Column: Dressing for success, in the third grade and beyond

The headline in this newspaper read: "After a pair of students wore suits and neckties to school, many at Chelsea Elementary School now dress up for 'Dapper Wednesday.'"

My heart sang when I saw it.

I have clung to the old-fashioned, currently unfashionable, belief that appearances count. It has been a lonely stance.

But as I read that headline, I heard President John F. Kennedy’s words echoing in my ear, spoken when I myself was a wee (but well-dressed) child: “The torch has been passed to a new generation.”

Whew.

I’ve been worried about the state of dress in this country for awhile, ever since adults starting wearing pajama bottoms in public. Yuck. I thought about the time George Constanza started wearing sweatpants around the city in “Seinfeld,” prompting Jerry to make this point: “You know the message you're sending out to the world with these sweatpants? You're telling the world: ‘I give up. I can't compete in normal society. I'm miserable, so I might as well be comfortable.’”

Jerry was spot on. But the sticking point here is comfort. Do you see why I feel no one agrees with me about taking time and care with how we look before we hit the streets? That a productive member of society is out of their pj’s by 7 a.m. and doing something useful?

Comfort! That dastardly concept.

James Ramage and Lincoln Bolitho, the third graders who started the natty dress rage at Chelsea Elementary, quickly learned about the power of looking good.

“The first day I walked in the door, up the stairs, I got 20 compliments,” Lincoln said of his white three-piece suit.

Well, yeah!

I was an educator for over 30 years. One of the banes of my existence was “pajama day.” I completely understood (of course I did; I lived it) the horrors of the day before Christmas vacation. Why not make it fun and special and let the kiddos wear their flannel ensembles and plush robes so they could be comfortable as they endured the final hours before freedom and presents?

To me, it was just inviting trouble. I personally could not imagine spending a day at work in attire meant for my bed. Besides the unsavoriness of wearing intimate apparel in the germ-filled world, I always wanted to feel professional at work. And I thought students should too—in their own way.

I never dreamed I’d see 8-year-olds going to school in suits, but it’s a dream come true.

It’s simply easier to pay attention and to be on top of your game when you’re wearing a crisply starched shirt. I sincerely believe that anyone who wears a bow tie to pre-calc class walks in with a 20-point advantage over a pal wearing a grungy T-shirt with a motif of a marijuana plant on it.

I think uniforms for students are a good idea, so you can see where I’m coming from.

I grew up wearing dresses to school. We were only liberated when I was 15 and allowed to wear pants, including jeans. Of course I was thrilled. I loved my Madewell overalls, but I have to admit they did lead to slouching and perhaps to the disastrous grade on my analysis of E.M. Forster’s “A Passage to India” that I still haven’t gotten over.

Dean Paquette, a retired music teacher who works as an educational technician at Chelsea Elementary, supports the Dapper Wednesday movement. “I wore a suit and tie every day, and things have changed,” Paquette told the Central Maine Newspapers, “but for me, (wearing a suit) used to be professional looking.”

Exactly.

Since I grew up in the era when women wore hats and gloves to go shopping, I understand both the advantages and pitfalls of dressing up. My memories have been reinforced by the episodes of the original “Perry Mason” that I’ve been watching.

I enjoy the old legal drama’s vintage style—all the mid-century clothing, cars and interior design. I love it when I spot something I recognize, like the lamp with a ball-shaped base similar to the one I inherited from my mother.

But while I admire confidential secretary Della Street’s sheath dresses and pencil skirts (not to mention the pumps with peekaboo toes), I know there was a lot of pressure for women to keep thin and dress in what was deemed an appropriately feminine manner. Feminists burning their bras in the late 1960s might be a myth, but it works as a symbol. Their wired, uplifting bras and tight girdles were uncomforable and confining in more ways than one.

I’d like to think there can be a happy medium. Certainly it’s possible to look neat and attractive without being strapped into bindings that are both literal and metaphorical.

I think we do this by choosing to make a good appearance and setting our own standards for what that means. Bottom line: It involves putting in a little time and effort before heading out the door.

This was my solitary cry in the wilderness before I read about James and Lincoln and “Mr. P.” I thank them for giving me hope for a better-looking America.

As principal Allison Hernandez told Maine Public Radio, “It's a great message for James and Lincoln of all the impact they can have on the world just by being themselves.”

I welcome email at lizzie621@icloud.com