Mercer Island High stylin”
Published 6:42 pm Monday, November 24, 2008
By Cody Ellerd
Shayna Medved is thrilled about getting ready for school Sept. 6.
After three years covered up and buttoned-down under a strict dress code at Northwest Yeshiva High School, she is transferring to Mercer Island High. For the first time, her classrooms will be glossy fashion spreads of necklines, jewelry, sleeve lengths and daring hairdos. She might think her trip down the hallway more closely resembles a walk down the runway.
There are still a few days left to shop, but Medved already has hit the stores and knows what she’s going to wear on her first day: jeans, heels, a long shirt and straightened hair. It’s not outrageous, but the freedom to choose is what’s important.
“I’m super excited to get away from the dress code,” she said.
The MIHS student council last spring approved modifications to the school’s vague dress code to address the problem of provocative attire and T-shirts with references to drugs and alcohol. Even with the new restrictions, though, personal styles students described as anything from “trendy-bohemian” to “whatever feels good” will be on display as Mercer Island students kick off the 2005-2006 school year.
“People should be able to express themselves,” said Ryan Johnson, an incoming MIHS junior who looks like any other kid on the court except for the tightly-curled brown afro billowing a good 10 inches off of his head. He could never get away with such a coif if he attended Yeshiva, where the dress code says “the hair of male students should be kept trimmed.” Johnson’s hair hasn’t seen scissors since the eighth grade.
Thundering into the school parking lot on his Suzuki motorcycle, Jef Song expresses himself rather loudly. Still, he said, he’s “going to try to look nice” for his teachers. He plans to wear a tight-fitting blue shirt “light, like the sky.” Over it, a button-up collared shirt with long sleeves and pink and white stripes, paired with jeans. He doesn’t put too much thought into his clothes, though, he adds.
Many MIHS students who do (or at least admit they do), are heading to Bellevue Square to do their shopping. Hollister, Champs, Old Navy and Abercrombie & Fitch are some of the more popular destinations. Shaija Romey, assistant manager at the Bellevue Abercrombie said that destroyed denim, tank tops “embellished” with sequins and jewels, polo-style shirts and graphic tees are what they’re buying.
“Stuff that’s very simple, yet worn,” she reports.
Others prefer threads that actually have been worn. Ari Robbins likes “the thrift store because it’s cheap” and T-shirts from rock concerts. Quentin Orem, a junior sporting his grandfather’s rainbow-striped sweat band, shops at thrift stores as well. But he heads to the women’s section to find sweaters in shades of pink and orange.
“I like a lot of color,” he said.
As for the new dress code, Orem, like most boys interviewed, doesn’t feel too threatened. They see most of the changes as primarily applying to girls, which Orem thinks is a great idea.
“The way girls dress these days, it’s like `woah, what’s going on?’ It’s distracting,” he said.
Student council members agreed some students were dressing a little too racy. It was, after all, a body of students that decided the issue needed to be addressed, Jeff Lowell, the student faculty advisor points out.
“School should be a place where kids come to learn, not where they show off the latest fashion from the runway,” Lowell said.
Just tell that to the kids.
