[dubious elise]

Sounds just like grade school to me! I went to a parochial school from Kindergarten through 8th grade where, like your high school, there were few, if any, restrictions as to what we could wear. Just before 4th grade began, we too had a "dress code" sicced on us. Naturally, the students were resistant, especially the junior high kids. It actually started out surprisingly lax; khaki's and navy pants all the time with plaid dresses/skirts for girls and shorts in the early fall. We got 4 colors of shirts (red, white, navy, and green) whether they were polos, buttondowns, turtlenecks, or sweaters. We were also promised at least 1 "out of uniform day" per month.

That all went down the tubes as our school realized that things they hadn't expected (lowrise pants, JNCO-like khakis, bell bottomed khakis, cargo pants, trashy Abercrombie-esque "fatigued" pants, etc) also fell quite nicely into their own categories. Brand-related disputes would still break out in the junior high when kids were picked on for wearing Land's End uniforms vs. something pieced together from American Eagle and Banana Republic. As children's clothing became more grunge-like and risque (read: midriff tops for 8 year olds, shredded jeans, etc), our out of uniform days were restricted to a student's own birthday and the occasional holiday (yes, the Friday before a big Packers game was a holiday, as long as you wore something green or gold...).

Now, the students are restricted to wearing only what is sold by a specific uniform company to keep things totally and completely fair. I never really had a problem with the concept of uniforms. There was just something about wearing a 100% polyester shirt/pants combo on the bus ride home on that one abnormally hot spring day that never sat well with me.

Either way, aside from the fact that it ususally just adds up to be another, oftentimes unnecessary, expense for a lot of families, if your school is having such problems with attire disputes, this is an option that has been shown to work in many instances. I'd say give it a chance.