WINNIPEG – A high school in Winnipeg has joined other schools across North America in banning leggings.
The St. Boniface Diocesan High School Parent and Student Handbook says tights, leggings, yoga pants are not to be worn in the place of pants.
The school for students from Grades 9 to 12 also outlaws clothing that they say is excessively baggy or tight and says physically revealing or provocative dress isn’t allowed.
It prohibits short shorts for girls and boys, as well as what it calls extreme hairstyles.
Paul Olson, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, said he knew of a school in Manitoba where backpacks were banned years ago.
He said he had no comment on the leggings issue, but said elements of some dress codes can be – quote – “silly.”
The principal of a Minneapolis-area school didn’t mince words in an email late last year to parents, sparked by the trend of wearing leggings without having a sweatshirt or sweater to help cover their skin-tight nature.
“Some of our girls have chosen to wear T-shirts with the leggings, thus exposing more leg and backside area. This can be highly distracting for other students and I am asking for your assistance,” Dave Adney, principal of Minnetonka High School wrote.
One of the leading retailers of leggings can’t understand all the fashion fuss.
“I think it is appropriate for girls to wear leggings,” said Emma Dux, manager of American Apparel on Osborne Street.
“I don’t necessarily think it would reflect poorly on anybody if they did… but I can understand how some communities would think it’s inappropriate.”
Dux said she doesn’t think wearing leggings sexualizes women.
“I guess it also depends on how they’re being worn, too. I mean, are they wearing it with half of a T-shirt or are they wearing it with a sweatshirt?”
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