30 / Mar / 2012 - Friday
On Fashioning Oneself (From the perspective of a Catholic Schoolgirl at heart)
What’s in a name? A value, a principle, an identity. A name symbolizes who you are, what you do. It also could be a reliable gauge of the same things as they will eventually happen. A name could symbolize who you are going to be, what you are going to do. A name is given, by your parents, by your friends, even by your enemies. A name is used: by you, by others. A name, most importantly in this context, is worn.
The Plaid, in a word, is iconic. Its comprehensibility encompasses provinces, even countries This kind of recognition could be attributed to the established reputation of Assumption as a brand of education. It has been around for really long, after all.
Many accounts have been written about this school, and mine would be no different. It would be a first-hand description (sometimes raving, sometimes ranting), of how it was to be taught this way, in this particular campus. What it adds, however, is a testament to the honest-to-goodness, real growth every girl experiences, studying in this school. The development naturally varies. We graduate from this campus, go off into college and pursue different fields of interest (or imposition, depends on the dictates of one’s parents). Some thrive, and some don’t. While the success rate of an Assumptionista (or anyone from any school for that matter) does not entirely rely on her primary or secondary education, the training from it undeniably tips the scale to the better.
Assumption espouses the value of discipline and simplicity by imposing uniforms. There’s the Plaid for regular days (White blouse, plaid necktie, plaid skirt, plain white socks, closed black shoes. Hair accessories limited to white, black or red. Three years out of High School and I can still recite it without batting an eyelash),
And the Gala Uniform on special occasions. We attend school masses and formal celebrations (i.e., Graduation) alike in this all-white attire.
And there’s the PE uniform for, well, PE. (It’s important to note, too that the PE uniform has been updated. Hooray for us, who were still around when it happened.)
(Old PE) (New PE)
We tried to stray from this shared look by sporting various (allowed) hairstyles. No color alteration, faux, too short styles (mohawks) allowed.
Also by trying to have a little fun/defiance when we can get away with it.
(Hiding out for a lack of necktie!)
(Trying to make the batch shirt more interesting with masking tape)
Needless to say, this was a group of teenagers that were raring to differentiate themselves from one another. School functions that allowed us to come to school in anything but the uniform were widely, and very much anticipated. Opportunities to showcase one’s fashion sense were limited to these events so it was a normal occurrence to rush out to the malls on the day before, say, the annual School Fair, to buy a brand new outfit to wear to it.
(School fair!)
There was also the famous Dengue Attire. Every year during the rainy season, we were allowed to wear outfits that would cover our extremities, in order to protect us from Dengue-carrying mosquitoes. Students, utilitarian as they were, would take advantage of this period. More often than not, they would wear Dengue Attire especially on Fridays so they could go straight to gimmicks after school, being that we were never allowed to go out in uniform lest we spoil the name of our school.
(The much - utilized Dengue Attire)
The stakes in fashion expression then were very high: because you had few opportunities to prove yourself, you had to make the most out of it.
Strangely enough, even when you wore something similar to someone else’s in school, it was okay. In fact, it was cute, to do so.
(A celebration of Chuck Taylors)
This is probably because this particular brand of shoes that you share with others was highly approved. Besides the fact that it was comfortable and fit with anything from jeans, to shorts, and even dresses, it was the “in” thing. In more familiar terms, it was “uso”. And even if it meant being the same with one another as usual, you wanted to belong. This sense of being one and the same has been very deeply rooted in one’s mindset, whether or not she intended for it to be.
Unspoken rules existed. Some fashion styles and items had to be justified. For example, it was only okay for you to wear clothes na kaya mong dalhin. I.e., if you weren’t a dancer, you had no right to wear trucker hats. The scrutiny was (more often than not) not very pronounced, as we were all polite and did not want to appear as bullies, but it was there.
When we grew older, majority of our class went off to different universities that did not require uniforms. It was one of the most liberating things about college: to have to think about what to wear to school the next day. For the first time for a lot of us, our fashion statements need not be limited to accessories or haircuts. We could wear absolutely anything we want. And all of us did. Many came to fulfill the fashion roles set out for them in High School. The adventurous ones in Senior Year were finally able to dress themselves up freely. The anime characters that the artsy types in our batch initially just watched and drew in freehand, they could imitate now. Even the quiet, introverted ones ventured into the whole stylish scene. Still some, remained the same.
When people come out of High School and step into college, it becomes a chance for them to retain who they were back then, or fashion and entirely new personality. They are free to do so, because no one in college (or very few) has had preconceived expectations for them to act. If ever there are, then they feel free enough to shatter those labels and make new ones from themselves. Whatever it is, it’s an opportunity to do something to pursue your identity most actively.
This sense of self, however, is chosen still on the basis of an imposed code. Even if there aren’t uniforms to be worn anymore, even if you choose your own outfits and are allowed to do anything these are still social norms that we follow. We still follow trends and try to keep up. The difference lies in who we do these things for. If in High School, we follow rules and try to keep our noses clean, now in this less-boxed-in world, we do it for ourselves alone. To make statements, and to actively pursue who we want to be. When we really think about it, High School never really ends in this sense. We still follow rules, but in a much bigger world now. There aren’t uniforms anymore, but in some sense, they’re still imposed… By society this time.
So what’s in a name? What’s in a worn piece of identity? Choice. And with that choice comes the conviction to still stand out, if only by principle: that we choose what to do with how we look, how we are, what we become. We pose with it, mighty proud.
