Back to school – with Georgio Armani!

My older sister and brother and I, we all 3 attended different schools – for reasons best known to the Pops! I’m not complaining though. It ensured that there were no hand-me-downs for any of us. Text books – yes but uniforms – no!

I attended an all-girls school, and in those days our uniform used to be a dull grey number in thickish material; with box pleats down the front and back. And boy! I could dedicate a whole post exclusively for those pleats, I assure you. They were a nightmare as I recall – for me at least, and for anyone (mostly my mom!!) attempting to give my uniform the hot iron treatment.

Looking back, I suspect those pleats must have haunted my mother’s every waking hour and made her Sunday evening a dreaded one – when my uniform would be laid out on the ironing board, pleats and all!!

For some of the girls in my class too – their whole life revolved around those pleats, believe me!! They were quite particular about their pleats! That’s too mild a word – they were paranoid about them and I do not exaggerate. Those pleats had to stand just the way the tailor made them – stiff, firm, crease-less and in place!

So everytime the girls stood up, the process of sitting back down would be an elaborate one. They would reach behind, smooth down the folds, adjust and arrange them and then holding them firmly down, the damsels would slowly and cautiously ease their bottoms on them so that the pleats stayed – just so! Until the next time they stood up that is!

And those sitting behind would watch this ritual indulgently. Girls will be girls, after all! 🙂

And then we had the neck-tie! Oh yes, which school-going child does not have one dangling down his throat, for close to 10 precious years of his life!! This upside down hangman’s noose happens to be an all-purpose invaluable accessory and I’m guessing things haven’t changed much since my school days all those years ago.

Whine all you want about the dratted school tie but in your heart of hearts you would no doubt acknowledge that it does come in handy, in several situations –
– to stem a runny nose.
– to clean a sweaty face after PE.
– to wipe off the extra ketchup around the mouth and on the desk after the snack break.
– to rub off unmentionable scribbles about the teacher, from the blackboard.
– to buy some precious minutes on a hectic school-day morning – with everyone rushing around looking for that elusive piece of cloth while the school van honked downstairs.

Yes. If there’s one thing I most remember from my school days it has to be the tie, definitely! 🙂

All these make for some exciting memories of one’s school days, for most people around the world surely.

But not, I think, for the children studying over at the Elementary School in the Ginza District of Tokyo. Apparently the school authorities roped in Armani to design the uniform for their tiny tots. Yep, you heard right. We’re referring here to the same Italian high end luxury brand Georgio Armani. Heigh ho!!

The parents protested, of course.

They wondered if things were’nt being taken a bit too far. And whether it was really necessary. They complained that the outfit priced at some $730/- was too expensive for children who would outgrow it faster than the time they would take to wear it. Not to mention the cost of dry-cleaning it!!

But apparently to no avail.

Last I heard, the school has appointed security guards to patrol the streets around the school – to protect the children after they were harassed over the expensive designer school kit.

The Armani uniform, FYI, includes a chic hat and a bag.

No mention has been made of either a tie or box pleats!

Disappointing!! 😦