Fashion is probably the closest thing to religion I will ever experience, which isn’t necessarily saying much.
But shopping with my mom is our favorite mother-daughter activity, especially with a mother who’s taught me elegance and individuality when it comes to my style.
Throughout the years, I’ve allowed my style to change and grow as I do.
But college emphasizes a casual tone to everyday dress. Fellow columnist Madison Hogan offered her thoughts last week on people who, despite wearing athletic attire, haven’t hit the gym in months.
When Nigerian novelist and feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie attended university in the United States, she said the “insistent casualness of dress alarmed” her. In her article featured in Elle magazine, “Why can’t a smart woman love fashion?” Adichie wrote, as a stylish woman who loved dressing well, she was not used to this sweatpants-geared style — or lack thereof.
She began to tone down her style after quickly learning “a lesson about Western culture: Women who wanted to be taken seriously were supposed to substantiate their seriousness with a studied indifference to appearance.”
Essentially, a woman cannot be taken seriously in the professional realm and be fashionable at the same time. You must be a smart, serious woman who does not bother with the frivolousness of fashion, or you won’t be as successful.
A friend later gave Adichie advice, saying, “Wear what you want to. It’s your work that matters.”
However, I sympathize with her dilemma. I have asked my roommates if my red lipstick is too much for a Thursday night or wondered if my heels are overdoing it.
I’ve always tried to uphold my belief that one can never be overdressed or wear too much black, but I still struggle putting this into practice at times. Well, not the wearing too much black part, anyway.
But I know I am at my most confident when I’m dressed well. I am my best self. Dressing down for the sake of others is sacrificing my individuality.
If I’m dressed like a slob, I feel like a slob. And it’s safe to make the assumption that people may therefore view me as such.
Men, however, do not face such scrutiny when it comes to their attire, arguably because there’s less to scrutinize about.
Men are not marked the same way that women are, especially when it comes to appearance.
However, I argue that some men on this campus could learn a thing or two about style. Every time a guy walks out the door wearing white Nike socks that hit his mid calves with Sperry Topsiders, a fashion designer in Milan discovers a grey hair.
I once gagged a little when I saw a guy wearing athletic socks with Birkenstock sandals. I fantasized about the Fashion Police arresting him on the spot.
Jokes aside, we should dress how we feel most comfortable.
No woman should be taken any less seriously because of how she chooses to dress in the workplace, or anywhere for that matter.
Here’s advice I’d imagine Beyoncé would give: Be fierce, dress to kill and always be yourself.
nrowthor@indiana.edu
@nrowthornIU
