A new feature on my blog; every Wednesday I will write about building my capsule wardrobe.
But first, I’d like to share this short blog entry from The Society Pages titled “ The Balancing Act of Being Female; or Why We Have So Many Clothes.” It was written by culture critic Lisa Wade, PhD.
This article presents a very interesting point, and one I’ve never considered – we women need so many clothes because there are rules that change on a regular basis.
I thought about how this applies to me – I have to dress appropriately for work: professional, but not too professional lest I give the impression that I don’t know my place in the hierarchy. I can’t be too casual so it doesn’t seem that I don’t take the job seriously.
And then there is dressing for social occasions – I don’t want to give the impression that I’m looking for a man, or that I don’t quite realize that I’m 40 and not 25. But I can’t dress too casually because then I’m not respecting the occasion.
Should I start in on fit? I have to wear clothes that fit closely so I don’t look like a slob, but not too closely because it would seem that I’m trying to be sexy.
So, who knows where the line is between being too much of something or not enough. I sure don’t. When I started my career, I often visited a blog for professional women, but the topics and comments made me incredibly self-conscious. It’s not just clothes that have rules; the discussion once turned to manicures. Professional women must have nice nails. Okay, I’m totally on board with that. But wait! Any nail polish brighter than a sheer gives the impression that a woman is vain, or, the egregious offense of all for career women: that she has too much time on her hands so that she can maintain a manicure.
Depressing, isn’t it? Not something that will change anytime soon, so I need to change. And not give a flying fig about these rules, and concern myself only with being neat and comfortable.
