#constantly bothering my mom to wear pants? never having an issue w the jewelry/makeup regulations? my fucking hair?

[silverislander]

god i forgot how much fucking WORK went into church uniforms, i was just looking them up to remember smth. my family put so much effort into regulation and literally still weren't following half of it, plus our corps as a whole never gave a shit abt it really lmfao

technically today, women in the army can wear pants. i was never allowed to wear pants with my full uniform. always the pencil skirt and the exact regulation colour of pantyhose. i hated those skirts with everything in me

ON THAT NOTE there were exactly two acceptable colours of tights you could wear and they were black and nightshade. to this day i have only ever owned three colours of tights that werent regulation black or nightshade, and they were red (for christmas recitals), white (for summer recitals) and skin tone (for dance performances when required) lmao

new skirts always got taken straight to the one tailor in town who was just as overfamiliar with uniform code as my mom is. they got modified so they would fit well and never be above the knee when sitting down (and honestly she was killer at her job. tysm ms t, i hope you're still in business out there)

buying tunics was a nightmare bc after a certain time they would change the sizing or mysteriously stop making tunics to go under uniform jackets, and you have to either go to the trade to get new ones or order them online, which are equal but different headaches

epaulets and neck pins had to be put back on once your shirt and jacket got washed. i had two pairs of epaulets (senior soldier and brass band) and i never remembered which was which (or to replace either them or the neck pin)

hair has to be above the collar and off the face, and that can mean it's either tied up or it's short enough not to worry about. to this day i'm convinced that's the nail in the coffin that made mom let me cut my hair off, bc the alternative was helping me do a ballet bun every sunday morning and hearing me complain abt said bun and the headache and weird hair bumps it caused all day

NO NAIL POLISH. only clear. if it can be seen from the platform god doesn't love you (joking. you still can't wear any tho)

NO JEWELRY. unless you're straight married then you can wear your ring <3 i wore my key necklace under my uniform every sunday from my senior soldier ceremony right up to the day i left and honestly i don't regret shit, nobody ever knew. that was my one rebellion

and we still weren't regulation! i never wore a hat/bonnet and my shoes were flats with silver buttons on them (instead of plain black heels), my necklace was definitely not allowed if anyone had ever known, and i def wore plain earrings once or twice. wild shit looking back, all that to go play a fucking glorified trumpet and sing for a couple hours a week