WASHINGTON — Sleeveless in the Speakers’ Lobby? It just might happen in the hidebound House.

Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that modernizing the decades-old dress code is under discussion after reporters were barred from Speakers’ Lobby, a corridor off the House chamber, for failing to wear appropriate attire.

The rules bar women in sleeveless dresses or tops and require men to wear jackets and ties. More recently, Ryan reminded lawmakers that they must meet certain sartorial standards on the House floor as well.

“This is nothing new,” he said. “It’s certainly not something that I devised.”

But that doesn’t mean enforcement couldn’t be a bit modernized, Ryan told reporters at his weekly news conference.

“So that is why we will be working with the sergeant-at-arms to ensure the enforcement of appropriate business attire is updated,” he said. “Decorum is important, especially for this institution. And a dress code in the chamber, in the (Speakers’) Lobby, makes sense,” he said.