America the Casual, Part 2

I'm not done ranting about people wearing pajama pants in public (see below), but before I continue, here's some related food for thought: Do your clothes influence your behavior?

This is the question that has been raised around here as an upscale entertainment and restaurant district called the Kansas City Power & Light District, imposes what has become a controversial dress code. From their website:

"The dress code prohibits the following: profanity on clothing; sleeveless shirts on men; excessively torn clothing; undershirts; excessively baggy or sagging clothing; work boots; sweat suits or athletic attire (jerseys are permitted in conjunction with Chiefs or Royals games or sporting events in the Sprint Center). Management reserves the right to refuse admission to or eject any person whose conduct is deemed to be disorderly or who fails to comply with the terms of entry. Please note that the dress codes of individual venues may vary."

Now, some people have gotten themselves all worked up about this with comments that range from how stupid it is to believe that you can spot (and then exclude) a troublemaker by his/her clothing to more serious allegations of discrimination and racial profiling.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand, the district is privately owned. So really, the owners are within their rights to have a dress code--just like private schools and business offices. And as a suburbanite who rarely leaves the house, going into the city for a night out is a big enough deal to warrant getting all dolled up--so the dress code is not a problem for me.

On the other hand, does it really matter? In a country where people wear pajama pants to the grocery store and jeans and shorts to weddings, can dictating appearance do anything to keep patrons safe?

Our friends on Wall Street have already shown us that you can commit plenty of crimes in a suit and tie. So, one has to wonder if this dress code is just to exclude those that may be perceived as criminals. Hmm...

And back to pajama pants...

My sister-in-law sent me this picture of a woman in pajama pants attending a Sugarland concert--in Germany. Apparently, this is a worldwide epidemic.