Teacherly

I have been getting behind again with my posts. The temperature here was abnormally high over the weekend, getting up around 90 degrees (that's about 32 for those of you on Celcius), and will continue so over the next couple of days. So this ensemble looks quite out-of-season to me even though I wore it not long ago.

Wearing this dress always makes me feel like I look more grown-up. I imagine myself wearing it for my interview if I ever apply for a tenure-track position. I wore it last year when I had a meeting to discuss costume design ideas with a choreographer who had never met me in person before, because I didn't want her to think I was a student. I'm 30, but still get mistaken for a student quite frequently. I don't mind this, except when I'm talked down to or patronised because of the mis-identification.

I'll be out shopping for fabric or supplies for a show, at stores I have been going to regularly all 8 years that I have been in Philly, and when the staff (the same people who help me every time I am there and really ought to remember me by now) find out that I'm buying fabric for costumes for a university performance (because about 75% of my costume design work is for colleges), they inevitably say something along the lines of "oh, you're doing this for a school project - how nice." Or, they go the total a-hole route and sternly tell me that they don't give out free swatches, even though I have asked for none (apparently, students often ask for swatches for projects). Most of the Philly fabric stores don't treat student designers very nicely, which is stupid because those students are the ones who will keep their businesses going when they begin their careers. Since turning 30, it has been so much more fun to correct them: "Actually, I'm 30 years old, and I have been teaching college classes for five years now." It sounds so much better than saying I'm 29. I used to just skip mentioning my age and go right to the teaching bit. Wow, I didn't mean for this to turn into a rant!

When I first started teaching, I stopped wearing many of the fun, even mildy wacky clothing pieces and accessories that had characterised my personal style through my teens and early 20s. I got rid of a lot of them, and invested in what I thought was more professional, grown-up looking clothing. It helped a lot in my first few years, as it was sometimes difficult to get people to take me seriously because I was just out out grad school (and still looked like an undergraduate, it seems). But over the past year, I have been bringing back much more of "me" into my professional attire. This has made me SO happy! I feel comfortable doing so now that I am have become established here and am respected by my colleagues at the university where I work. Still, it's nice to have some teacherly ensembles like this one to fall back on.

Dress: Ann Taylor Loft.
Cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft.
Leggings: Mandee.
Earrings and necklace: Dots.
Boots: Appepazza.