Hello readers! Quick Poll: How do you choose your outfits for work and home? Are you a brander or a shapeshifter? I’d love to hear from you.
This week I posted a piece on how women in charge have navigated fashion choices in the past. Since writing that piece I’ve become a little more self-aware in my own closet, and am paying attention the way that clothing might influence my attitude toward work and my professional sense of self.
I don’t really have a “brand” when it comes to my work clothes, much as I’d like to. Instead I’m a shapeshifter. What about you?
I'm pretty petite (5 feet!) so the only clothes that work for me are tailored and more formal clothes. Even as a grad student, I tended to dress somewhat formally.
I work in a museum so you would think people would be very creative and tend toward shape shifting a lot in their clothes but the women with whom I work all tend to dress in American-casual: pants when working in the collections and skirts or even dresses when doing public events.
During the pandemic, I curled up a lot in yoga pants and baggy shirts. That was when I realized I have a private approach to clothes and a public persona---one is very casual while the other is very formal.
Hello Alexandra! That is so interesting that the pandemic made you reflect on how you might be using clothes to shape persona. I had a similar experience — the pandemic made me realize how much I had valued getting dressed, really dressed, for work. When I started working from home I missed that. Also interesting that your colleagues dress in skirts / dresses when doing events - no suits? No pants? Is there a sense that the public expects them to dress up, and that ‘dressing up’ automatically means a dress?
I work from home and have what I call indoor leggings and outdoor leggings, so I suppose that's branded. BUT, if we are looking at the entire span of my career that included actually leaving the house, public speaking, and politicking, then it was definitely shapeshifter! I'll be one again someday, it's just not my current season of life.
I thinking of the year, and of life, in terms of seasons is really useful, and in some ways a kind of positive anti-capitalistic way of thinking. I know a number of women (emphasis on women) who have thought about work-life balance, and the clothing that goes with, in this way… it’s a useful and healthy model.
As someone approaching 30 who works in an office but for an arts company, I’m working on bringing my professional brand and my personal style closer together. I definitely have been a shapeshifter, but I’m working to develop a style that can be cohesive while also adapting to different circumstances and dress codes.
Thanks so much for this. It’s taken me a bit to reply to this because you had me thinking. When you say you are trying to bring the “brand” closer to your personal style - is that because, previously, you felt that the so-called ‘brand’ was a part of a performance, or answering a certain expectation? I remember feeling this way as a young professor. I looked very young, and I know my students thought I looked really young. So I tried really hard to “dress the part.” But I wasn’t even entirely sure what that meant for a young woman. What does ‘professional’ look like to a ‘professor’? Glasses? No glasses? Skirts? Suits? Was I supposed to be some radical, creative, or artsy? Or nerdy and serious?
My background was uniform until I hit this latest tier, so other than when I spoke at classes or conferences, there was not much variation there. I would definitely say shapeshifter, with consideration to the role I'm filling that day. Now that I am north of 50 and I am also gaining the power of invisibility, I do employ social camouflage when it suits me to travel without notice.
This is so interesting, Tracey. Thank you for this!
I love the idea of the power of invisibility - or even ‘not visible in quite the ways we were before,’ since I’m not sure younger women are always truly visible either… (but that’s another topic). Social camouflage is a great way to put it. One of the things that strikes me about female celebrities or women in visible public roles (eg.politicians) is the difficulty of camouflaging socially. There is a new ad out with Kamala Harris sitting cross-legged, in a t-shirt and blazer, maybe a pair of Keds and holding a coffee. Have you seen it? It looks both relaxed and professional at the same time, like she’s at ease even when she is serious…I was thinking of the benefits of putting that image out there now because it allows her to take up that ‘casual’ look more officially, later.
I have seen it. I think where it will resonate is as interesting as how. Here in Alaska, full-on corporate dress isn't seen often for either gender, just choice pieces as a nod to whatever role the person is in. So I suppose my point is that if that is the criticism, then you know it's specific to the person and not the choice of dress. I also think it is a clear draw to the disenfranchised younger generations.
I love your point about younger women not always being truly visible, either. However, I think for them, it may be a case of light being refracted and distorted through the social prism, which blurs their lines and just makes them harder to see—except when the "right" light hits them, of course. A sociological cloaking device.
Great! So…what do you think, is it more about how you want to feel personally at any given moment, more about an image you want to project? Are those intertwined for you? Does it change by the season?
Hmmm. Not about how I want to feel, although there are things I like wearing more than other things. I just dress for the weather and work through the wardrobe and stick things in the laundry basket! Very mundane. If it isn't summer, jeans are my permanent uniform: comfortable and with pockets. I like scary suits but unless it's a conference I can't stand the treacherous pockets, and they are too formal for the library anyway.
... Is it about the image I want to project? When I was 23, yes. There was a saying: "dress for the job you want, not the job you have." That was a load of nonsense! Very smart shirts and trousers carefully tracked down in London sales did not win me any promotions. Once I became a grad student I went back to jeans.
Conferences: jeans felt too informal and not celebratory enough - I LOVE giant conferences. Since I already had job interview suits for summer and winter, why not wear them was my thinking.
I guess for larger conferences or conferences at which I'm speaking I certainly want to look as boss as possible, so there it's a combo of image and clothes that represent my giving-a-talk headspace.
Yes - and there is always the added element of “what are people expecting?’ Perhaps that is one thing that changes as we get older - using clothes less to project what others are expecting and more to project who we actually are. However, I do wonder whether people - of any gender — in leadership roles have quite that luxury.
Back in my corporate days, one of my clients described my style as "corporate gypsy". In many ways, that still fits even though my days of going to an office outside my home are long gone.
I’ve been thinking about work-from-home too. I’m working at home most of the time, and realize that what I’m wearing influences still my professional sense of self. Finding stuff that is both comfortable and feels “dressed for work” is sometimes a challenge.
I'm pretty petite (5 feet!) so the only clothes that work for me are tailored and more formal clothes. Even as a grad student, I tended to dress somewhat formally.
I work in a museum so you would think people would be very creative and tend toward shape shifting a lot in their clothes but the women with whom I work all tend to dress in American-casual: pants when working in the collections and skirts or even dresses when doing public events.
During the pandemic, I curled up a lot in yoga pants and baggy shirts. That was when I realized I have a private approach to clothes and a public persona---one is very casual while the other is very formal.
Hello Alexandra! That is so interesting that the pandemic made you reflect on how you might be using clothes to shape persona. I had a similar experience — the pandemic made me realize how much I had valued getting dressed, really dressed, for work. When I started working from home I missed that. Also interesting that your colleagues dress in skirts / dresses when doing events - no suits? No pants? Is there a sense that the public expects them to dress up, and that ‘dressing up’ automatically means a dress?
I work from home and have what I call indoor leggings and outdoor leggings, so I suppose that's branded. BUT, if we are looking at the entire span of my career that included actually leaving the house, public speaking, and politicking, then it was definitely shapeshifter! I'll be one again someday, it's just not my current season of life.
I thinking of the year, and of life, in terms of seasons is really useful, and in some ways a kind of positive anti-capitalistic way of thinking. I know a number of women (emphasis on women) who have thought about work-life balance, and the clothing that goes with, in this way… it’s a useful and healthy model.
As someone approaching 30 who works in an office but for an arts company, I’m working on bringing my professional brand and my personal style closer together. I definitely have been a shapeshifter, but I’m working to develop a style that can be cohesive while also adapting to different circumstances and dress codes.
Thanks so much for this. It’s taken me a bit to reply to this because you had me thinking. When you say you are trying to bring the “brand” closer to your personal style - is that because, previously, you felt that the so-called ‘brand’ was a part of a performance, or answering a certain expectation? I remember feeling this way as a young professor. I looked very young, and I know my students thought I looked really young. So I tried really hard to “dress the part.” But I wasn’t even entirely sure what that meant for a young woman. What does ‘professional’ look like to a ‘professor’? Glasses? No glasses? Skirts? Suits? Was I supposed to be some radical, creative, or artsy? Or nerdy and serious?
My background was uniform until I hit this latest tier, so other than when I spoke at classes or conferences, there was not much variation there. I would definitely say shapeshifter, with consideration to the role I'm filling that day. Now that I am north of 50 and I am also gaining the power of invisibility, I do employ social camouflage when it suits me to travel without notice.
This is so interesting, Tracey. Thank you for this!
I love the idea of the power of invisibility - or even ‘not visible in quite the ways we were before,’ since I’m not sure younger women are always truly visible either… (but that’s another topic). Social camouflage is a great way to put it. One of the things that strikes me about female celebrities or women in visible public roles (eg.politicians) is the difficulty of camouflaging socially. There is a new ad out with Kamala Harris sitting cross-legged, in a t-shirt and blazer, maybe a pair of Keds and holding a coffee. Have you seen it? It looks both relaxed and professional at the same time, like she’s at ease even when she is serious…I was thinking of the benefits of putting that image out there now because it allows her to take up that ‘casual’ look more officially, later.
I have seen it. I think where it will resonate is as interesting as how. Here in Alaska, full-on corporate dress isn't seen often for either gender, just choice pieces as a nod to whatever role the person is in. So I suppose my point is that if that is the criticism, then you know it's specific to the person and not the choice of dress. I also think it is a clear draw to the disenfranchised younger generations.
I love your point about younger women not always being truly visible, either. However, I think for them, it may be a case of light being refracted and distorted through the social prism, which blurs their lines and just makes them harder to see—except when the "right" light hits them, of course. A sociological cloaking device.
I love this - ‘ a sociological cloaking device.’ Thank you!
Shapeshifter! Everything from scary trouser suits with flamboyant shirts for conferences through to kindergarden outfits to survive the summer.
Great! So…what do you think, is it more about how you want to feel personally at any given moment, more about an image you want to project? Are those intertwined for you? Does it change by the season?
Hmmm. Not about how I want to feel, although there are things I like wearing more than other things. I just dress for the weather and work through the wardrobe and stick things in the laundry basket! Very mundane. If it isn't summer, jeans are my permanent uniform: comfortable and with pockets. I like scary suits but unless it's a conference I can't stand the treacherous pockets, and they are too formal for the library anyway.
... Is it about the image I want to project? When I was 23, yes. There was a saying: "dress for the job you want, not the job you have." That was a load of nonsense! Very smart shirts and trousers carefully tracked down in London sales did not win me any promotions. Once I became a grad student I went back to jeans.
Conferences: jeans felt too informal and not celebratory enough - I LOVE giant conferences. Since I already had job interview suits for summer and winter, why not wear them was my thinking.
I guess for larger conferences or conferences at which I'm speaking I certainly want to look as boss as possible, so there it's a combo of image and clothes that represent my giving-a-talk headspace.
Yes - and there is always the added element of “what are people expecting?’ Perhaps that is one thing that changes as we get older - using clothes less to project what others are expecting and more to project who we actually are. However, I do wonder whether people - of any gender — in leadership roles have quite that luxury.
Back in my corporate days, one of my clients described my style as "corporate gypsy". In many ways, that still fits even though my days of going to an office outside my home are long gone.
P.S. I love the term ‘corporate gypsy.’
I’ve been thinking about work-from-home too. I’m working at home most of the time, and realize that what I’m wearing influences still my professional sense of self. Finding stuff that is both comfortable and feels “dressed for work” is sometimes a challenge.
Yes it is. My only tip is put on shoes for business calls, podcast interviews and the like.
Shoes! For me it usually involves a collar.