THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 17, 1995 TAG: 9502170501
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
You have been waiting with some trepidation, I know, to hear my view of the uniform for VMI cadettes at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton.
``We wanted something that was practical, that looked like a uniform, but we wanted something that let femininity show through; we didn't want anything too masculine,'' said Lori Esch, admissions recruiter for the newly created Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership.
Could any commission of balancing be more daunting than that?
Christian Dior would be distraught.
The staff of the dean of students, looking through fashion magazines, came up with the idea of an off-white jacket with giant gold-trimmed Vs and buttons down the front. A costume designer in Massachusetts produced a prototype. The design is a smashing success.
Women of all ages hereabouts tell me they admire the uniform, and many say they covet the gold-trimmed dress jacket.
The design is being introduced at Mary Baldwin's Leadership Institute just as military accents are showing up on clothes in fashionable saloons.
How ironic that the VMI cadets opposed coeds joining their sacrosanct ranks in Lexington. Once they see the young women in those uniforms, they will set out for the sister Institute in Staunton.
And, inevitably, uniformed young women will be visiting the mustard-colored battlement of VMI, the more often the better for the keydets because women exert a refining influence on any society.
VMI's men are not so perfect that their resplendent personalities would not benefit from a buffing.
The formerly elite male society at the University of Virginia resisted the intrusion of women; but once women enrolled among male Yahoos - pardon me, Wahoos - the intellectual give-and-take improved.
As the Sparta of VMI takes on Athenian touches, the VMI Corps may be invited to resume marching along Pennsylvania Avenue in the presidential inaugural parade, perhaps as soon as 1997 for President Clinton's inauguration.
And out front, the two dozen or so VWIL women, gold glinting on white uniforms, stepping along with the elan of the Corps.
You have not seen men march with precision until the white-hatted gray-clad square of the Corps comes marching with such quiet precision that it seems to be floating down the avenue. Compared to it, West Point Cadets are Cub Scouts.
And behind the VMI Corps comes the Virginia Tech Hightie Tighties prize-winning band, playing up a storm, VMI winning first place for marching and VPI a first for playing.
The showing of those two schools alone used to be worth the trip to Washington to see the parade. And now, Mary Baldwin women leading in gold and white, Virginia's impact will be all the more memorable. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The uniforms for Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership will be
made by the same company that makes VMI uniforms.
by CNB