Marie Claire UK Marie Claire UK
  • Fashion Fashion
      • Fashion
        • View all Fashion
        • Fashion Trends
        • Shopping
        • Watches and Jewellery
        • Fashion News
  • Beauty Beauty
      • Beauty
        • View all Beauty
        • Fragrance
        • Hair
        • Make Up
        • Skincare
        • Nails
        • Marie Claire Beauty Awards
  • Health Health
      • Health
        • View all Health
        • Fitness
        • Nutrition
        • Female Health
        • Wellbeing
  • Life Life
      • Life
        • View all Life
        • Opinions
        • Travel
        • Sustainability
        • Weddings
        • Money & Work
        • Competitions
  • Culture Culture
      • Culture
        • View all Culture
        • TV and Film
        • Celebrity News
        • Books
        • Royal News
  • Vouchers Vouchers
      • Clothing
        • View all Vouchers
        • Mint Velvet
        • Karen Millen
        • H&M
        • nobody's child
        • ASOS
        • ARKET
        • MANGO
      • Designer Clothing
        • View all Vouchers
        • Reiss
        • THE OUTNET
        • SSENSE
        • Mytheresa
        • Liberty London
        • Selfridges
        • Farfetch
      • Accessories
        • View all Vouchers
        • AllSaints
        • Aspinal of London
        • Charles & Keith
        • River Island
        • FitFlop
        • Kate Spade
        • Vagabond
      • Jewellery
        • View all Vouchers
        • Pandora
        • Abbott Lyon
        • Goldsmiths
        • Beaverbrooks
        • Astrid & Miyu
        • Swarovski
        • Angara Jewellery
      • Beauty
        • View all Vouchers
        • Sephora
        • Cult Beauty
        • Space NK
        • Dyson
        • Clarins
        • Look Fantastic
        • Clinique
      • Activewear
        • View all Vouchers
        • Lululemon
        • Gymshark
        • Sweaty Betty
        • Nike
        • adidas
        • New Balance
        • Helly Hansen
  • NEWSLETTER Signup to our newsletter
  • logoCreated with Sketch.
    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!


    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    You are now subscribed

    Your newsletter sign-up was successful


    An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
    Trending
    • Women in Sport 2026
    • Marie Claire Masters
    • Spring Summer 2026
    • Nail Trends 2026
    • Best Investment Bags
    • Best Perfumes
    • Digital Issues
    • Women Who Win
    1. Style

    Inside The American Town That's Banning Short Skirts And Hotpants...

    The sleepy Alabama town of Dadeville, Alabama, is planning to enforce a really strict dress code on its residents - but for once, it's not a gender thing...

    By Marie Claire
    Published 14 September 2015 In Features

    When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

    Skirt
    Skirt
    • Facebook
    • X
    • Pinterest
    Share this article
    Join the conversation
    Follow us
    Add us as a preferred source on Google
    Subscribe to our newsletter

    The sleepy Alabama town of Dadeville, Alabama, is planning to enforce a really strict dress code on its residents - but for once, it's not a gender thing...

    Remember the days of rolling your skirt up at high school, convincing your teachers that it definitely reaches your knees (if you crouch over a bit at the same time), and dreaming of life in America, where school uniforms just didn't exist?

    Well imagine being told at the age of 25, 35, or 45, that you're no longer allowed to dress yourself. And that, in fact, you're no longer allowed to wear your favourite clothes outside of the house.

    And then stop imagining, and book a flight to Dadeville, Alabama.

    The town, which has only got about 3,000 residents, has recently discussed imposing a dress code upon its residents - both male and female.

    It all started when City Councilman Frank Goodman proposed an ruling that would ban men from sporting baggy trousers, saying the look is 'disrespectful'.

    But rather than stare at him in horror, his fellow council members thought the idea was so great, it should be applied to women too. Only, it wouldn't be baggy pants that were off limits - it would be short skirts and hot pants instead.

    Marie Claire Newsletter

    Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!

    By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

    'My concern is it should be for everybody,' Stephanie Kelley said during this Tuesday's council meeting. 'I think for the girls, with these shorts up so high looking like undergarments and dresses so short, I don't want us to be showing favoritism.'

    It's a scary idea: your clothes are a means of expressing yourself, and the idea of regulating what a person can or cannot wear in their own free time feels an awful lot like restricting their freedom of speech. If a person is offended by another individual's outfit, that's their problem. After all, it's not harming anybody, and what might be considered 'disrepectful' to somebody might not be to somebody else - it's totally subjective.

    Plus, while this might not be a conscious effort to restrict women specifically, in a world where we're constantly being told to feel ashamed of our bodies and to cover ourselves up, this feels like a giant step backwards all the same.

    Marie Claire
    Social Links Navigation

    The leading destination for fashion, beauty, shopping and finger-on-the-pulse views on the latest issues. Marie Claire's travel content helps you delight in discovering new destinations around the globe, offering a unique – and sometimes unchartered – travel experience. From new hotel openings to the destinations tipped to take over our travel calendars, this iconic name has it covered.

    Latest in Style
    Kinda Chic Trend
    Shopping Is "Kinda Chic" Kinda Cringe? Everyone's Favourite Fashion Word Just Went Completely Out of Fashion
    @nlmarilyn in transitional autumn outfits
    Fashion Goodbye Summer Dresses, I'm in Autumn Outfit Planning Mode—These 5 Are Fresh
     
     
    voranida outfits
    Fashion Everyone Sophisticated Is Wearing This Lesser-Known, Up-and-Coming Brand Right Now
    Kaia Gerber
    Shopping Everything Kaia Gerber Wears Is a Masterclass in Minimalism—These Are the Pieces and Brands She Always Goes Back to
     
     
    Latest in Features
    The Beauty Digest
    Beauty The Beauty Digest: Head Spas, Coco Mademoiselle Reimagined, and What the TPO Ban Really Means
    The long hair trend and the post-bob era
    Hair I’ve Spent Two Years Growing My Bob—Turns Out, There's a Reason Long Hair Is Trending
     
     
    @nlmarilyn in transitional autumn outfits
    Fashion Goodbye Summer Dresses, I'm in Autumn Outfit Planning Mode—These 5 Are Fresh
    Arsenal footballer and Lioness Chloe Kelly
    Health and Fitness Women in Sport 2026: Featuring Chloe Kelly, Elite Beauty Products, Grand Prix 2.0 and So Much More
     
     
    logoCreated with Sketch.
    • Site Archive
    • Contact Future's experts
    • Contact us
    • Terms and conditions
    • Advertise with us
    • Privacy policy
    • Cookies policy
    • About us
    Add as a preferred source on Google Add as a preferred source on Google

    Marie Claire UK is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

    © Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.