Re: Just A Little Something I Threw On

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Like she said, when everyone is showing double cleavage, it doesn't get a reaction. But wear "fuck me" boots to work ONE TIME and they're talking about it for years. A little mystery, and sexy shoes, go a long way towards driving red-blooded men over the edge.


Posted by: diddy | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 1:49 PM
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at which university on what planet (nevermind city) is that ensemble "no biggie?"

Every university in every major city I've been to. It's stylish, but what's the big deal? The boots have a heel, is that the problem?


Posted by: Mithras | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 2:03 PM
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Looks normal and professional to me. (resident of LA)


Posted by: Andrew Cholakian | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 2:10 PM
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Maybe I'm a fuddy duddy then. Anyway, I don't have a problem with it, I think she looks great. I just thought one could anticipate getting extra attention when wearing it.


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 2:12 PM
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I work at a small college. The boots would attract attention (in a perfectly good way) here. I don't think they'd attract attention at a research university -- at least not in the humanities buildings. (I can't imagine that outfit anywhere near a fume hood.)

How useful is the small-college/research-university distinction, do you think, in sorting out fashion trends?

Different note: I had a friend who went from being a grad student at Fancypants U to being a faculty member at Snootypants U. I asked her, "So how do the students stack up there?" She said, "They're much more sophisticated than at Fancypants" -- which surprised me, because I tend to think of Fancypants students as being a tiny bit more interesting than Snootypants students. Then she added: "A lot of Snootypants students wear leather coats, and they can carry it off."


Posted by: Bob | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 2:25 PM
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Great. I'm now officially the last person anyone goes to for fashion advice.

I was going to say that I thought the outfit looked great, by my endorsement might cause profgrrrrl to reconsider.


Posted by: PZ Myers | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 2:38 PM
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Well, my goodness, you've sent a lot of traffic my way today!

At my previous university, as well as the one before that, and the ones where I got my BS and first MS no one would have thought anything of the outfit. Seriously. It was only at my doctoral institution and now in my current location (both, umm, less fashionable parts of the country, really) that I get attention for my clothes. Drop me on the streets of NY, Chicago, Boston ... I fit right in.

And Bob is correct, I'm nowhere near a fume hood. ALTHOUGH I had a friend who spent hours under a fume hood and wore dresses (often velvet!) and fancy shoes daily. No joke. Me, just a social scientist at a research university in a not-to-stylin' location.

I also find it quite funny, as diddy notes, that less is often more. Ha! Someone should tell all of those 18-year-old girls.


Posted by: profgrrrrl | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 2:39 PM
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No biggie.

I mean, yeah, it's a sharp outfit. But my god, people. Like Mithras said: any major campus in any major city. Some of us out in the sticks still hang on to our urban sense of style, too, damnit.

Ogged, you're a fuddy duddy.


Posted by: bitchphd | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 2:44 PM
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Hey, come on now, I like it. (In fact, I'm afraid that ultimately this post will come to mean: "Hey, that's hot!")

But I swear I don't remember people dressing like that at either of the big city schools I went to. (One more concession: I might be overreacting because of the pose in the photo--'tude indeed.)

baa, brother in cultural conservatism, save me now...


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 2:56 PM
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In response to the first comment about the shoes: it's different from wearing something with cleavage, because it's actively making yourself uncomfortable. And why would you do that, and make yourself noticed, if you didn't want to be noticed?


Posted by: Cryptic Ned | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 3:38 PM
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I think this is a discplinary thing. That would be very, very snappy dressing for most philosophy departments of my acquaintance (and double dog that for the sciences, as has been said above). For humanities globally, not so much. Doesn't Marjorie Garber only wear the pelts of endangered animals?

Also, in ogged's defence, in *Boston* academia which, if I recall, was his experience, those boots alone would make you the Queen of Sheeba.

Where do I get this reputation for cultural conservatism? Um ... all you shameless hussies should be switched, switched I say!


Posted by: baa | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 3:53 PM
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I am troubled by this conservative side to Ogged.


Posted by: SomeCallMeTim | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 6:06 PM
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It's only a matter of time before we get him, I agree.


Posted by: baa | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 6:41 PM
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Dissent! Showed this to a female friend, and a look of disbelief came across her face...

"What's shocking you?"

"That she thinks this is appropriate. I mean, the outfit is fine, for a night on the town in New York City..."


Posted by: ogged | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 7:20 PM
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Ogged, you're nobody's cultural conservative, Big Nose.

baa, you either. I'm totally down with swinging switches at a hussy with you if you can find a willing one. In fact, if you got the switches, I bet I can come up with the hussy.


Posted by: apostropher | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 7:31 PM
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I don't think this is Ogged's conservatavism. If anything, apostropher is on the right track. Evidence A: excited by harsh, disiplinary swim instructor. Evidence B: transposing excitement over high-heeled leather boots to society at large.


Posted by: Michael | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 8:16 PM
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I don't see that outfit as a biggie. It's Autumn, boots are okay.

High heels aren't necessarily uncomfortable, as Cryptic Ned said. I don't know what kind of research profgrrrl does, but if she stands at a lab table for any amount of time, such heels could be much more comfortable for the back than flats.

My guess is, she'd be Miss Thang even without the boots. It's the attitude, not the shoes.


Posted by: Julie O. | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 8:38 PM
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y'all are nuts. that is low key. hot, but perfecly reasonable. looking back, I think it would be fair to say that I used to dress mildly inappropriately as a TA. stop laughing, John. mildly.


Posted by: belle waring | Link to this comment | 11-19-04 10:56 PM
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Looks cool to me. My wife has a pair of those boots, and they're fun.

Admittedly, no one in my department comes to work dressed like that. I think the reaction if they did would be admiration tinged with resentment/jealousy. Which would manifest exactly how profgrrrl describes it.

I'm now in my 8th year in the midwest (ohmy god, I'd never added it up before), and I think there's a bit of an ethic that no light should shine brighter than others. But that's bullshit. You go girl.


Posted by: cw | Link to this comment | 11-20-04 5:51 AM
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Probably coming to the party after the discussion is over, but I don't see any problem with the outfit either. I mean, it's sharp, and fashionable, but it's perfectly professional. What exactly do those who think it's inappropriate object to? It's a jacket over a dress. There's no cleavage showing, no midriff, no thighs. It fits, but it's not glued on or anything. Is it the high-heeled boots? The fact that she's wearing black?

Some of this is context, too. Someone who shows up in jeans and a sweatshirt every day is going to get extra attention when they appear in this outfit. If this is pretty characteristic, then it's going to have a different impact.


Posted by: New Kid on the Hallway | Link to this comment | 11-20-04 7:03 PM
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Back in the day (circa 1984), I had a prof at an engineering school who was famous for wearing fishnet stockings and assorted punk-inspired outfits.

Her classes were always full.


Posted by: LarryB | Link to this comment | 11-20-04 9:44 PM
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What's wrong with black? That seems to be default business suit color.

Bared cleavage can, indeed, be more uncomfortable - if only because it often necessitates "special" underwear... constant re-adjusting, and the possibility of indecent exposure. Well-made heels, on the other hand, can be quite comfortable... and boots add some limited warmth to the extremeties.

Dear me, these are just simple black boots (would there be the same amount of consternation if they were simple black pumps of the same height?) - there is no obnoxious hardware or suggestive detailing.


Posted by: justanotherone | Link to this comment | 09-22-05 10:01 AM
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