2010 Academichic – Jackie O, originally uploaded by academichic.
Sources:
- Tank top: Banana Republic
- Shrug: Cable & Gauge via Marshalls
- Skirt: Grace Elements via Filene’s Basement
- Shoes: Banana Republic
- Necklace: gift
End Notes:
The day I wore this combo I had 8:00am chapel, seated family-style lunch, and all four of my classes to teach. I needed something that was going to last through the very busy day as well as keep me motivated. I find that I often use clothing as a way to control my behavior. For instance, the fitted, high-waisted skirt with fun built-in belting element that I am wearing here always helps me stand up straight, and my high heels make me walk with purpose (and considerable noise on the hardwood floors of the main building). I also love wearing my big opal-glass necklace because the iridescent luminosity of the beads seems to radiate power and the cool glass and weight of the necklace help to hit a few calming pressure points.
Built in Belt, originally uploaded by academichic.
Opal-glass Beads, originally uploaded by academichic.
On a more psychological level, if I am happy with what I’m wearing, I gain confidence from knowing that I look sharp. As I joked to a colleague earlier this week, the more dressed up I am, the more I’m trying to make myself feel ready for a class that I didn’t have time to prepare for as much as I would have liked. However, the flip side is that while this ruse works on my students, I sometimes feel like the other faculty note my clothing and comment negatively about it. It seems like especially because I am young, the fact that I care about how I look makes me appear to have my priorities out of line. What is it about being put together and stylish that appears to be in direct odds with being intelligent and talented? Why does the model of the absent-minded professor with baggy tweed jacket, mussed up hair, ill-fitting corduroys, and old shoes exude “scholar” to us?
2010 Academichic – Jackie O, originally uploaded by academichic.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I was trying to ease my colleagues into my style during faculty meetings, but now that the year has begun I haven’t been tempering my outfit choices at all. As a result, I had a colleague from the science department come up to me when I was in this outfit and say, “You look all Jackie O. You need to stop dressing up so much because you’re making the rest of us look bad!” I was certainly flattered by the comparison, and she might have been saying this in jest, but behind every joke is an element of truth, right? How have you combated or avoided stereotypes about dressing well?
You look great in this outfit, very slender!
http://www.afashionfixation.blogspot.com
It’s funny that you “dress up” more than your colleagues, presumably. I worked in a private school in MA last year where the female teachers HAD to wear a dress/skirt AND stockings every single day of the school year. When I saw your outfit, I thought you’d fit right in! :-) [And for a minute thought that maybe you worked at my old school until you mentioned what your colleague said.]
As a student, I appreciate it when my professors look more put together and like they actually tried. It gives the impression that you have something to say, and it’s worth listening to. I think it’s easy to spot the difference between someone who cares *too much* what they look like and someone who simply has their life together enough to look good. I support fashionable professors! (makes going to class more fun, too)
Interesting response from your colleagues. I’m a grad student/teach at a research university in MA and I’ve found the majority opinion among my colleagues to be that they dress well early on and “loosen” up as the semester progresses. Granted these are all graduate students but I think it’s nice to see them acknowledge the role their clothes play in how they are perceived by students/peers.
Perhaps some of the negativity among your colleagues arises out of insecurity? Luckily, I’ve heard no negative comments from anyone on what people are wearing in my program; it’s a refreshing change from what I thought I’d encounter based on my reading of the academic/fashion blogosphere.
There is a very real prejudice in academia against people dressing well. A while ago there was an article in Chronicle of Higher Education about (younger, female) faculty being professionally penalized for looking attractive, and many comments on the article were along the lines of ‘they should get their priorities straight! We’re here to teach, not to obsess over clothes’ (Presumably, small lady brains are incapable of teaching AND dressing.)
Personally, I dress up every day. I find that people do eventually get used to you being dressed up — and when someone comments with “you’re dressed up today”, I just respond with “I dress up every day”, and that is usually the end of that.
There’s also a complex relationship between feminism and fashion, and I hope it’s ok to link, but I wrote this post recently trying to untangle some of the fashion-feminism-academia stuff for myself: http://fishmonkey.blogspot.com/2010/07/feminist-fashion.html
I’m pretty sure that the “you’re making the rest of us look bad” is the real motivation behind such comments. A lot of faculty are really happy with working outside of the non-corporate culture and not having any kind of dress code, and don’t want to be measured against someone who dresses sharp.
They’ll get used to it and realize that no one cares any more than they did before you showed up.
Outside of the corporate culture. It’s double-negative Thursday at Be Fabulous Daily!
I had an interesting experience with dressing well in relation to colleagues last year. While I was in graduate school, all of my fellow graduate students dressed in business casual attire and we generally were a stylish group of young women who were also prolific as well as clinically talented. In that setting I never received any comments on my style or method of dress. When I left to take a clinical position in a hospital my manner of dress became an instant hot topic among older faculty who were for the most part, frumpy and innapropriately casual (imo). The consensus was that as I was a young attractive female who dressed well that I must spend a lot of money on my clothing and this impression leant the idea that I was a “rich bitch.” No amount of explaining could help these people understand that in fact I rewore many of the same items remixed in different ways and bought most of my clothing from discount stores or on deep mark-down. Eventually the novelty wore off and I was accepted as part of the team but I was shocked at the fact that a professional appearance could hazard so much ill-will!
You look great, and shouldn’t pay attention to any of their comments.
I am also in academia, and have found that my peers associate dressing well, with having too much free time. They don’t perceive it as vanity, or lack of intelligence, just non-industriousness.
But these assumptions are unfounded. Since most well-dressed people I know, are just very organized.
What a great topic (and outfit)! One of the reasons I really love the style blogging community is because the comments here are generally free from those same compliments/hidden insults we can hear so often from colleagues IRL. Personally I tend to take those remarks as vocal insecurities on the part of the person making them, and not a personal attack on my own ability to balance professionalism and style. Go forth and conquer academia and fashion all in one blow, I say!
I agree with Cynthia; your colleagues may not want to step up their game.
Also, you’re the “new kid,” and your colleagues are trying to figure you out. If you were under-dressed, they could interpret THAT as a sign you weren’t fully invested in your work. Same goes for dressed up, apparently.
I blame Einstein for the “rumpled slob as genius” stereotype. I think the myth is that a brilliant person thinks of NOTHING but his/her chosen field, to the point that they barely remember to bathe, let alone lay out an outfit for the day.
I work in an entirely male dominated field (chemistry) and as a grad student these men have destroyed my style at work. I still dress how I want outside, but on the job I dress just like them: high cut t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. When I first started a couple of years ago I’d come to school dressed nice, but the harassment was ridiculous. They’d ask who I was going to bleep that night or how come I dressed so slutty that day (while wearing a skirt below the knees. That’s their idea of slutty), or the whistles as you walked around the lab. And at least for us, we can’t say anything. It’d be our careers down the tube, not theirs because we’re upsetting the old boys club. So instead I just conformed which I hate, but better than cat calls.
I completely sympathize! I worked for 6 years at a private university where faculty and students all had a put-together aesthetic; this year, I took a new position at a rural state school where most faculty favor ill-fitting khakis/polos and the students look perpetually like they’ve come from the gym. My style has stayed the same. And while colleagues will occasionally make remarks much like yours have, I’ve actually found that a few students have expressed pleasure at getting wardrobe ideas — and a few have even tried to incorporate fashionable accessories into what they wear!
The comment “you’re making the rest of us look bad” drives me crazy. I want to yell, “no, YOU make YOU look bad. And the reason you feel bad about it is because when you see me it reminds you that you should be putting youself together better.”
But instead I usually shrug, smile and say, “I just wear what makes me comfortable and what I think I should wear.”
This is always such a fascinating topic. I agree with some of the other commenters that some of the comments from your colleagues are motivated by their sense that you are somehow “showing them up” by dressing so nicely.
That pernicious stereotype, that women who are interested in fashion must be dumb and vapid, is surely also at work.
While I’ve never worked in academia, I can comment as someone who was a student quite recently. I always preferred it when my high school teachers and college professors seemed to put effort into dressing like professionals. I’m not saying that all educators need to start dressing like they work for BigLaw, but the professor who shows up to class wearing ripped jeans and a t-shirt doesn’t look like he’s taking his job very seriously.
-Marianne
You look amazing……I am in need of a serious make over. Got any ideas for a female that wants to look good but has no time or energy to do so…….
I went to a rural state school, and studied Wildland Recreation Management. I had ONE female prof (for the classes in my major) she wore jeans and frumpy sweaters everyday. My male professors wore khakis or jeans with button up shirts, tucked in. If any of my profs had shown up in a suit, the entire class would have thought they were coming or going to a funeral.
I find it interesting how aesthetics and expectations change within disciplines.
You look great, but that skirt is a bit too long for you. I’d consider hemming it. As a fellow tiny girl, I was always wearing skirts that were too long also — until I realized they made me look like my legs were super, super short.
I think you’re right that a lot of academics think that dressing nicely means you aren’t focused enough on your research. My previous PhD advisor told other female students that she thought women would be much further ahead in the world if they didn’t do hair and make up. I’ve felt a lot of pressure to dress down in academia.
I think you look great!
It may just take time for your colleagues to get used to your style. Once they do, you’ll probably find you’re something of an inspiration to some of them.
Kate is right — I love the shrug, the color of the tank, and the wide belt, but taking just a couple of inches from the hem of the skirt would make it so much more flattering for you (while remaining completely professional). Just enough so you can see the tops of your calf muscles start to taper up toward your knees.
Beth Allen, I am a lurker here but your comment made my jaw drop. I am shocked, absolutely shocked that male colleagues could get away with that kind of shenanigans in the 21st century. In my mind, that’s called sexual harrassment, and I’m so incredibly sorry that you’ve had to put up with that. It can be so difficult to figure out how to deal with that on an everyday basis.
I’m in an incredible macho field, archaeology, which is tempered with my secondary focus in history. I am short and a foreigner at my programme (literally) so I almost always feel the need to try to look slightly more put together than other research students. I recently came off of two weeks of excavation – in which clothing options consisted of combinations of “warm” and “waterproof” – and one of the professors upon seeing me back in usual garb commented that he hardly recognized me in “smart” clothes. I found it amusing. But yes, as a female in this field field I find it difficult to balance “professional cred” with professional dressing.
hello!
I am delighted with this post. Here in Spain women have to struggle with this problem every day. A few years back, the female ministers of our government were portrayed in a Vogue article, and so did some time later the speaker of the party which is not in the government (is it right to say the opposition party???) and they have been brutally mocked for such a thing. The last time, a few days ago by a german newspaper. Wow!
Besides, I am in the law field and it’s always the same. You have to look put together but if you show some bit of personal style,and you happen to be young, then you are not reliable enough.
By the way, I love your outfit and apologize for my English.
I think you look fab. I was criticized this summer at an international conference by an older colleague who said that my interest in fashion was a cultural construct of femine behavior in which I was trapped. He didn’t seem to realize the inverse, that his old torn tweed with elbow patches and a pipe (I kid you not) was a cultural construct of scholar wear in which he was comfortably trapped. Hmmmm. Double standard. Hypocrisy. I think so.
Since I live in NYC, I am surrounded by well dressed and fashion forward people all the time. Given my habitual viewing of costume institute shows at the Met, I feel quite comfortable defending fashion as an aesthetic enterprise. Aesthetics and intellect are not mutually exclusive.
@Beth Ellen – I’m so sorry you’ve had to put up with that. Are you in academics or industry (or something else)? I think in academics in certain labs things have gotten better – although it likely is completely lab dependent. I work in a chemistry lab at a university and I’ve managed to avoid negative comments [at least to my face or that I'm aware of] when I dress up or wear a skirt. Instead I often get complimented. Our lab is almost 50/50 male/female and other women occasionally “dress up” too. However, our advisor is extremely supportive of women in science – I’m sure that changes the overall atmosphere of our group.
Either way, I’m sorry about your situation. I hope that with time women will be more accepted in science. I think it has improved drastically, although certainly there are ways to go.
[...] think all of you had great thoughts for L. yesterday regarding her colleagues’ responses to her “dressing up.” In preparation for an [...]
I think at the heart of it is that people are afraid of change and individuality. Keep pressing on with your outfits and your collegues will get used to how you dress. I work in an office in a corporate environment – but in technology so jeans and polo or t-shirts is the norm around here. I can’t stand dressing like that everyday so I do dress up most days. At first, my coworkers looked at me sideways perhaps thinking I was interviewing elsewhere. But now they just know I dress the way I do because that is who I am. I usually only get comments from people who truly like my sartorial choice for the day. Be strong in yourself and don’t question your choices. You have the right to be who you want to be no matter how limiting the academic culture may appear.
@Desperately Seeking: Here’s what I’ve done (and I am not as sharp as these folks, but working on it!):
1) RSS some blogs like this. It takes mere seconds, at some spare moment in the day, to check out the pictures for inspiration. Ignore the text if you’re super-busy, but look at the pictures with a critical eye — what works for you and doesn’t? why? for outfits that don’t work, how would you change things to make them more flattering or more your personal style? (You can do this walking down the street too. Doesn’t take any extra time out of your day.)
2) Ask a friend who has great style to go shopping with you. She (it’s probably a she) will help you find some key pieces much faster than you could’ve, and will give you feedback on why these pieces work for you — feedback you can use to make your future shopping more efficient.
3) If you have a bunch of neutrals and a few go-to colors you love that coordinate with one another, you don’t actually have to think about whether things match when you put them on in the morning. They do.
4) It does not take any more time and effort to put on a dress, blazer, and cute shoes than it does to put on a t-shirt, jeans, and ugly shoes, but it LOOKS like you put in time and effort. (Or replace “dress, blazer, and cute shoes” with something more your personal style if you like — the point being, nice clothes take no more time than non-nice ones to put on, and you aren’t necessarily putting on more items of clothing, either. You just have to *have* the nice pieces; see point #2.)
@spanish lady: Yes, “opposition party” is right. :)
Sorry, academichics, for admitting I sometimes ignore the text ;). The text is reliably fascinating! It’s just easier to fit in the pictures (which I look at religiously) if I have a few spare moments…
Thanks you guys for being so nice! But we were actually told at our orientation that if we tried to call anyone out on sexual harassment that it would ruin our careers forever and not the mens. This was told to us by a woman too. It’s amazing how chauvinistic inorganic chemistry still is.
I work in a very male field (computers … yes, the nerdy kind), like to dress up everyday, mostly in skirts and dresses, yet I never had any problem.
Because I’m … how can I put that ? Le’s say “not favored by Nature” :) (you know, the kind of women who had “great personnality” !)
Which is, if you ask me, the most comfortable place in the society. You can dress as you want and nobody will hold a grudge or cat call ! Plus you can get away with much more (short dresses, etc).
At the best, you’re praised for being well-kempt and well-dressed “nonetheless”, and at the very worst nobody notices.
Forgot to add : you look indeed very nice and, as a student, I loved when teachers deemed us important enough to take care of how they dress.
I have to wonder whether dressing up is quite as frowned upon when male profs do it, and to what extent the disapproval of sharp-dressed female scholars is based on the idea that no one who performs femininity in this way can be serious about her career (or, in other words, women can be intellectual only so long as they are androgynous).
I think it’s sexism and internalized sexism. Fashion being a “female thing,” it’s condescended to and trivialized.
As opposed to sports. A man can carry around Sports Illustrated in academia without losing status, but a woman carrying Elle. . . well, forget it.
So, do we succumb to synthetic fleece and baggy corduroy?
I suppose it depends on how much you’re compelled to please your colleagues!
L, I like this whole outfit, but that necklace is especially great!! I love how it is catching the light in your photos.
I taught high school for four years, and recently blogged about my own decision to start dressing “up” more than my colleagues did. I can certainly relate to the “You’re making us look bad!” comment, because it happened to me too, but overall I found that dressing well reaped so many benefits that these comments became white noise.
The other thing I’ll add is that it wasn’t just regarding dress that older faculty members gave me the “You’re making us look bad” type comments. I’ve found that, for better and worse, many experienced teachers consider themselves the “experts” and they do not take kindly to “young blood” coming in and “showing them up” with new pedagogical approaches, fun activities that get the kids learning, etc. I found that for these people, the only thing that eventually quelled the critiques was to keep my head down and keep working hard. When my students moved into their own classes and demonstrated that they’d learned a lot from me, I finally started to earn enough respect that they allowed me to go about my business without criticizing my approach to teaching.
That said, I did get to work with some excellent experienced teachers who were always interested in my ideas and even experimented with my lesson plans in their own classrooms. Rather than seeing me as a “threat” to their authority, they were excited about having someone young in their midst who they perceived as having a level of vitality and excitement about the profession that they remembered from their own early teaching days. I learned so much from these men and women that the old snarky ones bothered me less and less.
I hope you’ll have the opportunity to work with people who see your youth and your recent training as an advantage rather than a threat, as well. If not, just keep doing what you’re doing. The kids appreciate it even when the rest of the adults get caught up in the petty stuff!
How funny, I just started graduate school (for a professional degree) and I’m worried about the total opposite: that my clothes aren’t attractive/upscale enough to match the majority of my classmates. I started reading the blog a few weeks ago, and I’ve been really inspired by realizing that being academics and fashion-forward aren’t mutually exclusive. I’m also heartened to realize how affordable a lot of your looks are, and the next time I go shopping I’ll be using some of the principles I read here to inform my purchases!
I hate that whole guilting thing. If I dress up, it’s for me. It helps me feel good about myself, it makes me feel (insert whatever I need to feel that day here!), and seriously.. not everyone is a jeans & t-shirt person.
I am not a grad student or a working professional yet, but as an undergraduate student I must say I have experienced similar comments and attitudes. I am older than the typical undergrad and prefer a look that is more “put together” and befitting of my age–26. So I will wear dresses, skirts (below the knees), and outfits that are similar to the ladies here at academichic. I find it deplorable that people think another person can actually make them look bad when they have nothing to do with it! I can recall wearing a a skirt to school and no matter how casual I looked, someone would ask me why I was “so dressed up.” Wearing a simple wool skirt= dressed up?
Beth Ellen, that is sooo disturbing that you get sexually harassed and yet YOUR career will be ruined for it! Isn’t there *any* way you can possibly address such an injustice? Or better yet, go someplace else? That is NOT acceptable. Heck I’d get the ACLU involved, but then again that’s my inner feminist crying out :P
I still think it’s unfair.
Hmmm this ensemble is a little too secretarial for me – you are young and fresh, this look just doesn’t seem ‘you’. Though on closer inspection of the pics I do like that soft grey cardigan/jacket. As for sexual harassment, we have someone here in Oz going for $37M from the ex-head of a big retail chain like Macys (called David Jones) for trying to kiss her at a party or something. I suppose from her point of view she won’t have to worry about her career being ruined if she gets even 1/100th of what she’s asking for. It all stinks to high heaven.
I meant to chime in on this when I first read the post, but time got away from me.
I know just what you are talking about! My old school district had a teacher dress code. Now, in a new state, city, and district there is no dress code for teachers at all! I see teachers wearing sweats and sloppy jeans all day long! I find that you have to dress the part of teacher when you are in the classroom. The students know that you take yourself seriously and that sets the tone for the class.
When I first started at my new school, one of the other teachers said I was making everyone else look bad. I didn’t know if I should take that as a compliment or an insult. I don’t always have cute outfits, but I always try to look professional. I think it shows that I take pride in my job and that will come across in my performance in the classroom.
Keep doing what you are doing!
I have been meaning to add to this discussion for awhile now, but simply have not had time. One of the many things that I love about academichic is that in addition to great style, promoting earth friendly practices and activities and small businesses, that there are posts like this which explore more than just whats trendy, and force readers to examine how clothing is percieved. Please continue to be a sounding board for intelligent discussions such as these!
I think your outfit is lovely, well fitted, and timeless. Additionally, I think its very work appropriate. While some of your coworkers may choose to dress in a more casual manner, I think they still need to be respectful of your style. I think your style of dress gives you more visual authority which is needed especially at the beginning of the year, and being very young, provides an obvious distinction to outsiders and your students of your role within the classroom setting. No one would confuse you as a student in that outfit. In jeans and a tee, that is much more likely to happen. Do I think its always nessessary to be quite this formal, no. I recall a cute patterned skirt you had planned to wear, but refrained from for fear it was to bold, I personally thing that was a perfectly fine skirt, although I might swap out the top for a button down and put on some brown flats so that the only “bold” piece is the skirt and the other pieces are more traditional/business casual.
I think its very difficult to find a happy balance being a young woman to find things that fit appropriatly( ie: not too short, too tight, to low cut), and suitable for the career/ workplace, and still find personal style. And thats before you add in cultural stereotypes or the viewpoints of coworkers.
I have no idea why the idea that fashion and intelligence cannot coexist came to be, and I think its unfortunate that your coworkers are not making a better attempt to be friendly and supportive. Its not like you walked into the classroom in a babyphat denim catsuit (which I have seen in an office setting! Needless to say, they were not a good match for that position). Stay true to yourself and your style, and with time, they wil realize not only that its part of who you are, but also that you are a smart, qualified woman, and that perhaps if fashion and intelligence can both be qualities of yours, then that same rule might apply to others!
Best wishes!