It’s not unusual to hear about a teenage girl being denied entry to the prom or homecoming dance because her dress was considered too revealing, but one Florida teen says she was turned away for wearing a jumpsuit. Darcy Krueger was all dressed up in her rhinestone shoes and dressy black jumpsuit, but she says she wasn’t allowed inside her dance because she wasn’t wearing a dress.
The 17-year-old never found a dress she liked, so she wore the one-piece pants outfit to the Tampa Bay Homeschool homecoming dance, but the event planner stopped her from entering. It seems the dance’s dress code did not allow pants. It requires “semi-formal dresses for young ladies,” and advises them to “plan your attire within a conservative manner.” Strapless, knee-length and two-piece dresses with a gap less than two-inches in the midsection were all just fine, but pants? No such luck.
Darcy’s mom, Melissa Kruger, says she didn’t think the dress code would be an issue, since the emphasis was on modesty and “coverage of all the lady bits.” She was surprised her daughter missed her senior year dance while she says other students were allowed in wearing things that “clearly pushed the limits.”
While Darcy was given the chance to go home and change into a dress and return, she says she “didn’t want to support the rule” and ended up getting a refund on the $50 ticket. But the money wasn’t the real issue. “The bigger question is, why can't a girl wear something other than a dress?" Melissa Krueger asks.