Successful Dressing
(637 words, 2.5 minute read)
Now that Bat Crap Crazy is published, I’m in the process of preparing a book launch for October. I am a visual learner, so my go-to platform for finding information is Pinterest. I am the most comfortable with this outlet, whether for business or pleasure. I can see what I need without being bogged down by other people’s words. Too many words get in the way sometimes, ironic as it is.
Yes, I’m a Pinterest lover. There, I said it, and I won’t apologize for it.
Along with marketing ideas, I have been obsessed with cold-weather clothes. It has only taken me six years to realize I live in a cold place. And that my current wardrobe doesn’t reflect this reality nine months out of the year. The Pinterest algorithms have smashed up these two searches and have come up with a flood of results that “might” be related. One stood out.
How to Dress Like a Writer.
Was this serious or satire? Either way, color me intrigued. The headline made me laugh out loud because writing requires nothing besides a pen, paper, or computer, and no special clothing is required. In any case, I clicked on the post, and this is what I read.
According to the blogger, here are some writerly aesthetics:
Desk Goblin – Business up top (or not), sleeping on the bottom.
Dark Academic – Ivy League tweed blazers or anything black.
Retreatist – Plaid flannel, jeans, and leather boots.
Spiritual Scribe – Scarves, patterned flowy fabrics.
Leather-bound & classic – I think this is redundant. See dark Academic without the black.
Been there, done that. Clearly, this is written by and for a younger audience than me.
These “aesthetics” sound eerily like the stuff I wore in high school in the 80s. Still, I don’t remember my generation wandering around thinking they would be the next Hemingway. Or maybe the blogger just wanted to describe the wardrobe from the movie The Breakfast Club.
It also reminded me that there was a time, not so long ago when we all used to have to “dress” for work. And there was a company dress code to help us “understand” what was appropriate. But that seems to have changed in recent years, especially during and after the pandemic.
Is this really still a “thing”?
Do people really want to look the “part” anymore? Do they still believe that the clothes make the person? I thought we had gotten to the point where anything goes at work. Without having a young person to ask, I Googled it. And indeed, it seems like the pendulum has started to swing back to the middle.
In Austin Kleon’s 2012 book Steal Like an Artist, he writes, “Dress for the job you want, not the one you have.” Though not necessarily new, this concept has resurfaced in posts by big businesses like Forbes and Fidelity that champion the idea that clothes still matter. (At least according to them.)
But maybe the debate is less about what you wear and more about…what you are doing. Let’s go back to Kleon’s quote. The complete quote is, “You have to dress up for the job you want, not the job you have, and you have to start doing the work you want to be doing.” That last part seems to have been conveniently dropped in those big-named company’s posts. And I think the second half is the most important part. If you start doing the work you want to be doing, who gives a crap what you are wearing.
We are told not to judge a book by its cover or a person by their dress. And yet, we do. Either way, I think I will worry less about looking like a writer and focus more on being a kind human instead.
Photo credit to: https://www.austinmonthly.com/events/the-breakfast-club/
