"you should see me dressed up in my uniform"

At the university there are three levels of students: pre-college, undergraduate, and graduate. The pre-college and undergraduate students all wear uniforms. At first I was taken aback by what seemed like a homogenous sea of white shirts and black skirts or pants, but it didn't take me long to start to see the subtle changes the students make to try to individualize their uniforms.

The pre-college students have less leeway for personal expression than the undergaduates: their appearance is mandated from haircut to shoes. The boys wear short-sleeved shirts and black knee-length shorts, with black canvas sneakers. The girls wear shirts with big puffed sleeves and pleated skirts that fall just below the knee, with pleather Mary Janes. But it seems to be a badge of honor among the boys to wear uniform shoes with as many gaping holes as possible, and to slide them on only halfway so that they are standing on what should be behind their heels. The girls, although they comply with the big white or black bows that tie their ponytails, seem to be competing for the messiest, shaggiest ponytail that includes the smallest amount of hair. They have their bangs cut thick and shaggy, layered all the way down the sides of their faces, so that the only hair that makes it into the teeny ponytail with the huge bow is the hair from the very backs of their heads.

The undergraduates have a little more freedom. The male students wear white button-down shirts and black trousers with black shoes, and the females wear the same type of shirts with black skirts. Haircuts, shoes, and accessories are up to them. In what I can only imagine is a mild form of hazing, first-semester freshmen of both sexes are also required to wear black ties. Everyone must wear a brown suede belt, which is a little superfluous for the girls because their skirts don't have belt loops. In addition, most of them are so thin that even with the belt buckled on the tightest loop it hangs on their hips like a Hula hoop.

Having satisfied these requirements, the students are able to make any modifications they want to. That means that there is a wide range of, for instance, skirt lengths. On the one end of the fashion spectrum are the very conservative girls (including Muslims in headscarves), wearing floor-length skirts and long sleeves. Somewhere in the middle you'll find knee-length skirts, beat-up sneakers, and short-sleeved shirts. On the other end are miniskirts with slits up the thigh, high-heeled sandals, and shirts so tight that the buttons strain to the extent that bare skin is visible between them.

But the girls aren't the only ones who like to individualize their uniforms. However, while they can be placed on a spectrum according to the amount of skin they show, the boys' spectrum runs more to shagginess. On the one end are the former or current soldiers, who wear spotlessly shined shoes, bright white shirts that fit them, and pressed slacks. They also tend to have conservative haircuts. In the middle are the untucked-shirt and baggy-pants crew, encompassing a large proportion of the student population. Then there are the "rebels," who craftily substitute black jeans for slacks and let their hair grow shaggy and wild. Some of the freshmen, with their combed-forward haircuts and their thin black ties, look like George Harrison circa 1965.

All this to say, vive la difference.