The 60’s Hair Scandal

At Govs, hair is a huge statement for guys and apparently it always has been. Surprisingly, this caused problems in the late 60’s, even resulting in a rule put into the student handbook. According to English department faculty member John B. Ogden in his personal recollection, boys’ hair had to constantly be “closely trimmed” and “a barber from Newburyport came to the school one evening a week and boys signed up for services (or were signed up).” Ogden also tells the story of one boy who refused to go to his appointments and after continuing to rebel after a talking to from the Dean, was brought to the headmaster’s attention, who said: “I do not want to expel a boy for having long hair.”

Upon looking through the Milestones from the late 60s, it was clear that this rule was no joke. Every boy had the exact same hairstyle and it wasn’t an exciting one either. The reference source Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms addresses the male hair trends of the 60s, stating that “buzz cuts went out of style as the dominant haircut for men, and men increasingly went to stylists instead of barbers to keep their hair in fashion.” This was clearly a pivotal moment in history, as men started to express themselves more freely through how they present themselves.

It is unfortunate that Govs had to regulate the students’ appearances, but it is also interesting to relate it to the present. If this rule were in effect nowadays, I think it would cause absolute uproar from the students. It is hard to imagine the administration telling us how we can and can’t wear our hair and teachers scheduling us appointments when it got too long. Besides that, I can’t even imagine how it would make the hockey boys feel.

These pages from the 1968 Milestone show just how similar (and boring) every boys’ hairstyle was during this time period.

These boys from 1969 seem to have grown their hair out slightly, which the administration probably was not happy about.

These students’ hairstyles from 2014 definitely break the rules enforced in the 60s at Govs.

The Evolution of Prom Style

Prom season is among us. For some, this is very stressful. Finding the perfect look is a big deal to most people at Govs. Girls spend weeks and weeks searching for a dress they like and boys try to come up with original ways to wear the classic tux.

As I’ve been looking through various editions of the Milestone from the early 2000s, something that has jumped out at me is how much prom style has changed. I mean, it has changed a LOT. It’s not that the dresses or tuxes were bad, they were just very different. As far as tuxes go, it seems that the males stuck with a classic black tux, whereas now there’s a lot more color variation. However, I did notice more cummerbunds than I’ve seen at the proms I’ve experienced (for those wondering, a cummerbund is that thing that guys wear around their waist over their shirt with tuxes).  

For girls, the main trend I noticed was a lot more short dresses than currently. Nowadays, girls wear long dresses to prom because they are considered more formal. For me personally, there aren’t a lot of other occasions where I can wear a long, fancy dress so I like to take advantage of that for prom. Additionally, there were a lot more printed dresses in the early to mid 2000s prom pictures. Bright floral and tropical prints seemed to be popular in the years 2009 and 2010. While I would say the majority of girls wear solid colored dresses to prom these days, sometimes you will see a jeweled or floral print dress. However, the prints on the older dresses were a lot louder than those you would see at this year’s prom. While this may have been a trend then, I think they looked a little informal and I’m definitely not upset that trend has passed.

Printed and short dresses seemed to be trendy in the mid 2000s.

For boys, cummerbunds were more common in 2009 than they are now.

The dresses worn by Govs students in 2010 are very different than what girls wear nowadays.

The simple, solid colored dresses in this picture from the 2018 prom are more typical of the styles that are trendy nowadays.

The Prep School Stigma

It’s no secret that prep schools have a certain stigma behind them. One of the most prevalent is the stereotype towards what prep school students wear to school. According to the reference source Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms, the “preppy” style became popularized in the 1980s, and was mostly used to describe the expensive clothes that prep school students wore. However, “by the 2000s… it’s meaning had become less negative, simply describing the button-down collars and loafers that are considered the preppy style.” This thinking has somewhat changed, because now “preppy clothing” is associated with brands like Vineyard Vines or Lilly Pullitzer.

Although we are a prep school, I wouldn’t describe Gov’s as stereotypically preppy. More and more, I have been noticing students branch out with the brands they are wearing that totally break the stigma behind how prep school kids dress. Girls in boho, Free People sundresses can be spotted scattered throughout the Phillips courtyard on the warm spring days that are hopefully approaching. “Hypebeast” brands like Supreme and Off White are displayed on sweatshirts and tees sported by both boys and girls alike. Gov’s is so much more than the stereotypical, prep school clothing that pops into people’s minds when they think of private schools. We are allowed to express ourselves through our clothing and not be defined by what people think we wear.

Another misconception is that prep school students wear the blazer and tie uniforms that are so often portrayed in TV and movies. Govs doesn’t have a school uniform and we actually never have. Luckily, we instead have a dress code that is surprisingly flexible compared to some other schools. The uniforms that people envision when they think of prep schools are actually more similar to the types of blazers and ties that men wore here in the late 60’s, so this thinking is somewhat outdated. The stigma behind what we wear isn’t going away anytime soon, but hopefully people will start to realize that private school kids shop at stores other than Vineyard Vines and Lilly Pullitzer and aren’t wearing uniforms like those in The Princess Diaries movies.  

People normally imagine prep school kids as wearing the uniforms

so often portrayed in TV and movies, such as Glee (pictured right) or The Princess Diaries.

The clothing that the general public imagines prep school
students wearing more fits that of what was worn in the 1960s.

This picture from 2014 shows that the “preppy” style was still prominent

even just a few years ago.

The style of these Govs students in 2009 shows more polos and “preppy” style than we see now.

These floral, boho style dresses from the 2018 Morse Flag Ceremony show that students are not just wearing preppy styles anymore.

Intro: History of Fashion at The Governor's Academy

My name is Isabella Wood and for my Senior Spring Term Project I am researching the history of fashion at Govs. I chose to do this project because I have always loved fashion and am hoping to study it in college. I also know how much fashion and style affects us, even if we don’t realize it. Students at Govs are often heard passionately debating the dress code, discussing prom dresses, or complimenting each other on a new haircut. But were things similar in the 1960’s? The 1980’s? The early 2000’s? My goal is to take popular fashion-related topics that Govs students are interested in and look at how things were in a different decade. Through research in the Archives, I am working on collecting pictures from various files and Milestones in order to show how much Govs fashion has (or hasn’t) changed. Each blog post will be relating to a different topic and time period and I will update the blog weekly.

Online Archives Museum

While few people are able to come to campus to view the rotating exhibits in the archives, many are interested in the materials preserved there.  To increase accessibility to the items, the school now hosts an online archival museum!  This museum is designed to allow visitors to view some of the materials available on selected topics, with new exhibits added periodically.  The online museum currently features an exhibit about how WWII affected Governor Dummer Academy, its students and alumni. We welcome all interested people to visit the museum at https://govsarchives.omeka.net/ and check out this opening exhibit with an assortment of fascinating items and stories.