Purposely Professional: Building a Professor Look AKA The Grey Lady

So I struggled all semester with not looking professional enough for my job. I keep telling anyone who would listen that HBCUs are FANCY, all caps, and I felt from the first faculty meeting that I didn't fit. Like I was seriously concerned about it, but as the semester got going I had a lot of things to juggle in my first semester, so it went to the bottom of the pile.

I've never done well with this- I failed Girl Shit in Life, theatre just required me to wear black and comfortable boots and high school teaching really just slacks and clothing where your bits were covered. They were usually more concerned with you actually showing up every day than anything else. At the beginning of the semester (like the first week) a student made fun of my clothes, and while you'd think 43 and decades of teaching high school would make me immune, it didn't. In fact my clothes and shoes were made fun of just about all semester. I laughed it off, and didn't respond, but man, it hurt. Some of the comments were just calling my stuff ugly. Others were more gendered, specific, and made me really uncomfortable, like telling me I was dressed like a lesbian which is a whole other thing.

As posts on Twitter the last few weeks have reminded me, a female professor's clothing and look is a common focus on student evaluations. I don't have mine yet, so I don't know if it came up, but I know I heard comments about my appearance all semester long, and it was these that made me want to dress different, better, yes to match what other female faculty and staff were wearing but too, to stop hearing about it.

At the end of the semester, as I had some time to breathe, I did a little better, but still, something I need to work on in the spring. And again, students commented here- when I wore make up, when I dressed "better." Honestly? The positive comments bugged me as much as the negative ones because women should not be judged by their appearance. What I'm wearing has zero impact on how I engage students, teach scholarship, present readings. Yet I can guarantee that my male colleagues aren't dealing with this crap. But, as much as I don't like the unfair system it is the reality.

I joked the other week on Twitter that my fashion sense really was locked in 25 years ago with Buffy Summers and Piper Halliwell. I mean think about it- simple pieces, comfortable for fighting and moving in, a bit of fancy here and there, but nice looking and practical. You could do worse.






My building complicates professional dress a bit- my office will be comfortable, but classrooms are 90, 100 degrees- on warm days the heat is blasting, on cold days the AC. It's different room to room, and no way to predict what it will be on any given day, so no way to dress for it, so it's a bit of an issue.

I'm thinking layering is a good answer, even if I have to take off the jacket or cardigan, I can at least START the class looking professional. But still, I had to figure out a balance between professional clothes I can teach in and survive the day in. So I started thinking and doing some reading and experimenting.

I still hate hair in my face, unfortunately it still looks awful at this length pulled back, but there's not a lot I can do about that.

I can wear make up for work, but I'm not wearing foundation or blush or lipstick (I always put it on crooked). OR mascara that won't survive eastern North Carolina rain.

My clothes seem like the place for the biggest improvements.

My minimalism extends to everything except my t-shirt collection, so I spent some time over break revisiting minimalism in general, but my wardrobe in particular. I don't have a lot of stuff, I upgraded my shoes/boots for work, things that were comfy for standing all day (1 set of Rockport boots and 2 pairs of Danskos) because it seemed like shoes were one way to look fancier, but there's no way you're ever getting me in 4" heels.

So that was done. But then I started to think, what else could I do? In revisiting some of my minimalism blogs and articles I liked many mentioned some version of a pared down wardrobe, and many mentioned choosing a color scheme for it so that everything went with everything.

This got me thinking. And I think this was in the back of my mind when I picked out my glasses, because these are the ones I picked- I liked the lightness of the material, the plastic means no nose thingies to get stuck in my hair, and the grey/clear frames.



So I started to think, what if I chose a single color for the majority of my work clothes? It would help everything look pulled together, it would all match, even if the shades were different, and grey as a base color would go with everything in my existing closet.

Also, it totally means I can embrace my Grey Lady, Gandalf vibe.



So this was partly a purge, going through my closet and getting rid of things I haven't worn in months, and given the heat/AC at work, won't. I dumped a few blazers I don't wear, same with vests, and a few shirts and cardigans. I've gotten a lot better about buying things that go together, but did do some panic buying in August for the new job, and whether they're scratchy, uncomfortable, or just meh, some things did not work out and I've never worn them. If I haven't worn then in 6 months I'm not going to, and someone else might like them so they go.

I also went through socks, which somehow always creeps up and gets out of control like there are freaking Gremlins in my sock basket. There are 7 days in a week, so I need 7 pairs of sweat socks for walking Nehi/running, and 5 for work days, warm and cold weather. No matter how you do math that is not a gazillion socks, so away they go. Plus, I got funny, sarcastic socks for Christmas and needed to follow my "one in, one out" rule. I usually get rid of way more than I ever buy to replace. So, once I cleared everything out, I looked at what I had and thought about what pieces I could add that would fit with what I was going for.

Here's what I went with:

• Another pair of grey Docker's
• A pair of grey jeans
• Button down grey shirt, one collared, one priest collar
• A couple of fancy-ish grey t-shirts (to wear under blazer or cardigan)
• A grey tunic top

I already had a grey blazer and a great comfy grey cardigan, so I just need to focus on wearing them more. The bonus of paring down is also that the things you DO have get more rotation. I also have a grey multi sweater and a light feeling, dark grey sweater. A lot of my wardrobe is blue, or black, or white- I tend to like solid colors, simple things, so all this will fit. My plan is to use the grey as a foundation- so each day one base grey piece. It should pull everything together, and has the bonus of being a signature look, in a way my compulsive, choose comfort over anything else, way.

I made a collage for some ideas, so the stuff below is roughly what I'm aiming for. I only teach Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and Fridays are spirit days, so I figure fancy-er on Monday and Wednesday (read button down shirts and blazers) and Mister Rogers more accessible (cardigans and tees) on Tuesday and Thursday when I just have office hours and meetings. Plus on those days I'm hoping to bike to work, so that works too.



Add my grey infinity scarf, making an effort with earrings and make up, and I think it will be the balance between my work being fancy and me being comfortable.

I have my Carhartt grey, nice backpack and a grey bag-bag, so that's set.

We'll see.

I will say that even though it's just a couple of things I bought I am excited about it all, and I could not tell you the last time I was ever excited about girl-shit.

I can tell you now, because I'm teaching a lot of the same students in the spring that I had in the fall that I am going to hear about my clothes come January. I guess I just hope that maybe they mention it once and leave me alone, because I really do hate it, it really does make me feel awful, because I KNOW it's something I don't do well in, and it is so personal. Plus, I think this professional look is something I can stick with, so I won't have to make any changes, so maybe if this is just how I look from now on it won't be something worth mentioning.