Before you buy that cashmere vest for a job that involves mopping floors, ask yourself: Is this really necessary for the job? If the answer is no, you aren't being difficult. You are identifying a frivolous dress order. And it is time to call it out.
Paradoxically, the attempt to suppress frivolous dress often amplifies its power. When an authority declares an item of clothing frivolous, it instantly imbues that item with rebellious significance. The flapper’s short dress and shorn hair in the 1920s, the zoot suit worn by Mexican American and Black youth during World War II (which led to the infamous Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles), or the modern hoodie in the wake of the Trayvon Martin case—all were targets of informal or formal dress orders. By labeling these styles as wasteful, unpatriotic, or threatening, authorities inadvertently turned fabric and thread into flags of resistance. The frivolous becomes political. To wear a forbidden garment is to reject not just a rule, but the entire system of values that rule represents. Frivolous Dress Order
Functions of Frivolous Dress Orders