Deirdre Meaney ’14: Students skillfully demonstrate the art of accessorizing when they put on their uniforms each day. Fashionable students at Episcopal rarely feel limited by the boundaries set forth by the dress code. Often, they dress up their kilts and polo shirts with patterned scarves, bold flats, and vibrant sweaters. The Upper School maintains uniform requirements that create an identity for the school, while also giving students the flexibility to customize with color and texture.
The arrival of autumn bears witness to an influx of advertisements for uniform apparel from various department stores and mass retailers.
Melanie Cox, a parent of three Episcopal alumni and a three- term member of the Episcopal Board of Directors, has spent 30 years in the fashion industry as the Head of Merchandising and Design for the Urban Outfitters retail division, the president of Gymboree Corporation, and the CEO of Scoop NYC. Faced with the restrictions of school uniforms within the industry, she commented, “[Department stores] attempt to make the fashion right, but sometimes this is difficult because the restrictions from the stricter uniform schools tend to dictate the creative guardrails.”
“Outside of the actual apparel, the teen attempts to incorporate accessories and shoes that are fashion relevant to whatever ability they can without getting caught,” noted Cox. “These items are selected more from what is trending in the moment. If neon accents on tennis shoes are important from a trend perspective, I can bet that there are some showing up on the feet of students at schools like EA. If decorative scarves are a hot fashion item, I would bet that there will be many students who show up wearing them.”
In the entertainment industry, celebrating individualism within the confines of a dress code is exemplified by the preppy characters seen on the CW’s Gossip Girl, a popular series known for its bold and daring fashions. Gossip Girl’s Blair and Serena were able to attract the attention of designers, triggering a rebirth of the preppy trend popular with private school students.
Cox addressed the preppy wave, which the media was able to revive, explaining, “Designers are first and foremost cultural anthropologists in that they study the influence that popular culture has on the marketplace. Those influences are then translated then applied to the designs for the upcoming season. A show like Gossip Girl made the preppy trend come back in fashion on a much broader scale than existed prior to the show.”
It is important to recognize that a preppy brand attracts students from a prep school environment who will influence brands to produce apparel suitable to wear with a uniform. Cox, confirming the importance of label identity, stated, “If a fashion brand has a target customer in the high school range and has a brand DNA that is ‘preppy,’ the impact of school uniforms becomes relevant.”
The industry of fast fashion brands and retailers must always be aware of the demographics of their target consumers and current trends. However, students interest in fashion will usually disregard trends and use the wide availabilty of clothing and styles that the trend-focused fast fashion industry provides for their own fashion-forward expression. In this way, room for creativity within a dress code becomes more available through the rising connection between media and retailers.

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