Worn on the Fourth of July? Not the Stars and Stripes

might show a bit more decorum.

The Girl Scouts imprinted on my brain the rules for displaying and folding an actual flag. But I never thought much about using flag imagery in dress until about 10 years ago, while thumbing through an issue of Glamour magazine. Its venerable “Dos and Don’ts” fashion column forthrightly addressed the matter.

One picture showed a fleshy woman in a flag bikini straddling a motorcycle. “It hurts just looking at this,” the caption read. There was also a shot of actress Farrah Fawcett looking svelte in a snug long gown made of stars-andstripes material. The train wiping the floor behind her was, in essence, an American flag.

Glamour’s deputy style editor at the time, Maryellen Gordon, told me that the magazine had received mixed reactions to the sharp critique. “Some say ‘bravo,’ ” she said. “Some say they think they are being patriotic.”

For an idea of how loose the standards have become, consider what CBS did in 1970 when radical Abbie Hoffman appeared on “The Merv Griffin Show” in an American-flag shirt. It blocked out Hoffman’s torso so as not to offend the audience.

Skip to 2004 and Kid Rock is performing at a Super Bowl halftime show wearing an American-flag poncho, hole cut out for his head. CBS did nothing about it, although some old-timers complained. Then-Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia fumed that the rapper should have been “tarred and feathered and ridden out of this country on a rail.”

The Flag Code states that Old Glory is to be displayed only between sunrise and sunset, though it may fly illuminated at night for “a patriotic effect.” And there are other exceptions. The flag may be flown 24 hours a day at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, the Lexington Battle Green outside Boston and Taos Plaza in New Mexico.

By the way, there’s no objection to draping one’s car, one’s home or oneself in patriotic red, white and blue — without the stars and stripes. And flag lapel pins are OK, as long as they’re worn near the heart.

The Freedom to Display the American Flag Act of 2005 affirmed the right of homeowners to fly the flag on their own property. Some real estate management groups had been restricting such displays.

Many Americans don’t give a youknow-what about such “rules.” I like a middle course. Let people use their discretion, and just so you know, the flag is

not a rag. E-mail Froma Harrop at fharrop@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter: @FromaHarrop