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It’s no secret that in recent years, hemlines have been hitched up and crop tops have been cutting things short. Even the Houston Rodeo has taken notice. Rodeo officials were recently forced to enact a dress code after an uptick in complaints about inappropriate attire. As out-of-town visitors have swarmed to Houston, many of them have shown up to the rodeo in outfits most people wouldn’t wear on date night — much less in the mixed-age crowds at a family-friendly event.

For 94 years, the Houston Rodeo has been a self-professed family-friendly event, and the new dress code is an attempt to preserve its safe atmosphere. The new rules aren’t asking much: They prohibit guests from exposing “excessive portions of the skin,” their underwear, or gang signs. Several “friendly-friendly” rodeos across the country have maintained policies for years that guests must dress in “appropriate” attire while in attendance.

From rodeos to steak houses, from airports to offices, a growing number of people require decency rules. Ruth’s Chris Steak House enacted rules prohibiting people from wearing baseball caps, gym wear, tank tops, or “revealing clothing” in the chain restaurant’s dining rooms. The Capital Grille, another upscale steak house, has similar guidelines discouraging guests from wearing athleisure or overly revealing clothing.

The Houston Rodeo received a tremendous amount of backlash for its new dress code policies, with critics calling them “racist” and “sexist.” Ruth’s Chris Steak House has similarly been called “classist.” Dr. TeKendra Pierre at Prairie View A&M defended the clothing choices as being “an evolution from [their] function over time.” Unfortunately, this evolution isn’t about function or beauty. It’s far more problematic, often exposing young children to outfits that aren’t appropriate for young eyes. Representatives from the companies have stated that their only goal is to preserve decency. Businesses that choose to require dress codes are often simply protecting their consumers from sexualized and explicit attire.

For most of the 20th century, Americans traditionally wore more formal attire in their daily activities, whether they were at work, at home, or at the supermarket. In the 1980s and 1990s, a growing number of adults switched to casual clothing, like streetwear, when they weren’t in a professional setting.

When the COVID-19 lockdown forced people to stay in their homes, business attire was swapped out for pajama pants and slippers. Although in-person activities and meetings have largely returned, many people used the pandemic as a chance to ditch their nice clothes for good. As many as 85% of Americans wear athleisure during their daily activities, suggesting that it has become a normal part of their wardrobes.

At the same time, business casual clothing disappeared, so did traditional modesty expectations. Women’s clothing in particular has been affected over the past few decades: Skirts became shorter, tops were cut lower, and fabrics became transparent. Athleisure, which is being accepted in an increasing number of professional settings, is often skintight. Suggestive clothing has been normalized. The once “shocking” and “lewd” outfits worn by the servers at Hooters in the early 2000s appear relatively mild by today’s standards.

Social media has played a major role in changing the public’s perception of polite attire. Female influencers are often encouraged by algorithms to wear revealing and sexualized clothing in exchange for extra likes and new followers. They don’t think twice about wearing these outfits in public, either to rodeos, theme parks, or restaurants, because it’s an opportunity for them to film more content. Their other female followers are quick to follow their example. Over a third of women in the U.S. cite social media as a deciding factor in what they choose to purchase. As a result, online trends such as ultra-miniskirts or thong-reveals have trickled into daily life.

Men have also been encouraged to lower their standards for dressing. In 2024, 45% of men claimed that they wore a suit less frequently than they did 10 years ago, and almost half of all men only wear a suit once a year. In the 2010s, the “Sneakerhead” craze saw many men ditch traditional shoe styles for expensive sneakers with increasingly ludicrous designs, such as the “Jeremy Scott x adidas” collection, which put wings, teddy bears, and leopard tails on shoes. Men’s streetwear has also seen crude behavior and imagery on merchandise. Clothing brands like Supreme promoted the slogan “F@#$ What You Heard,” while FTP drew its name from an acronym for “F@#$ The Population.”

The decline in appropriate clothing aligns with a broad cultural decline. Only about 30% of Americans believe that “most people can be trusted.” Few Americans live in communities with large measures of “social capital,” which includes factors such as civic participation, volunteering, and neighbor support systems. And face-to-face socialization is diminishing. It’s hard to fix these issues when people are dressed in a manner that makes them look aggressive, indifferent, or hypersexualized.

Public dress codes encourage people to look and feel their best. When we look good, we feel confident, and we become approachable. Dressing nicely won’t solve America’s issues, but continuing to dress slovenly will make them worse.

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Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is a senior contributor at New Guard Press, a publication she joined while attending Hillsdale College.

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