While today it’s normal for a woman to go to class in Nike shorts or for a man to sport a pair of jeans, not so long ago these clothes would have been met with a punishment from University administration.
University archivist Barry Cowan explained that until social change swept the nation in the late 1960s, the University was governed by a strict dress code.
“There were a lot of regulations governing what girls could wear, but not so much for the boys,” Cowan said. “It was absolutely a completely different world back then.”
Pam Vinci, curator of the LSU Textile and Costume Museum, graduated from the University in 1967 and had to comply with the dress code during that time. She remembered how women were not allowed to leave a residence hall wearing pants unless they were going bowling or horseback riding.
“After the dress code was relaxed, the dress for women especially became relaxed,” Vinci said. “Women could finally wear bell bottoms and platform shoes, which was very different from when I was here.”
Cowan said the dress code ended due to the 1960s youth movement.
“I don’t know if there was a big student movement to change the dress code, but it was certainly because of the young people and young ideas that were all across the country at the time,” Cowan said.
Vinci said she believes the University was one of the last in the nation to do away with its dress code.
“This was the era of Free Speech Alley becoming popular in front of the Union, which probably played a part in getting rid of the dress code,” she said. “We were probably one of the last universities to abolish the dress code.”
 
 
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Contact Joey Groner at [email protected]