Uni- or Unique-form

It's "back to school" and millions of students are pulling out their school uniforms. And curiously, no matter what continent or country, no matter the diversity of styles and clothes around the world, school uniforms are uni-form: in the choice of darkish colors and a somewhat European designs.

How can that be, you ask, that school uniforms in Africa, look the same as in Asia, as they do in Latin America, Europe and elsewhere in the world? The answer is simple: thanks to a certain colonial influence, many school systems around the world were modeled after the European school system not just with respect to their curricula but also their fashion.

Take the "traditional" Japanese school uniform: the boy's secondary school outfit, the gakuran, which sports a dark jacket with stand-up collar and buttons down the front, is modeled after the Prussian army uniform worn in the 1870s when Japan was looking to Europe for ideas to build its education system. Today, school uniforms have become a Japanese fashion item inspiring fashion parades to show off latest designs. Especially the sailor fuku, the naval uniform worn by girls is well known thanks to its appearance in Japanese cartoons known as mangas. Nevertheless, the super-short skirts that you may have seen be worn by Sailor Moon, the High School Girls or in Gonz·lez IÒ·rrituís Film Babel are likely to be fiction rather than reality: there is a minimum length for skirts in schools and teachers do enforce them; although, I wouldn't vouch for what happens outside school.

In the US school uniforms, especially in public schools, have not just a shorter but a less inspiring history. Uniforms or strict dress codes started to b introduced in the 1980s to "prevent kids from shooting each other over designer sneakers". Whether it helps is difficult to say but, it has sparked some strong reactions not just in children but also in parents who feel their freedom of expression to be violated. But do dress codes and uniforms really have to infringe on rights? Maybe a uniform design contest could turn a nerds uni-form into a unique-form and a fashion statement · la Japan.

And in case you are looking for a new supplier, you can have your new batch of school uniforms hand tailored by HandCrafting Justice and give mothers in Mexico and Laos the opportunity to send their children to school, too.