A prominent fashion historian has sided with Woodford House after the high school copped recent criticism for its "dowdy grey granny skirts".
Napier fashion historian and award-winning author Douglas Lloyd Jenkins said he believed the uniform's design should be "celebrated", not criticised, for its sense of history and tradition.
Criticism of the uniform arose in a Hawke's Bay Today letter to the editor where Taradale resident Penelope Isherwood singled out Woodford House in a recent leadership publication for their "awful skirts".
"I could not believe that the young women at Woodford House can be subjected to wearing such a dowdy grey granny skirt ... why are they not rebelling and saying that they deserve to look just as vibrant and young as their principal?"
Mr Lloyd Jenkins said these comments were "ageist" and the sense of pride in appearance taught through such attire was a long term life lesson that couldn't be learnt in shorts and a sweatshirt.