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From school to work to the military \\u2013 uniforms can signal authority and belonging. But what happens when uniforms are worn by those whom institutions normally exclude? Or when they\\u2019re used out of context? New Generation Thinker Tom Smith explores playful, creative and queer uses of uniforms, from the cult film M\\xe4dchen in Uniform, recently released in the UK by the BFI, to documents he discovered in German archives, to his take on the styles embraced in subcultures today.

Producer: Ruth Watts

Tom Smith is a Senior Lecturer at the University of St Andrews. You can find other Essays by him for Radio 3 exploring Berlin, Detroit, Race and Techno Music https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kfjt and Masculinities: Comrades in Arms https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00061m5 \\nand hear him in this Free Thinking episode debating New angles on post-war Germany and Austria https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006sjx

Image: Joanna Lumley as Patsy (Left) and Jennifer Saunders as Edina (Right) wearing school uniform in BBC 1 Absolutely Fabulous, 1992.