Shopping trip

I will admit, given the date of this blog, I have a tween.

She is a dancer. She likes wearing clothes that are not confining. For a performance, yes. She'll do what's necessary.

In real life, she prefers comfy clothes. Yoga pants, leggings, no buttons, easygoing arms...

Today, I went shopping for some summer clothes for Lil.

Do you know how hard that is? I'm not talking about Lil's requirements. I'm talking about the Howard County school system dress code. My friend Julia has discussed it over at http://villagegreentownsquared.blogspot.com/ as she's been dealing with the dress code for her daughter.

All of the stores are stocking tank tops for girls. It was hard to find t-shirts. Lil doesn't wear sweaters so how is she going to cover up her shoulders? Why the heck does she need to?

I had a discussion with an executive once at a firm I worked for regarding whether we were really in need of business casual dress versus business suits. I think I responded about the heat on my western window desk and that I didn't have any client interaction.

I cannot equate performance with clothing. I can equate perception with clothing. I've never been a big fan of Nikki Minaj, but this article completely changed my perception of her.

When you're in school, playing on the basketball court, running around, wearing sneakers and comfy clothes seems pretty reasonable. In a boardroom, wearing a suit seems reasonable.  But wearing a sleeveless dress is not offensive.

Wearing a three-piece suit in August in Washington, though, does seem questionable. A tank top in school for a 10 year old does not.