Spring On-campus Jeanage

What up, StyleNation? Who’s having a spring to remember?

Recent crappy events at IPF North have encouraged me to appreciate life while I’ve got it, and I’ve been doing so in my garden. My gardening goal for this summer is to encourage as many bumblebees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and bunnies as possible to stop by for pollination, snacks, and/or general frolicking.

When on campus, I’m alone in my office for much of the day (sweet solace!), so I’ve been doing some significant dressing down. Case in point:

1. Should have tucked the shirt, but can’t make myself care

I can’t believe I don’t post these jeans more often. They’ve been a non-teaching-day staple for ages (or since 2008):

Blouse: Mexx (remixed); Necklace: gifted (remixed); Pin-stripe grey trouser jeans: Parasuco for Smart Set (2008, remixed); Shoes: Fugitive de Francesco Rossi (remixed)

 

And here, just because I have it, is a much less flattering angle that potentially gives a better view of the jean stripe:

Mug: ubiquitous in morning photos

2. Even though I’m broken up with Distressed Denim, I still have this skirt

I don’t know. Should we get rid of stone-washed or otherwise distressed denim so as not to contribute to the trend that results in factory/sweatshop-worker deaths? I’ve considered dyeing the skirt but suspect the wash variation would be reproduced in some way regardless. ‘Thoughts?

Necklace: gifted (remixed); Cotton jersey top: MaxStudio (remixed); Denim skirt: Bebe (remixed); Green leather belt: purchased with D-Med in England ages ago (remixed); Brown leather bootage: Rockport (super-old, remixed)

And here, because I’m the modelliest, is a slightly modified pose that does not, despite my best intentions, highlight the boots:

Mug: ubiquitous

Tell us about your spring, StyleNation!

How are you spending your down time these increasingly warm days?

Violence, Rage, and Research Clothes

A Sad and Enraging Report (Scroll down for outfit post):

One of my former students was murdered recently. The program I work in is a small one, so we all knew and enjoyed this lovely young woman. We are heartbroken over her death, particularly because she died so violently, and her loss is all the more sudden and senseless. Unlike so many of the hundreds (some estimate thousands) of murder cases involving Indigenous women across Canada in recent years (for more information see reports by Native Women’s Association of Canada’s research initiative Sisters in Spirit  and Amnesty International), this woman’s family and friends know who killed her and how she died. Her murderer has paid for his crime, however inadequate some of us may consider his “payment.”

After much deliberation, I’ve decided that it’s appropriate to write about this here. In part because I experience her loss as though it is part of my job, and in part because I can’t not write about it. I am heartsick and enraged. And I am very, very worried about all of my students, especially the women, and especially those women who are visibly Indigenous. Like many Canadian cities, my current city is a very racist and violent one. As an educated white middle-class woman, I don’t experience this menace as directly as some. As in many Canadian cities, the bodies of Indigenous women seem instead to ‘absorb’ the most extreme violence such that ‘the rest of us’ don’t experience it as much (for more information on urban spaces and violence against Indigenous women, see Sherene Razack’s article in Race, Space, and The Law, or Andrea Smith’s book, Conquest).

As the findings of Amnesty International, Sisters in Spirit, and numerous other groups and individual researchers make clear, women who trace their lineage from North America’s First Peoples are 5 times more likely to experience violence in their lifetime than any other group of people in Canada. Moreover, recent research suggests that non-Indigenous men – especially young white/caucasian men – are responsible for upwards of 80% of the violence to which Indigenous women are subject (see, for example Ladner and Peach’s article, “Missing Out and Missing” in CPRC Press’s 2008 collection Torn From Our Midst).

In short, the violent colonial project continues apace. Moreover, while some suffer more directly and immediately than others, the violence itself is everybody’s problem. Educating ourselves on the issues is just one of the ways we can add our efforts to ongoing anti-violence activism. Believing that we can be a part of positive change, then taking a step (any step) toward this end is important, too. There are a multitude of ways to fight racism and violence in our day-to-day lives, as I’m sure you already know. (Sadly, for example, one of the easiest ways available to me outside the contexts of research, is to not laugh at racist or misogynist jokes, and to then find ways to identify racism and misogyny that don’t shut down conversation entirely.)

I can’t believe she’s gone. We have A LOT of work to do.

Outfit Post: Clothing in which to continue anti-violence research/activism

Cardigan: (via Winners, remixed); Ruffly top: French Connection (via Winners, new to blog); Cream and grey microfibre lace cami: Elite (via The Bay); Jean capris: Jacob Connection (very old); Boots: Rockport (very old); Faceless stuffed chicken: gifted to the FR, claimed by his puppy

Outfit plus a puppy in whose smallness and silliness I find what Kelly might term moments of grace:

The FR’s Puppy likes to help with morning photos. Also, she must be supervised at all times, so it’s good she likes to play while I pose. (Can you see the FR’s puppy portrait in the background?)

Where do you take refuge when sadness or rage threaten to overwhelm?

Can you think of other ways to do anti-violence and anti-racism work in our day-to-day lives? 

NSFW: IPF Summit, or Rinty the Crusher’s Wedding

Hello StyleNation, and welcome to what we (or perhaps just I) shall henceforth be calling The (New and Improved) Most Wonderful Time of the Year! This period directly follows The Watch That Ends the Night, and we (or perhaps just I) marked its beginning this year  at the blessed nuptials of Dr. Rinty the Crusher and The Librarian.

In related news, said wedding extravaganza marked the first In Professorial Fashion summit of 2012. Attendees: Dorky Medievalist, E-Jo, Kelly Bean, and me, Academic Writer. Sadly, janey_em was not in attendance this time – but someone had to blog whilst the rest played.

You are probably super-excited to know that we took pictures.  Without further ado, I offer the following record of what we hope is only the first of at least two IPF meet-ups this year. For the record, we know that all items pictured below are NSFW (Not Suitable For Work).

1. Dr. Rinty the Crusher: The Woman in White

Obvy, you’ll want to see the gorgeous bride – or a faceless version of the same (as that is how we roll). Here she is in the dress she commissioned, the original style of which has been named for her and is available for others to purchase at her dressmaker’s:

Bonus in this photo: D-Med being awesome

Because I am an excellent photographer, in this next photo, probably you cannot quite see the delicate covered buttons up the back of The Crusher’s dress, or the two tiny lines of crystals that encircle the waist like a belt:

hourglass shape: courtesy of the goddess

2. The Other Key Players

The rest of us brought our fashion A-game, too. Here we are doing that. Because some of us are very classy, we did a photo shoot in the hotel parking lot in direct sunlight. Probably you should not look directly at the glaring whiteness of our skin lest you go blind:

Pictured from left to right: A-Dubs, D-Med, E-Jo
awesome gams: courtesy of the goddess

Ensemble details below. How much do you love what my photo editor does when I blur faces, IPF stylz?

Next, the lovely ceremony took place. Some of us may or may not have had a WAH in the church when Crusher started to shake. Afterward, we celebrated the return of irony with more poorly staged photos. Case in point: I have 5 photos of this configuration of players. In every single image, the bride’s head is directly in front of E-Jo’s face. Also, D-Med’s cropped out here because she would have pounded me had I left her in and posted this photo on the internets.

Left to right in back row: Kelly, A-Dubs, E-Jo; Not pictured: D-Med
Front: Dr. Rinty the Crusher

Kelly: Luxury Fabrics and Lovely Cleavage

Dress: Kenneth Cole, c 2006. Hemmed 6 inches!; Earrings: Betsy and Iya (check out their online store – Kelly says they rule); Shoes: Clarks; Wee yellow wristlet (not pictured): Nine West via TJ Maxx; Shawl: Kashmiri, silk, gift from a globe-trotting friend

E-Jo: Intense Colour against Luxuriant Alabaster Skin

Dress: Lane Bryant (remixed); Bronze clutch:  Gap Outlet; Bronze wedges (sandals): Bandolino; Dove grey wrap: World Market

D-Med: Darling Topper and Devilish Curves

Darling Hat: Etsy (as discussed previously); Dress: Banana Republic; Clutch: kicky little store in Steeltown; Invisible turquoise bead bracelet: Tarina Tarantino; Suede pumps that would appear nude at the end of a less vampirically pale pair of legs: Stuart Weitzman (remixed)

A-Dubs: Gown Revise and Remix

Dress: my own wedding dress, shortened (remixed); Cuff: Melanie Lyne (new to blog); Clutch: Fossil (via The Bay, new to blog – also, it’s a make-up bag); Fuschia wrap: no tag (remixed from last summer’s event); Nude-for-pale-peeps patent slingbacks: Tahari (via Winners, remixed)

Probably I should have worn my hair up. But I was too lazy and inept to do so; and who cares? Everyone was looking at the bride anyway.

3. Shoe Survival Strategies

All players, save the bride (who wore her pumps all day and all night like some sort of self-flagellating superhero), employed high heel survival strategies throughout the day. These included:

- zipping back to the hotel after the ceremony, taking off shoes, having wine and snacks in E-Jo and D-Med’s room (E-Jo, D-Med, Kelly, A-Dubs)

- tucking Dr. Scholl’s fold-up flats into a clutch and breaking them out when dancing began (E-Jo, of course – no digging around under the gift table like a wiener for her classy self)

- bringing a bag of flats for everyone to the reception, hiding it under the gift table, digging it out and switching shoes when the dancing began (D-Med, Kelly, A-Dubs)

- planning ceremony vs. reception outfit revisions such that a thinking cap worn for the ceremony was switched out for statement red Bloch flats for dancing after supper (D-Med, of course)

- wearing shoes comfortable enough that a switch was not required, despite the availability of back-up flats (Kelly)

4. Other Important Summit Images

Finally, because I have them and can’t resist uploading them, and because we are kicking off The Most Wonderful Time of the Year with this post, I offer a few more memorable images from the summit.

Here’s the Early Modernist Cool Kid as fantastic foil for E-Jo’s signature vibrant hues:

Probably they are both smiling at me because I, too, am being awesome. Not because they have posed a number of times for this photo already.

Here’s the A-Dubs-Hubs, our photographer for the parking lot photo shoot, working his angles:

shoe-highting pose: modelled first by D-Med

Note how his golden tan contrasts with the white of his shirt. Unlike our excruciating whiteness above.

I don’t know his outfit details.

I’d check, but he’s wearing that jacket and shoes, again, today.

I DO know, however, that his tie is Kenneth Cole, gifted from moi on the day I knocked over the tie table in The Bay.

Here’s the Hubs being awesome outside the church with Kelly’s partner, The Geneticist:

Geneticist’s ensemble: all but shoes purchased at Mexx on his way to the wedding

Here’s D-Med BRINGING IT at the grocery store (during key player shopping days prior to nuptials):

Consider it brung.
Photo credit: Kelly

And here’s E-Jo’s future book jacket photo:

I think we know why this one’s on clearance.
Photo credit: Kelly

Happy term’s end, StyleNation.

We are looking forward to a fabulous summer with you!

Dressing (Just) Outside the Academy: I’m Hot, Then I’m Cold

Greetings, StyleNation!

Has it really been two months since my last post?  I would refuse to believe it, but it seems that WordPress helpfully adds a date to the top of every entry.  Whoops.  To be fair, it’s well-known here at IPF DeskJob that if it ain’t in my BlackBerry, I ain’t showing up, so it’s pretty much a minor miracle that I found my way back at all.

Either that, or A-Dubs and I finally got ourselves in the same room long enough to a) catch up and b) photograph my outfit.  I’m delighted with the results of both.

Spring dressing is tricky for me.  Either I wear winter suits and get all overheated and grumpy on the way to work, or I try to bust out summer clothes too soon, both freezing and looking ridiculous in the process.  Nothing says, “hey, I’m a professional!” like arriving in a light dress and cardigan to find that the rest of your meeting has opted for the winter suit.  (Fortunately, they’re generally too overheated and grumpy to notice.)

The outfit below represents the best of both worlds.  Spring colours on the top, winter colours down below.  A mix of softness and structure, plus plenty of polkadots (for further alliteration).   Also, nude hose, because I don’t feel properly dressed for my job without it.

Cardigan: Ann Taylor; Cami: Smart Set; Pencil skirt: Banana Republic; Black pearls: remixed; BlackBerry: The Man; Pose: Post-Academic-Writer-Reunion-Casual-Kitchen-Hangout

Shoes: as pictured, Calvin Klein, but I felt they were slightly too fetishy for an office setting and swapped ‘em out for dark red Nine West round-toed heels.

PS: Can I reopen the nude hose debate, StyleNation?  Because I have views.

PPS: I feel you should know that in the process of posting this, my first independently formatted guest lecture, I managed both to mangle the alignment and to post a massive picture of my body (no text) to the public blogspace.  I removed it.  You’re welcome.

NSFW: Thinking Cap

Later this week I am meeting up with my IPF and other grad school colleagues to attend the wedding of Dr. Rinty the Crusher and The Librarian.  I will be trying not to look too awesome so as not to upstage the bride (impossible due to her loveliness) but it is going to be difficult because I will be wearing this:

This is not a photograph of me but of the brilliant hat designer and builder, who has the most amazing Etsy shop, but she and I have the same hair so you get the idea.  I’m planning to look at least as kicky and alluring as she though I’m going to need someone to help me with my eyeliner.  I considered doing a trial run with my new topper when I gave my final exams recently–you know, call it a thinking cap–and I think many of my students would have loved the gesture but I work at a fairly small university and the likelihood of running into the Dean, who I’m pretty sure thinks I’m a little too quirky, is high so I resisted.

I regret that decision.

Neutral Tones

Freedom is still a little ways off here at IPF South.  It’s getting closer but there’s still a very busy couple of weeks left — including a conference trip.  But the promise of the very quickly approaching wedding of Rinty the Crusher, and the associated IPF meetup (along with Kelly), and a subsequent trip to Montreal is getting me through.  Having excellent things to look forward is crucial when you’re busy — especially when you’ve got a stupid cold to really make stressful times even better.

I wore this for a comprehensive exam defense: major exams that Ph.D. candidates take before they start their dissertations.  This was my fourth one of these so I’m starting to feel more comfortable with them — though it’s still weird to be on this side of things.  I tend to be more dressed up for these things than I typically I am — both to convey to the student an appropriate amount of respect for their work, and to shore up my own sense of authority.

Striped t: Target; Olive pencil skirt: Lane Bryant; Tan wedges: Aerosoles

This therefore called for heels and a pencil skirt.  I really like the pairing of the grey & black stripes, with the olive.  Even though I’m a firm member of Team Color, there’s something about rich neutrals that seems professional and authoritative.

Scarf: World Market

However, I couldn’t resist a pop of (relatively muted) color.  It also helped obscure the somewhat deep-v on the shirt.

Anyone got any tips for getting rid of a cold? 

The Watch That Ends the Night

Greetings StyleNation, from IPF North, where freedom is so close we can taste it. In fact, while I have in the past referred to end-of-term as The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, some colleagues and I recently agreed that May-August is really the MOST wonderful of times. As April deliciously and painfully anticipates the May-August stretch, we’ve re-named this fourth month The Watch That Ends the Night. We are nerdy, hopeful, and beset by seasonal insomnia.

In other news, all that Target talk in E-Jo’s previous post (see comments section, too) reminded me that I haven’t told you about this bag, purchased while visiting E-Jo in January:

Neon satchel: Target (new to blog); Puffer coat: January sale item at Winners (new to blog); Boots: Blondo (via Browns, remixed)

Yep: it’s trendy, cheap, plastic, and has a funky smell. But my tablet fits into it, and it only cost $30. The bag that inspired it is unacceptably pricey, in my humble opinion (I just can’t justify – or afford – that kind of money for what is clearly destined to be a very short-lived trend). The brightness requires a neutral backdrop; as such, there’s little else going on outfit-wise, in this shot. But I adore that the photo-shy Fuzzy Roommate decided to add his own neutral tones to the colour palette. He is modelling (poorly) his poison green leopard print collar. It is his favourite.

Finally, this is for all you academics out there, struggling towards the light of morning/May. Hold on, people! We’re almost there:

p.s. What cheap copies have you bought or would you buy?

Decisions, Decisions

This outfit, from last week, is clearly my attempt at channeling A-Dubs’ and her wicked office pajamas.  I didn’t actually wear it to my office, but it did make an appearance at my office-away-from-office: Starbucks (there is a serious dearth of coffee shops in my college town — which is totally weird.  It makes me long for the coffee shop office in Steel Town).

Dress: Target; Belt: NY & Co.; Leggings: Lane Bryant; Blue shoes that read as black here: Jessica Simpson

I got this dress at Target last summer, inspired by Anne, but the lining of it shrunk after I washed it.  As a result, I haven’t worn it much because it feels too short with a good 3 inches of sheer, unlined skirt.  It’s been hanging in my closet, being all awesomely polka-dotted but unworn, when, finally, a lightbulb went on: leggings!  I think it’s going to get a lot more wear now as I’ve wanted to wear this exact outfit twice in the last week — though I’ve been foiled by laundry.

Semi-kicky pose: Inspired by A-Dubs

Also, I really needed a coffee mug in one of these pictures.

Finally, I need your help, Style Nation.  I’m trying to decide on shoes for Rinty the Crusher’s wedding.  I’m wearing this dress (the first one in the post).  I’ve bought the following shoes in both gold and bronze and can’t decide which ones to wear.

(The gold ones are shiner than this photo suggests.)

Thoughts?

Luke, I am your Marker.

Yeah, I know. But I couldn’t leave the Star Wars stuff alone.

What’s up, StyleNation? As it’s horrifically close – and yet so far away – to the The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, I’ll keep this short. Kind of like my fuse right now. Not with you, of course. With the students who’ve shown little interest all term in achieving more than the bare minimum to pass. And now, they “disagree” with their marks, they want to “discuss” their papers/grades, they want a meeting outside of regular office hours and it needs to be tomorrow between 1 and 1:15pm because they are super-busy and important and as their professor, I probably live in my office praying that yet another student will “drop by” and make my life meaningful.

‘Bitter and burnt out? Who me?

Outfit #1: Worn for a Teaching Day

There’s nothing like a big-ass skirt to make a rectangular person appear curvy-ish:

Top: Anne Klein (remixed); Belt: Mexx (remixed); Skirt: Tommy Hilfiger (via The Bay); Tights: Hue; Boots: Blondo (remixed); Wonder Woman Pose: all IPF, all the time

Outfit #2: Less is Much, Much More

The less you see of this dress, the better it looks. See? It looks pretty good this way (for a day of marking papers in my office, at least – it’s a little low cut for teaching):

Cardigan: Max Studio (remixed); Dress: Chapter One (via Winners, remixed); Bracelet: The Bay (remixed); Leggings: Smart Set (new-to-blog); Boots: Rieker (remixed)

I bought it because it reminded me of dress of Sheila’s. Without the cardigan, however, my dress is utterly cheap and silly looking. Case in point:

See the wing-like flaps? Not only is the lighter back of the polyester on display, but the flappy parts are unfinished. Seriously. The fabric’s just been cut into wingy shapes and sewn on with raw edges. It’s ridiculous.

What do you have to hide, sartorially speaking, StyleNation?

Come on – you can tell us! We won’t tell a soul!

First Week of Spring

These two outfits which flanked* Spring Break — making one of them quite old now — represent a strategy of all jersey knits, all the time that will, hopefully, get me through the next couple of weeks of the term.  Now that Spring Break is over, we’re in the downhill rush to the end of the term which means, in addition to all sorts of student anxiety, a counterintuitive ramping up in meetings and guest speakers.  Both of these things I find exponentially more exhausting than dealing with students.  When working with students — however frustrating it can be at moments (and to be fair, my students this term are lovely and no problem at all) — it feels like I’m doing my job.  Meetings and speakers, however, though similarly part of my job, produce a constant sense that I really should be doing something else.  Plus, I find the motives of students to be pretty transparent.  Let’s just say that that’s not always the case in other scenarios.  All this to say that this first week back from break has been both long and incredibly fast.  Fortunately, the weather has been lovely most of the week!

This dress, a purchase from the great Vegas trip of 2009, hasn’t got much wear in the last little while.  But the jersey is wonderfully soft and comfortable and a great color (though it’s actually starting to get a little washed out).

This shirt is the first time I’ve ever purchased something from one of the Target designer collections.  I often find those collections to be made of such cheap, polyester-heavy material that their cuteness is minimized.  I’m pretty pleased, however, with the construction of this shirt.  Typically shirts with bows like this leave the bow separate from the neckline, which, for those of who have a chest, leads to gaping and fussing.  This one, however, is secured all the way around which is excellent.

This might be my final wearing of long sleeves for a while.  As we move into what promises to be a long, hot summer, tubes of fabric on my arms and legs become an impossibility.  M. asked yesterday whether or not we go sleeveless in the classroom.  I have no particular problem wearing things without sleeves in the classroom, in no small part because temperatures here stay well into the 90s/ 30s into late October (in early September, it’s routinely in the 100s/ high 30s) and then start to heat up again in April.  Plus, academic buildings being what they are, they’re often over heated (that is, if they’re not freezing) — not helping the lecture sweatiness.  Any concerns about the need for sleeves to look professional are mitigated by the need to not pass out from heat stroke.  That said, I’m sad to be leaving my cardigans in the drawer for the next several months — fortunately I have a trip to Canada coming up in just over a month, and I’ll probably be able to wear them then!

Any tips for getting back in the groove, post-break?  

For those of you who enjoyed The Hunger Games, I read Veronica Roth’s Divergent over break and really recommend it.

* “Flanked” reminds me of a very awesome moment in the final episode of Party Down, which I can’t find on YouTube.  However, this will do the trick (from this awesome Tumblr).