Anyway, enough with the historical details, my problem is one of a different nature. Every year on the 28th of October the greek army, the red cross nurses, war veterans, groups dressed in greek folklore costumes and school pupils in uniforms parade in the main street of every city. If you live in a country like Canada, Australia or the USA you may have witnessed them yourself. Remember those guys? You can't ever forget guys wearing white pleated skirts and shoes with pom-poms. Now, here's the really weird part. You see, in no other country in Europe school pupils parade military-style. They just put some flowers on a monument and that's it. Those kind of parades where conceived by Hitler in order to cultivate a military-like discipline among the german youth and were introduced to Greece in the late 60's, during the 7-year military junta of the Colonels.
So why are those parades still around? Like many things in Greece, they just are. So our problem here today isn't why they still exist, but what schoolkids - more specifically schoolgirls - wear when participating in them. You see, the greek media has scrutinized those schoolgirls' sartorial choices a lot lately, and not without cause. The parade - which, remember people, shouldn't even exist in the first place - has been twisted into a young hos catwalk. I may be verging on harsh or judgmental here, which I hate to be, but someone's gotta stop this madness:
What's with the leg? Ok, I understand that you are young and want the boys to notice you, but seriously, put something on or you'll catch a cold.The schools have tried to control this phenomenon using rulers to measure the hem's distance from the knee and threatening with expulsions, but it just won't stop. And while I really support everyone's freedom to wear whatever they want, this is just bad taste. It's universally considered wrong to wear track bottoms to a job interview or a plunging neckline to a christening, so why should it be considered ok to wear tight miniskirts and cropped tops to celebrate a national holiday? In late October, may I add. So, until those ridiculous parades are stopped altogether, why not turn them into a fashion event? Here's my take on what greek schoolgirls could wear:
And remember, knowing when to say "no" is what makes our choices. Happy "Ochi" Anniversary!
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