The Other White House Scandal

It's curious how the notoriously anti-gay Washington Times loves following fashion news on the front page. Case in point: today's item on the resurgence of the lowly sandal. (No one said the WashTimes is way out in front on any sartorial trends, mind you.) The story was prompted when four members of the NCAA championship women's lacrosse team showed up -- in flip-flops -- for a White House meeting and photo op with the Prez.

It all goes to show that even stiff official Washington isn't immune to the casual trends being set by today's Generation Y. Quoth the Times:

On Capitol Hill, the dress code for interns has become so casual -- tolerating bare midriffs, sandals, toe rings and halter tops -- that congressional staffers have begun referring to them as "skinterns."

Alas, the paper cites nothing about the parallel trend in men's fashion, but having just returned from lovely Charleston, SC, I can report that the casual "prep" look* is back and in a big way. The old colonial district was simply crawling with cute, young shaggy-haired Southern boys in polos and flip-flops. (Of course, down in cotton country they never really figured out the urban hipster trend anyway, so they come by their preppy-ness honestly. Sometimes you can catch the zeitgeist simply by standing still.)

* I'm amused that the Wikipedia entry says "See also, WASP."