well mannerism is just how I imagine a Lao girl to look like.
I really can’t say how long this preservation will last, as the Lao are absorbing its neighboring country’s adopted western culture. Lao language is changing, we are now speaking in mixed language of Lao/Thai and I can’t blame the people because they watch Thai TV, listen to Thai radio, and also the influence of the western culture from relatives living abroad also plays a major role of this change, it’s hard to keep the door shut when they’re knocking, forcing their way in. As for now, time might stand still in certain area, but not for long.
I understand the reasons for dress codes at schools.
But to dictate how adult women dress for busines or anything else is a throwback to the time when women were possesions. Modern women are free to do as they like. What next the burka?
Hi Somchai, I can understand their situation and we’re talking about Laos where the officials are trying to be like the parent, and as for most Lao parents, they still want their children to act and dress proper. I agree that “modern women are free to do as they like,” one would think that they would like to present themselves well, but that is not all the case, and the officials are concern for those that dress suggestively, stuff (don’t let me spell it out) spilling out, and this could lead to rape crime, and if you think that they think too much, yes, I agree but I think that they only think like most Lao parents.
Even in America, a free country, but if you want to dine in restaurants that required proper attire, you definitely can’t walk in there wearing t-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops, even if you have lots of money, you have to respect their rules.
I think there should be dress code for male/female students from 1st to 12th grade.
The pictures from the magazine must be an exaggeration. These girls are just model.
Just the other days I saw CNN reporting something about the cheerleader skirt being way too short. It was against school dress code. The cheerleader can only wear it at the game/practice but not in class.
Dallas, it’s not an exaggeration in Thailand, my second sister said that in Thai News, they said that in Khonekane Thailand, some school girls would wear this short skirt without wearing underwear and ride in back of the motorcycle, and the reporter mentioned, “wouldn’t that dirty the seat?” You be the judge. These girls in photos are not model, they’re real students. It’s not that shocking for me to hear or see, I’ve heard worse.
I am speechless for…..the attires, lack of common decency and respectful of others.
Dallas, read this post “Of Amoral Thai Coeds & Campus Bunnies” at absolutelybangkok.com.
Read the rest of the post here. Don’t forget to look at pictures at ‘comments’ of post.
I have doubts that the dresses used by the girls are of Western influences. Dressing like that is unacceptable in Europe, The US and Australia. I can assure you that no one is showing their undies here in public and I doubt this is big in Laos.
Those are Japanese influences in my view, especially the “school girl” look. It is widely spread knowledge that Japanese men love that school girl look because during that period in a girls’ life, it is forbidden for them to have any relationships with these girls.
As a consequence, Japanese men have developed a huge fetish for the school girl dresses. You desire most what is forbidden. And this developed into a fashion you can see in your first pictures. So in fact, it is more Eastern than Western.
What I also find strange that there seems to be this dichotomy between the old (traditional) and the new (Western influences). This does not need to be a contradiction. The choices are not black and white. You can have many traditions and still progress, culturally, to something that is more adaptive to the new world. Take the best of both worlds.
I had three different jobs in the US that required me to dress a certain way. As a student working at an auto parts store I had to wear uniform with blue or black slacks and black shoes.
At an insurance company, no jeans and t-shirts were allowed, no sleeveless top allowed, and skirt can not be shorter than the “dollar” rule. You hold up a dollar bill and measure from the bottom of your knees and the the skirt must touch the top of the bill. So in reality, it is barely above the knees.
I later work for the US government and had a dress code to follow. No jeans or t-shirts, no sleeveless top, skirt or dress also follow the “dollar” rule and during the summer, no flip flop or sandals without straps.
If I remember right, when wearing a skirt one must have stocking on, so no bare legs during the summer time.
As for Laos, I think to have a dress code where civil servants have to wear the Lao sinh is an acceptable thing or for visiting the temple, for Lao citizens. This is not much different than me going to a church on Sunday and have to dress in my Sunday’s best and that means no short skirts or jeans. I would stick out like a sore thumb if I dress like I am going to a mall to a church.
While this is the norm it is not forbidden for Lao women to wear pant suits or skirt suits to work or attending meeting. Most women I know prefer to wear the Lao sinh and then a nice blouse with a jacket on top.
Since we are outsiders looking in, we might think having a dress code for Lao girls and women is something that is so terrible but if you sit down and talk to many Lao women, they are very proud of their Lao sinh from the young to the old. Take for example of my family. When my cousin graduated from a university in Bangkok last year, all my aunts were dressed in their best Lao silk, even the ones from the US and my cousin wore a beautiful Lao silk blouse and her Lao sinh as she went up to accept her degree certificate. She graduated with honor and she was not ashamed to show the Thai people that she was from Laos. It’s that kind of mentality that will preserve the Lao clothing for the future.
If we are talking about economics, then what would become of the Lao silk industry and the Lao sinh? What would all the villagers do when there is no place for them to weave for a living?
Padek, good point that you’ve made, as Asian women in the past were very traditional. I think as the western culture absorbing into the SE Asia area, many things get lost in translation. I might sound ignorance to say this since I’ve not gone to Europe, but many Asian people have the (mis)conception about European women (or men) being carefree, such as nude beaches, freely showing off their glory in public, which you don’t find in Asia area (correct me if I’m wrong here), and I read all the time in Thai magazine that guys or people go to Thai beaches to look at Farang (white people) showing off their bodies, or taking their clothes off.
With this mind set, anything dressing provocatively is considered western influence with their own little twist of fashion. If you’re not familiar with the term ‘special service’ of Thai female students, this is actually the term for call g1rl, esc0rt service or pr0stitutution. I think it’s an idea or (mis)conception of what they think western culture is all about.
I still don’t see the point if a few Thai men have uncontrollable voyeuristic urges. This is certainly their problem. Also, in general the Thai sexual morale is much more “liberal” than the morale in any Western state, especially concerning the rights of men it seems…
My point was, however, that those mini dresses are Japanese (Eastern) and thus not Western influences. People don’t behave like that in public.
It is like anything odd and with sexual connotations is attributed to Westerners, but dear (SE) Asian friends, you might take a look in the mirror and discover it’s your state of mind, e.g., the biggest producer of adult movies in the world is not the US but China. Twice, three times the amount coming from the West. Sorry, I still feel this issue was addressed wrongly.