In October, the New York Times published a fashion article entitled, “Young Mormons Find Ways to Be Hip.” In it, Mormon twenty-somethings talked about how “geek-chic glasses,” plaid and even selvedge jeans (that’s serious stuff!) are finally becoming typical attire for the religious crowd.
Not so fast, Brigham Young University-Idaho responded. The Mormon university, which is owned and run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, happens to be reiterating its dress code policy, lest hipster kids with facial hair begin to overrun campus.
As Gawker reported, BYU-I seemed to be tightening up its honor code guidelines by banning all types of “form-fitting clothing,” including — gasp! — skinny jeans.
Independent BYU newspaper The Student Review reported on the apparently updated dress code, identifying a sign on campus that read, “No skinny jeans.”
One student, Rachel Taylor, quoted in the paper said the skinny jean crackdown has come recently as more BYU-I kids adopt such denim styles, including the worst offender: jeggings. Writes The Student Review:
Taylor said she knew of one student who had been asked to leave the university’s testing center because she was wearing skinny jeans.
But Kevin Miyasaki, BYU-I Student Services and Activities Vice President, clarified that there is not a skinny jeans ban per se. In an email to Gawker, he wrote, “We have not identified ‘skinny jeans’ as a specific violation of the dress and grooming standard.”
He added, “The Testing Center has not made any new standard, nor has there been a ban of a particular piece of clothing.”
So no ban. Butttt it still seems like those slim-cut J. Brands you’ve been hiding under your lofted BYU dorm bed are a no-no. Which is a good thing, too — Mormonism-observing and Brooklyn-dwelling Britain Baker told the New York Times that Mormons tend to hold lots of dessert parties (in lieu of the drinking parties they can’t have).
Such parties can put one’s sartorial tendencies in danger. “Because of all the dessert parties,” Britain told the Times, “skinny jeans can be a bitch.”
So new strategy for BYU-I! Feed the kids so much dessert that they can’t even get their skinny jeans on. Problem solved.
[Side note: if inappropriately form-fitting clothing is prohibited, how are the cheerleaders allowed to wear miniskirts with their panties showing? Just wondering. See pics below.]
(Via Gawker)
CORRECTION: Previously, this article incorrectly stated the university in question to be Brighman Young University, not Brigham Young University-Idaho. We have corrected the error.
