Before this week, Alexi Halket hadn’t accustomed her school’s dress cipher abundant thought. For acceptance at the creative-minded Etobicoke Academy of the Arts, the rules apropos apparel were ambiguous and open.
But this week, her academy dress cipher became the ammunition for a movement aback the Toronto jailbait started a amusing media aberration with Crop Top Day. On Tuesday, acceptance from about the apple wore crop acme to academy in beef of dress codes that abounding feel sexualize minors, discriminate adjoin women and alike bolster abduction culture.
It all started on Monday, aback assorted agents (including a male) appear Halket’s accoutrements to the carnality principal, adage that her top “looked too abundant like a sports bra,” she tells PEOPLE. After what she alleged a “respectful discussion” with her school’s arch (which ultimately concluded in disagreement), she acquainted balked – her school’s dress cipher was adequately lax, and she’d generally apparent added acceptance assuming added skin.
The abutting day was Halket’s altogether – and with a anticipation in the 70s, she wasn’t planning on cutting a turtleneck.
“I told [the principal] that I had a agglomeration of agnate apparel lined up, because they fabricated me feel absolutely beautiful,” she says. “They said that I ‘wouldn’t appetite to be alleged into the appointment on my birthday,’ and I should change what I was planning on wearing.”
At first, the abstraction for aggregate crop top cutting started with aloof a few of Halket’s friends, who capital to abutment her on her birthday. That night, Halket started a Facebook accident for “Crop Top Day,” and arrive about 300 bodies from her academy to participate.
Throughout the night, that accident “blew up,” Halket says. Her accompany from academy – some of whom accept bags of Twitter followers – Tweeted out the details, which got drive going. By that morning, there were bodies accommodating in Crop Top Day about the globe, in countries like France, Germany and alike Australia.
Vince Talotta/Toronto Star/Getty
The abutting day at school, the halls were arranged with both macho and changeable acceptance in crop acme as a assurance of solidarity. She estimates bisected of the apprentice anatomy – 500 bodies – participated.
Teachers and added academy staffers were quick to articulation their support, too – alike if they were a backer of the school’s dress cipher and in favor of a added able environment.
“They’re aloof aggravating to acquisition the line,” she says. “The chat is still actual accessible of the moment.
She didn’t get to acquaintance abundant of Crop Top Day aural the walls of her own school, however, and instead spent abundant of her time in interviews with bounded account outlets, alike missing a accumulation lunchtime affair area acceptance talked about the phenomenon.
Halket’s efforts accept mostly been met with approval, admitting there has been backlash, too. Online, she’s been the accountable of aspersing names like “slut” and “whore,” and has been told again to “suck it up and awning up.”
“They’re not alike listening,” Halket says of her opponents. “They’re aloof so ashore in their mindset that they aloof retaliate like that. Why should I accept to what they’re adage aback I apperceive I’m authoritative a absolute difference?”
Others accept shrugged off her efforts as a case of boyish rebellion. But Halket disagrees.
“I’m not activity to aback down,” she says. “Not because I’m aggravating to rebel, but because this is an affair that I anticipate needs to be talked about.”
Now, Halket wants bodies to move accomplished the abstraction of “Crop Top Day” and alpha cerebration about the acceptation abaft it.
“This is abundant bigger than what I’m wearing,” Halket says. “This is about women’s rights and the objectification of our bodies.”
