Clothing. Again.

Yesterday, our family went to a barbecue at the home of family friends Tim met in grad school years ago. Also invited were many of his colleagues and friends who live in the larger city to the north, including a former professor and friend of ours. This man, who I greatly admire, was one of my favorite all time teachers when I was an undergraduate. He has relatively recently left academia, and interestingly enough now works for Tim's company.

Anyway, we started swapping professor tales, and somehow we got onto clothing. When I interviewed for jobs a couple of years ago, I wore a pair of trousers and a button up shirt. Not a suit. I was looking for a job in which I could dress casually. There were two places I interviewed where the regular professors were dressed better than I. One was a liberal arts college in New York, and one was my current employer. The liberal arts college in New York wasn't a good fit. My current employer was. After a day of interviews, I was actually very surprised at how much I liked the department, how much I had enjoyed interacting with the other faculty, and how ... er ... normal they all seemed. It was a bit unexpected. So by the second day of interviews, I thought I really might like the job. Really. But that meant that I was honestly considering moving to this town. Suddenly, there were many more things I needed to know. I showed up at the office of the department chair with a long list of questions. I don't remember everything that was on the list, but two items that I remember were "Can I really raise my son here without him growing up sexist?" and "Why is everyone dressed in suits? I teach in jeans. Is that going to be a problem?"

The first question needs its own post. As for the second, I was told that several people in the department do teach in jeans, and I could. So I do. (Aside: The admission of this fact has been a huge shock to many women my mother's age. A huge shock. They attended my university when women could only wear skirts. They were shocked to hear that the students were allowed to wear jeans, much less the faculty.)

I told this story to my former professor. Then he began his own story, starting by saying he thought there were two types of people in the world: "nerds" and those who cared about what they wore. The implication was that I belong squarely in the former category, not the latter.

This is not true. I definitely care about what I wear. In fact, I think I care more than most women I know. But my requirements are different than theirs. I require shoes that fit, that don't give me blisters, and that I can walk in for multiple miles per day. They also have to be really long and narrow to fit my feet. Which means most shoe stores don't even have a shoe that will fit me, much less pass the blister and walking test. Sneakers fit me. So I often buy sneakers.

You can't wear sneakers with a suit, or with slacks. I have enough fashion sense to know this. You can wear them with jeans. So I like to wear jeans.

Also, I require pants that fit, that fall all the way to my ankles, that will not show my butt crack or the brand of my underwear when I raise my arms to write on the board, bend over to talk to a student, or twist into the corner to plug in my laptop. They need pockets that will hold my keys, otherwise I will forget my keys and be locked out of my office. They are not allowed to ride up my bum when I sit down. That's really uncomfortable. I also prefer them to flatter my figure, rather than make my hips look wide and my belly bulgy. I am very tall, but I am also skinny, which, like the shoes, means many stores don't even have a pair of trousers that will fit me, much less pass the butt crack test when I do stretches in the fitting room. I currently don't own a pair of trousers that fits, because I haven't been able to find one. I own two pairs of jeans that I like, and so I wear those teaching.

So there you have it. I dress poorly. But there is a reason besides me thumbing my nose at the fashion industry. I guess you could say the fashion industry has, for the most part of my life, thumbed its nose at me. My body type is not on the approved list, and therefore they will make me work extremely hard to find suitable attire. So there, Mr Professor man.