By Amelia Tan

WHAT you wear is a big deal.

While we'd like to think we can exert sartorial freedoms, when it comes to dressing for school, it seems the fashion jury is still out.

Responses to a recent Straits Times blog I wrote commending the Management Development Institute of Singapore's (MDIS) for its dresscode crackdown spanned the gamut.

The school introduced rules preventing students from wearing shorts and flip-flops on campus. The rationale: Students need to dress appropriately for classes.

When I agreed, I got, uh, a dressing down - some called me a prude. But others agreed with me and were appalled by campus fashion faux pas.

The latter were generally parents of teenagers or undergraduates. The former, a younger set who pooh-poohed a dresscode, which they see as a crimp on their personal style.

But I say with access to great fashion comes great responsibility.

You may have the right to wear whatever you want, but don't forget that others have to look at you.

As an undergraduate at Nanyang Technological University, I found my classmates' sloppiness disrespectful to professors and the learning environment.

While my own daily T-shirts and jeans do not qualify me to be fashion police, I do know that micro-mini shorts, oh-so-low- cut tops and bedclothes do not give their wearers any credibility.

Plus it was distracting to see so much flesh, which served only to elicit plenty of lewd remarks.

'Net Geners' see this range of clothing options as an expression of identity.

Don Tapscott in his book Grown Up Digital: How The Net Generation Is Changing Your World wrote that 'freedom of choice' and 'personalisation' are key traits among those who have grown up in the digital age.

He says access on the Internet has made this set 'smarter, quicker and more tolerant of diversity than their predecessors'.

If so, I wondered, then why can't they realise that their choices have an impact on others too?

Why did we need a dresscode to tell us our style was just plain out of sync with the environment we live in?

Surely young adults are just as able to cultivate decorum - a sense of good taste - when it comes to their appearance.

Singaporeans' unofficial dresscode in already quite casual. Most offices do not require their staff to don suits everyday.

Don't you think putting in a bit more effort is not too much to ask for?

ameltan@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 24 Nov, 2008.