Mixed reviews to Wildwood's proposed dress code

WILDWOOD - At Beachwear Fashions, a boardwalk shop in this honky-tonk by the sea, even the mannequins can't keep their pants on straight.

Tiny short-shorts for girls and baggy sweats for guys are displayed pulled halfway down plastic derrieres. The fashions are decorated on the rear with pithy phrases like YOLO (you only live once) and Beach Barbie. You can think of it as art imitating life.

But next month, this Jersey Shore town that has been trying for decades to combat its boozy, free-for-all image is likely to impose a boardwalk dress code that will turn into law the silent wish of many that other people hike up their pants.

And wear a shirt and shoes while they're at it.

"Oh, it's going to happen," Mayor Ernie Troiano said Wednesday of a proposed ordinance scheduled for a hearing before the City Commission on June 12. He says officials are unanimously in favor of the measure because some are "tired looking at people walking around with their butts hanging out."

Violators would be escorted off the boardwalk and could be issued a $25 ticket. In "extreme cases," repeat offenders could face bigger fines, Troiano said.

"I get calls constantly from mothers, fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers saying that it's disgraceful, they're tired of looking at it. Some people think anything goes in Wildwood. . . . Well, it doesn't," Troiano said.

The measure would require that the waistbands of pants, shorts, swimwear and skirts fall no lower than three inches below the waist to "prevent the exposure of skin or underwear," notably covering the upper pelvic bone known as the ilium.

And it'll be OK to expose your abs of steel in the daytime, but come the hours of 8 p.m. to 5 a.m., shirts covering the pectoral area would be required, according to the new rules.

Shoes - flip-flops, sneakers, sandals are fine - also would be required at all times on the wooden way as a safety measure to prevent splinters or protruding nails from harming feet.

The shoe requirement isn't all that far-reaching - boardwalks in Atlantic City, Ocean City, and Seaside Heights have similar requirements because of safety concerns.

But some contend the new dress code hearkens to a time in the 1920s when Atlantic City had a special enforcement patrol that would scour the resort looking for bathing suits and other women's attire that was considered too racy for the beach and Boardwalk. Uniformed enforcers carried ticket books and rulers to measure the distance between hemlines and knees. Those who didn't pass muster were issued a summons and told to go cover up.

The lowrider style is "not something I would wear and I really don't like seeing it, but it's a personal freedom to wear what you want, so I don't think it is OK to tell people how to dress in a public area," said Tom Hamilton, 47, a Wildwood native who is a member of the Marine Corps stationed in Hawaii.

Roy Perez, 21, of Wildwood, said the city failed to pass a similar ordinance about three years ago. Perez said baggy pants are a soon-to-be-out-of-style fashion statement anyway.

And kids are just trying to "look gang" - a practice best ignored by officials and others, said Kevin Lopez, who operates a sunglass shop on the boardwalk and worries that too many rules about clothing will drive away business.

"People don't want to be hassled about something that is just a look," he said. Besides, the "baggy clothes aren't really that in anymore," noted a shirtless, tattooed Perez as he skateboarded near a tattoo shop. His own not-so-high-waist shorts were sliding down his hips simply because they didn't have belt loops and so he couldn't wear a belt, he said.

No one who talked about their baggy, falling-down attire on the boardwalk Wednesday actually copped to being a potential offender, saying plenty of others wear their pants much, much lower even as they hiked up their own trousers.

"These really aren't falling down. . . . This is where they are supposed to be," said Justin Daily, 17, of Villas, with his plaid boxers peeking way out from the top of his hip-hugging jeans.

Daily said such attire is merely an expression of his personal style and should not be taken as offensive or considered any further than that, especially by city officials.

"It's a personal choice . . . a personal freedom," said Daily, tugging on a sore ear he had pierced with an electric-blue "gauge" earring the day before. He said it completed his fly look even though friends thought he should have both ears done.

"I don't follow trends, I wear what I want to wear, how I want to look. I shouldn't be told what not to wear either," Daily said.

Megan Johnson, 22, echoed that sentiment and sported a bejeweled semi-Goth look that included tattoos, black boots, and black sparkly tights on an 80-degree day.

"I'm a local, so I see all the kids come down . . . the young girls wearing almost nothing on the beach. But I see it as more of a parental issue than it is a government issue," said Johnson, of Dennisville. "People should be allowed to express themselves by dressing however they want to."

But vacationing Mary Lampe, 76, of Drexel Hill - grandmother of 12, great-grandmother of two - said she was in favor of a boardwalk dress code.

"People used to dress up to go to the boardwalk. . . . It was nice," said Lampe, sporting waist-hugging lipstick-pink crop pants and a white T-shirt with "Miller Time" emblazoned across it. "I think it's a good idea to bring some of that kind of class back to it."