Charlyn and Andalyn Mullen and their friend Jennifer Pederson are used to showing a lot of skin. The 16-year-olds are lifeguards at Everett’s Forest Park Swim Center.
What’s appropriate at the pool is way out of place at school, and they know it. While many of their peers push the limits of decency, the Cascade High School juniors are pushing an idea whose time has come again – propriety.
I started to type “modesty.” But having met Pederson and the Mullen twins, that perfectly good word seems a bit dowdy. Cute, stylish and not all that covered up, these girls are nevertheless on a mission.
Their slogan is “Dress for Respect,” the centerpiece of a Distributive Education Clubs of America project at Cascade. DECA is a career and marketing organization for high school students.
How skimpy have school clothes become?
“From a male teacher’s perspective, thongs – I don’t mean shoes – thong straps are prevalent in high schools,” said George Brush, a marketing teacher and DECA adviser at Cascade.
“We’re hoping to develop guidelines for school and the workplace,” Brush said. “Boys wear their boxers showing, but the biggest distraction are girls’ low jeans with thongs – holy smokes.”
Well said, Mr. Brush.
The club plans to get the word out by asking area businesses to display signs saying “CHS DECA supports Dress for Respect.” On Nov. 27, the group will hold an auction, dinner and fashion show to promote the campaign. A start-of-school assembly will feature skits showing suitable and unsuitable outfits.
“Maybe if they see it coming from us, they’ll listen,” said Charlyn Mullen, who is on the Cascade cheerleading squad. She aspires to attend the Fashion Institute of Design &Merchandising in San Diego and to land a job in the apparel business. “I’m liking the ’50s styles I’m seeing,” she said.
A trend watcher, she’s noticed that the new fall styles are influenced more by the young Audrey Hepburn’s ladylike look than by Britney Spears’ bare belly.
A Redmond girl, 11-year-old Ella Gunderson, found herself in the national spotlight this year after she wrote to Nordstrom management complaining that she couldn’t find clothing that didn’t leave girls half-naked. She and Peter Nordstrom, the retailer’s executive vice president, appeared on NBC’s “Today” show.
Andalyn Mullen said it is possible to walk into stores popular with teens and find jeans and shirts with more coverage. “But that’s not what they put on the models,” she said.
“Sex sells,” her sister agreed.
Low-slung pants and bare midriffs may still be the rage, but 17-year-old Evan Bovard, another DECA member, is unimpressed. “Those really tight jeans, and their stomach hangs out. Guys make comments all the time,” said Bovard, a senior at Cascade.
The Everett School District dress code doesn’t permit “attire that shows or displays undergarments; inadequately covers chest/breasts, midriff, buttocks or thighs; displays obscene, sexual, drug or alcohol-related messages; or displays gang-related symbolism.”
Brush said schools walk a fine line between allowing self-expression and enforcing decent dress.
“For businesses, it can be a harassment issue. It makes life tougher,” Brush said. “We have to make that decision – hey, cover yourself up at work and at school.”
I’m from the generation of the twins’ parents, Crystal and David Mullen. Crystal Mullen, 46, said, “I have a picture of myself in hot pants and go-go boots.”
That fashion faux pas aside, she’s right when she compares today’s atmosphere for women in the workplace with the bad old days. “Women have worked so hard to get it out of the realm of sexual innuendo,” she said.
Her daughter Andalyn is wise beyond her years when she thinks of reactions to thong and bra straps, cleavage of one sort or another, and all that exposed skin.
“These girls don’t understand the message they’re sending,” Andalyn said. “I’ve heard what boys say about some girls. It’s nothing those girls would want to hear.”
No need to be a frump. If “Dress for Respect” is too prim, Charlyn has an alternative: “Modest is hottest.”
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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