It's a safe bet to suggest that we all, at one point in our lives, have put on an item of clothing or some accessory that has made us feel something—immensely proud, out-of-place, nostalgic, "official," confident, etc. Even before we selected our own clothes to wear, our parents were robing us in articles of clothing that reflected something—a holiday, beachwear, party time, or birthday milestones. Throughout history, and to this day as well, what people wear and how they wear it reflects their economic place in society, an outlook, a perspective. From a public school perspective, dress codes are intended to ensure that items worn at school do not interfere with the health, safety or welfare of any student. But as Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 S. Ct. at 503 (1969) taught us, students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." In Tinker, the U.S. Supreme Court held that students could wear armbands in protest to the Vietnam War because their expression did not substantially disrupt the school environment. Because clothing is an expression of oneself, and because students do not shed their expressive rights at the schoolhouse gate, public schools must examine their student dress codes to be cognizant of those rights of expression and the liability of inconsistent and discriminatory enforcement.