- Blue Button Down – J Crew
- Orange Skirt – J Crew
- Belt – Anthropologie
- Tweed Tights – Gap
- Shoes – Urban Outfitters
- Earrings – gift
Endnotes:
Yesterday was my first day of teaching for the Spring semester. I loved my first day of school outfit from last Spring semester (so much so, I included it in my top ten list). So, I decided to use some of the elements form that look to create something new. I pulled out my bright orange wool skirt and tweed tights to start. I wanted to keep the bold complimentary color pairing of orange and blue and retain some of the classic prep look the crew neck cardigan gave the original.
Inspired by another of my top ten picks, I decided to belt my tuxedo-front blue button down. The central items in this ensemble are fairly “safe” but the bright colors, particularly this combination of bright colors gave the outfit more personality.
This time around I decided to take that personality and run with it…
Instead of a simple brown leather belt, I opted for this blue cloth belt with its sparkly leaf pattern (a Christmas gift from my mom). I also sported my fantastically strange eye earrings (a long-ago gift from a favorite TA supervisor). I love these earrings because from far away they are just brown dangly earrings, but as someone approaches they see the little surrealist eyes staring at them. The first time I wore these earrings in a professional setting was at the College Art Association conference several yeas ago. I got a good mix of strange looks and gushing compliments. I now often use them as a subtle way to make an otherwise bland professional outfit my own and can imagine wearing them with my interview suit (I’ll be applying to teach contemporary art after all).
This outfit was of course far from bland professional even with out the eye earrings. On my short walk from my off-campus parking spot to the building where I teach I passed three former students and I got to thinking about how long I have been a TA (this is my 8th semester at my current university and my 14th all together) and it occurred to me that this may possibly be my last! My funding is still very much undetermined, but it is a feasible possibility that I might finish my degree with grant money and never TA again! This got me reflecting on my outfit. Would I have worn bright orange and blue, a sparkly belt, eye earrings and my wellies (I wore them to walk to campus and never managed to put the pumps back on) for the first day of my first semester as a TA? Probably not. There are many reasons for that, including an evolving personal style, a growing level of confidence in my personal appearance, among other things, but it also has to do with my confidence in myself as a teacher. I know I am a good teacher and so I worry less about what exactly my clothes are saying to my students.
Have you had similar experiences? Once you are more confident in your job do you find yourself being more bold in your style choices?
19 January 2010 – Back to School, originally uploaded by academichic.