Girls Just Wanna Be in Style

Cara Fitzsimmons was sure she’d die of embarrassment. Other girls in her class were equally upset and vowed to voice their outrage in a petition.

Cara, 12, and her friends had just endured a shorts inspection: They were lined up and told to place their hands at their sides, and teachers then checked to make sure each girl’s shorts were no higher than her fingertips, per the school’s new dress code.

“They want us to wear ‘old people’ shorts,” said Cara, whose shorts flunked one of the daily inspections that took place recently at George Washington Middle School in suburban Alexandria, Va. “They just don’t make shorts like that for us.”

It may sound like a desperate excuse, but editors of teen magazines, parents and even some principals say the girls have a point. Shorts for girls are indeed being made shorter this year.

Sarah Meikle, fashion director of Seventeen magazine, said girls’ shorts are a few inches shorter this year, a sort of backlash against the recent baggy look. Meikle was shocked to hear that many schools require shorts as low as a student’s fingertips.

“Long shorts are a ‘No way,’ ” she said. “Shorts this summer for girls are supposed to be short shorts.”

The fingertips rule was relaxed at Gunston Middle School in suburban Arlington, Va.: Girls now are allowed to put their hands at their sides and make a fist, which means they can wear shorts about two or three inches shorter.

“Even some of our teachers have said that you can’t buy long shorts for girls,” said Principal Greg Croghan, who finally relaxed the policy because so many girls were being sent to the office. “It’s really hard when you’re a young girl and you are confronted with what you wear. A 12-year-old girl looks at herself in the mirror 15 times before she leaves. It’s an emotional thing.”

But Croghan also keeps a bag of what students call “dork shorts”--a collection of pleated, polyester, gym-style and plain cloth shorts, bought by the school or donated, that girls must wear if they fail the test.

Boys aren’t part of this flap. For them, baggy shorts--the longer the better--are still very much the fashion. It’s the girls’ shorts that are giving headaches to principals.

“You can’t win with this one,” said Michael Doran, principal at a Bethesda, Md., middle school. “You get five or six girls together and you’ve got a tough fight about this. I have to talk to one girl today about her short shorts. Who knows what to do.”

At Julius West Middle School in Rockville, Md., Principal Jim Fernandez said he’s trying to allow some leeway, but with some of the shorts this year, there is “more hanging out than stuffed in.”

“They bought new shorts this year, and they are shorter and tighter than ever. It’s like they are wearing last year’s shorts on this year’s body,” Fernandez said. “I know it’s the style, but what isn’t even noticed now in the mall or at the beach is just not acceptable for school.”

The fingertips rule was put in place this year at George Washington Middle School in Alexandria, after Principal Rob Weinkle saw the shorts were getting shorter. Alexandria schools spokeswoman Barbara Hunter said Weinkle has heard no complaints. But 40 students have signed a petition that they plan to send to Weinkle, and some parents said the new rule is too strict.

“They lined up these good kids like they were little sexpots,” said Patti Reilly, whose daughter, Carrig Balderston, was upset after being inspected. “I mean, isn’t this public school? There has to be a compromise.”

At Gunston, girls think Croghan’s “fist” test is still too strict. Recently, as Croghan showed off some of the school-bought shorts that would be allowed under the new policy, Rebecca Garrison, 14, and her friends moaned and cried out, “Ewww!”

“It’s just another way of humiliating us. There are girls who wear booty shorts, but do we have to be punished for wearing regular short shorts?” Rebecca asked. Croghan smiled weakly and looked concerned.

“If I wear those,” said Christine Woolway, 13, looking at the pile, “my social life is over.”