Clothes make the [wo]man
Apr. 9th, 2005 10:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterYesterday I wore a long black dress that's supposed to function as a swimsuit coverup. It's the most comfortable article of clothing I own, yet I also get compliments on it because I'm usually not much of a dress-wearer.
Ahh, if only I had the time and energy to assemble a more ideal wardrobe. Speaking in terms of wardrobes, right now I definitely fit into that fresh-out-of-college and not-quite-adjusted-to-the-working-world category. As far as working worlds go, graduate school is extremely casual, but on the other hand E commented that female graduate students/professors are usually taken more seriously if they dress professionally. Obviously one's clothing does not reflect the content of one's mind, but that phenomenon is a well-recognized aspect of being a woman. If a man does an interview on TV, his friends will usually comment about the content of the interview. If a woman does an interview on TV, she is more likely to receive feedback on what she chose to wore.
Honestly, I'm tempted to turn the whole phenomenon into an experiment at some point--dressing nicely for one class, dressing in my usual uber-casual lack-of-taste style for another, and seeing how my evaluations compare.
[as an experimentor, my next train of thought goes something like this: "Well, I'd have to control for the effect of time of day and day of week, so it would have to be a multiple-semester, balanced design. I.E. in semester one, I would dress as a slob for lab A on such-and-such a day at such-and-such a time, and the opposite for lab B. In semester two, I'd dress nicely for lab A at the same time, and as a slob for lab B. Then there's always the need for replication, so I'd need to continue this trend for several years. Plus the whole issue of students talking with each other outside of lab."]
In any case, the grand experiment can't happen until I can afford the time and/or money and/or energy to re-vamp my wardrobe. I've never really put clothing high on the priority list for expenses (aside from spandex for rowing, because that's a category of clothing that can't really be messed around with). Instead, I must usually trust that people can see past appearances and appreciate the beauty of thought and action.
In the meantime, I think I need to find some more purty skirts and pants and shorts. I keep wearing mine out, and I have a hard time finding skirts that I like.
Sometime soon, I'll have to write more about what it's like to be a woman in academia. For the moment, this must be enough because I have much work to do.
Ahh, if only I had the time and energy to assemble a more ideal wardrobe. Speaking in terms of wardrobes, right now I definitely fit into that fresh-out-of-college and not-quite-adjusted-to-the-working-world category. As far as working worlds go, graduate school is extremely casual, but on the other hand E commented that female graduate students/professors are usually taken more seriously if they dress professionally. Obviously one's clothing does not reflect the content of one's mind, but that phenomenon is a well-recognized aspect of being a woman. If a man does an interview on TV, his friends will usually comment about the content of the interview. If a woman does an interview on TV, she is more likely to receive feedback on what she chose to wore.
Honestly, I'm tempted to turn the whole phenomenon into an experiment at some point--dressing nicely for one class, dressing in my usual uber-casual lack-of-taste style for another, and seeing how my evaluations compare.
[as an experimentor, my next train of thought goes something like this: "Well, I'd have to control for the effect of time of day and day of week, so it would have to be a multiple-semester, balanced design. I.E. in semester one, I would dress as a slob for lab A on such-and-such a day at such-and-such a time, and the opposite for lab B. In semester two, I'd dress nicely for lab A at the same time, and as a slob for lab B. Then there's always the need for replication, so I'd need to continue this trend for several years. Plus the whole issue of students talking with each other outside of lab."]
In any case, the grand experiment can't happen until I can afford the time and/or money and/or energy to re-vamp my wardrobe. I've never really put clothing high on the priority list for expenses (aside from spandex for rowing, because that's a category of clothing that can't really be messed around with). Instead, I must usually trust that people can see past appearances and appreciate the beauty of thought and action.
In the meantime, I think I need to find some more purty skirts and pants and shorts. I keep wearing mine out, and I have a hard time finding skirts that I like.
Sometime soon, I'll have to write more about what it's like to be a woman in academia. For the moment, this must be enough because I have much work to do.
