Although green dresses are as inextricably linked to Girl Scouts as Thin Mints, the uniform-which is optional-has actually undergone 175 modifications since 1912. The most sweeping took place in the ’70s, when skirts gave way to pants. But now girls in uniform may be impossible to distinguish from their classmates who aren’t. McEwan puts it diplomatically: “Girls like to show they belong to an organization, but they still want to be fashionable.” Even the old beret is gone, replaced with a baseball cap. This could be just the beginning: 2.8 million older Scouts, younger Brownies and officials are still wearing their unhip uniforms.
