Institutional dress codes forced hip identities underground, widening the gap between appearance and belief

Evidence

The entire situation was made even more chaotic by the fact that, simultaneously, forces were also operating in the other direction. That is, a good many persons were far less “straight” than they appeared. Dress regulations could be and were enforced in both school and work settings (although they were constantly being challenged in the courts), such that many persons who might wish to express a more “hip” identity were prevented from doing so-at least for part of the day. In addition, many of the politically-oriented young-radical, liberal, and moderate-knowing that their usual appearance was offensive to the people they wished to influence, adopted what were thought to be more uncommittal styles. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 456

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Breakdown of informal dress norms in the 1960s forced schools into formal codes — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 185