Denim pants, outlawed, yet nobody bats an eye at the sea of loungewear. As the season shifts into autumn and soon winter, it is essential to have a staple and appropriate pair of pants to wear. However, our dress code has one major limitation: the current ban on blue jeans. This regulation has stood as one of the longest-standing dress-code restrictions since the Upper School was established, but as time passes and the seasons change, the rules can, too.
The beauty of blue jeans is that they can be worn in a variety of styles; however, the restrictions on these versatile pants have been imposed under the assumption that blue jeans are too casual. Despite the blue jean restriction, we are allowed black, gray, white, red, and a myriad of other colored jeans, so the question must be asked: What is wrong with blue jeans?
Despite having a more unprofessional feel many years ago, over the past few decades, blue jeans have evolved into a must-have in easy-to-style outfits: Even Vogue agrees with us! In Vogue’s August 2025 edition, fashion editor Kristina Rutkowski advocated for the various styles of blue denim that one can wear this fall. Rutkowski offered some “bona fide closet classics,” including the 90s baggy style; the high, medium, and low rise; the skinny; the barrel; the bootcut; and numerous other iterations. In fact, over the past year or so, I have personally worn different variations of the denim look, such as jean jackets, skirts, dresses, and even shorts, just to add in what Rutkowski would call the “[outfit’s] building block.”
More often than not, I find myself and fellow classmates scared when it comes to wearing blue jeans to school, but we know that if we wear some form of loungewear, we have only a slim chance of facing the dress code consequences. If we want to eliminate an unprofessional feel at school, we should really hunker down on these loungewear regulations rather than come after the agreeable blue jeans. Blue jeans’ versatility can match almost any type of outfit without looking too informal, which is why it is crucial to include them in our dress code.
When discussing the SGA initiative to remove the blue jean rule, junior class president Cait Toop ‘27 stated how people should be able to “show up to school being their whole self”; if that includes wearing blue jeans, so be it. Cait, being an avid fan of denim, is in the process of creating a video to highlight the sense of identity that blue jeans bring to the Potomac halls. Personally, I always find it cool to see how people style them differently on our free dress days, and students such as Woodley Bohannon ‘28 “love the chance to wear [them].”
Although blue jeans may have, once upon a time, looked too casual for a school environment, they can now be a more elevated look, embracing individuality and creativity amongst members of our community. Let’s all embrace the denim look and take down the blue jean ban.
