The day President Nixon was shown walking on the beach wearing a suit and tie was the day the White House lost its credibility as a fashion leader.
There were stories about how reporter Helen Thomas was chastised by Mr. Nixon for wearing slacks on Air Force One and a female employee in the Reagan White House was sent to her room to exchange her jeans for something proper, but generally people in this country dress the way they want.Trust me when I tell you women will not rush to the stores to buy copies of hats worn by Hillary and Tipper at this year's inaugural.
There is no dress code in America. I have been to New York where a Viking talks to himself and a man dressed in nothing but an apron and a spatula walks by, and no one gives them so much as a glance.
At the University of California at Berkeley, a student known as "the Naked Guy" has appeared nude since last September. The courts declared if there was no lewd behavior, there was no law against it. The university just passed one.
Occasionally, you'll see a front-page story about a kid who was sent home from school for wearing an obscene message on a T-shirt, but by and large anything goes. Somewhere in the Constitution is an amendment that guarantees the right of Shelley Winters to wear a wet suit in public if she chooses to do so.
I work in a small office in my home. Actually, there are only two of us. We push the envelope of that freedom. If we had to give a name to our style, it would be the Buckingham Palace look: Nothing is considered too tasteless. We mix plaids and stripes, winter and summer, casual and formal - on the same day.
We have categories. Some days I appear in a "I beg you, do not let me answer the door" outfit. (A catsuit with a T-shirt that reads, "It's Hard to Be Nostalgic When You Can't Remember Anything.")
There's my "Jeopardy" costume. If you can guess the year this outfit was in style, you qualify for the final round.
My personal favorite is what I refer to as my tax audit outfit. My secretary says it looks like I dressed in the closet. Running pants, wool sweater and Birken-stocks without hose. From the rear I look like an aerial view of the Super Bowl.
I just read a bulletin from the White House that said Hillary Clinton will probably not wear slacks because it will "cause a stir when it happens."
My office can handle that.
1993 Universal Press Syndicate