They may have been preppy fashion championed by Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein but chinos and blue shirts have now been banned by Cardiff University students’ union after being associated with a violent incident at a nightclub.
The students’ union announced the ban in a memo sent to all members of Cardiff’s athletic union, the umbrella body representing sporting clubs on campus.
Local residents say that the chinos and blue, button-down shirt combination had become an unofficial uniform of male students involved in many of the athletic union’s clubs.
The students’ union said the clothing ban was “not aimed at a specific group”, and was solely related to incidents at its weekly “Yolo” clubbing night.
An email from the students’ union to athletic union members said: “Due to the dangerous behaviour portrayed by groups of individual wearing chinos and blue shirts in the Yolo queue on 4 October, a decision has been made to temporarily prevent similar attire to be worn to future events.
“The behaviour displayed by the group in question can only be described as reckless, dangerous and incredibly irresponsible.”
A spokesperson for the students’ union said: “It is our established practice to proactively respond to behaviour concerns so we can ensure that our events are safe, accessible and comfortable, and we thank the student body for their support in achieving this. The current clothing restrictions are temporary, not aimed at a specific group and is in direct response to a specific recent incident.”
Student media reported that a large group of “rugby freshers” – first-year male undergraduates – had started pushing each other within the queue, causing security staff to take action.
The students’ union said its security was “able to intervene and safely disperse the crowd” but that it could easily have escalated into a “major incident”. It called for help in identifying the men involved.
The preppy look, promoted by the US brands such as J Crew, has long been associated with the elite of the east coast as long ago as John F Kennedy in the 1950s. But in recent years the look, including polo shirts, has become identified with some “alt-right” groups in the US, such as the deadly torchlight march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 and protests involving the far-right Proud Boys.
In Cardiff, the students’ union told members of the athletic union that after imposing a ban on chinos and shirts “we saw a marked improvement in behaviour in the queue”. The ban applies only to students’ union premises.
The spokesperson for the students’ union said it “proactively communicates any changes in safety measures to students to ensure they know of the initiatives in place”, adding: “We regularly review the effectiveness of our safety measures in line with best practice in the sector.”
