Let there be shorts!

Hugo Boss | Spring/Summer 2010


Louis Vuitton | Spring/Summer 2010


Michael Bastian | Spring/Summer 2010

It's getting hotter these days in Malaysia, more so in the city where trees and greenery are leveled in favour of soaring concrete and glass buildings. We've all heard of the urban heat island effect where temperatures in cities (like KL, and what I like to call greater KL which includes PJ) are a few degrees higher than the outskirts. So, when I set foot in the new Taylor's Lakeside campus only to discover little signs on the doors of classrooms prohibiting shorts, frankly, I was a little outraged.

In this day and age, I find it quite pathetic to impose a ruling against the wearing of shorts especially when we're living in a tropical climate. Shouldn't the rule be made that one has to dress to a level to which is credible and respectable? Why must we be made to conform to formality and sartorial rigidity when it's thirty-over degrees Celsius out there on the street. Wouldn't one be better off looking and feeling comfortable in shorts instead of feeling extremely agitated and sweating uncontrollably in pants?

I do understand that there is some level of decorum which must be met in educational institutions but there should be a middle ground where shorts are an acceptable piece of attire and I think that middle ground is dress shorts. Those sleek smarter looking shorts like those pictured (above).

Just like how vernacular architecture produces buildings and structures which address local issues, why can't fashion rules be made to adapt to the locality in which climate would be a huge consideration. We live in a tropical climate where it's hot and humid year round. Let them wear shorts for god sakes!

If you're not convinced, read this.


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