The suit
Admittedly, the feedback I received from my Fulbright interview could have been much, much better. It seems that this crew of six male scholars liked nothing about me except that I was attractive, poised, and possessed good social skills. Other than that, they essentially thought that I was stupid, naïve, didn't know what I was talking about, presented poor methodology in my proposal, and was wearing an ugly suit. The first bits I can handle, I mean they are hard-nosed academics after all, but the comments about the suit? Come on! I mean that is just a low blow to criticize the suit that I spent my hard-earned resident director pay to buy. My beautiful, brand new, green tweed suit from Ann Taylor that I was so in love with and had quickly become the most treasured part of my wardrobe. How dare they!
Henry David Thoreau once said to be wary of any undertaking which requires new clothes. I would not wholeheartedly agree with this, as I really enjoy new clothes. However, perhaps what he also meant by this is, "be wary of any endeavor where the people involved would pass judgement on your clothes."
Rather than have my opinion of the suit destroyed by this pompous man (for it actually was only one professor that wrote down such comments, but who knows, maybe the others were thinking it), I have found that I find myself even more enamoured by it. It is as though the suit and I are bound in solidarity against anyone who is stuffy enough as to believe that people should not wear colorful, fashionable clothing but rather should "dress for success" (as he put it) in dark, boring clothes.
In society, one's clothing is a symbol of one's place in life and also one's outlook. As long as there has been fashion, there has been certain status associated with certain fashions. In ancient Rome, for example, patricians dressed in one style, while plebians dressed an entirely different way. Fashion can be used to expressed feminism or masculinity. It can be used to make political or ideological statements. It can be an expression of art or color.
In my life I'm sure I will be many things. But I refuse to be boring! Just as I would not try to change my personality, nor will not change my style of dress to suit the values of someone else.
(And I mean honestly, it's just a green tweed suit. One would think, from this particular professor's reaction to it, that I had strolled in there in fishnets and a leather mini…)
Henry David Thoreau once said to be wary of any undertaking which requires new clothes. I would not wholeheartedly agree with this, as I really enjoy new clothes. However, perhaps what he also meant by this is, "be wary of any endeavor where the people involved would pass judgement on your clothes."
Rather than have my opinion of the suit destroyed by this pompous man (for it actually was only one professor that wrote down such comments, but who knows, maybe the others were thinking it), I have found that I find myself even more enamoured by it. It is as though the suit and I are bound in solidarity against anyone who is stuffy enough as to believe that people should not wear colorful, fashionable clothing but rather should "dress for success" (as he put it) in dark, boring clothes.
In society, one's clothing is a symbol of one's place in life and also one's outlook. As long as there has been fashion, there has been certain status associated with certain fashions. In ancient Rome, for example, patricians dressed in one style, while plebians dressed an entirely different way. Fashion can be used to expressed feminism or masculinity. It can be used to make political or ideological statements. It can be an expression of art or color.
In my life I'm sure I will be many things. But I refuse to be boring! Just as I would not try to change my personality, nor will not change my style of dress to suit the values of someone else.
(And I mean honestly, it's just a green tweed suit. One would think, from this particular professor's reaction to it, that I had strolled in there in fishnets and a leather mini…)
posted by le poisson rouge at
12:11 AM
3 Comments:
I am sorry to hear that the interview did not go better. I wholeheartedly agree with you about the suit. Don't ever be boring; it just won’t work for you. :)
Do you own fishnets and a mini? If so, maybe you can wear it to the next interview :)
Sorry it did not go better, but you are 'spot on' about the suit...
OK, I know I'm only 3 months late to this discussion, but I had given up on Christine's Blog for a while (prob like some have given up on mine, but mine like hers lives again!).
But WTF is up w/ people and job interviews and this BS charade of dressing to a certain conformity? Wouldn't you learn more about a person you're interviewing if you let them have creative license w/ their clothing as well as their speech? Or is the fact that Christine refused to conform to the degree they wanted somehow indicate her unwillingess to conform to them? And do employers reall want to hire conformists in creative fields like English and Engineering?
Well, Christine, I think your post said it well and your toungue-in-cheek style subtly slipped them the preverbial finger... as I would have!
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