What constitutes "too well-dressed"?

[duckrabbit]

Hi all, I'm another female worried about proper dress. I'll be a TA in a humanities department in the fall -- do I teach in jeans and a sweater? Khakis? Nice pants? What if I happen to be in the mood to wear a skirt -- bad idea?

I have heard that dressing "too well" can be a detriment to female students (people will see you as thinking more about clothes than work), but I am not entirely sure that I understand what "too well" and "too badly" mean in this context. Does that just mean that one should leave one's miniskirts and Jimmy Choos at home (duh), or does that mean that one should wear unflattering clothes and pretend to have no sense of style at all? (I saw that someone on another thread recommended looking as un-feminine as possible.)

Sorry if this is an excessively superficial post. I have to make a first impression next week, while visiting schools (I'm not interviewing, just visiting). Reading over the threads about interview weekends made me scared. I have a very comfortable, understated all-black outfit for visiting programs, but now I am worried that it is actually too fabulous. Please advise!

PS How horribly ironic that we, who obviously take academic work seriously enough to think about it a lot of the time, are now spending inordinate amounts of time thinking about clothing because we don't want to appear to think too much about clothing.

[litforbrains]

I think it all just depends on you. I, for instance, know that I look fairly young, especially if I dress casually. So, to present myself as a professional worthy of the respect 18-year olds so rarely give, I dress up more, especially for the first few weeks. I'll wear skirts or pants, but I am usually dressed up more than most of the other teachers. After I get to know the personalities of my classes, I'll often break down and wear more casual clothes, sometimes even jeans. It just depends on the class and how they'll take it. But even when I dress more casually, I make sure I'm 'put together' and have make-up and at least some jewelry on. You'd be amazed at how that takes you from some TA to their instructor!

But, then again, some other TAs dress very casually and seem to do just fine...especially the men! So, I don't see anything wrong with dressing nicer or more formally as long as it suits you and your personality. Although, I'm just a TA, what do I know about fashion?

[gradgirl]

I agree with the above poster. I usually start off the semester dressing up a bit just because I feel like I look less young and more authoritative that way. I try to look professional, but I despise removing my femininity for the sake of professionalism so I will wear fitted dress shirts and dress pants and things of that nature rather than unflattering baggier ones. Skirts on occasion but make sure they're sensibly knee length or so. I also dress up if I know I'm going to be having interactions with other faculty if it's in a context where I'm supposed to be perceived as an instructor and not as a grad student.

However, the dressing up usually doesn't last long because I feel like it affects my teaching. When I'm dressed up, I don't feel like "me" and I notice myself behaving formally, feeling awkward and doing silly things, etc. After I feel that I've gained some respect from the class I usually start wearing jeans and a sweater or jeans and a semi-casual shirt (not t-shirts or anything--usually collared shirts with a shirt underneath, or something of that nature). But, that's just because I feel more like "me" that way and I think I'm a better teacher when I'm comfortable. I also like being approachable, and I feel that dressed "down" I have more positive connections with my students. I wouldn't try on purpose to wear unflattering clothes, but that's just me. I don't want to have to feel insecure and/or worry that my students are secretly making fun of me for something I wear, because if I lose confidence I also lose teaching ability. Yes, I know that's vain and superficial.

One thing: Careful wearing heels; I've stumbled before because I was too focused on what i was saying and on moving around the room. Of course I just made light of it and laughed at myself and it was ok, but I felt kind of silly. Then again I've also walked into a pole before in class, so maybe it's just me and not the shoes

I think though a lot depends on how you want the 'vibe' of your classroom to be. Do you want it to be casual, chatty, and comfortable? Or more formal? You can set the precedent by how you dress. I love my class and some of the discussions we have, and I like incorporating humor and having fun, and I think that's another reason I tend toward the casual. I also have my students call me by my first name, while many other TA's go by Mr. or Ms. But I haven't had any problems with my authority being questioned before in any significant way, and I want to present myself as a fellow writer, not some high and mighty person handing down information from above. It's all about your comfort level.

[duckrabbit]

Thank you to both of you for the advice!! :-)