I’m packing for my annual conference! This year, it’s in New Orleans, so the weather should be fairly temperate for winter, but with some rainy days and humidity. So, what to pack for the annual academic conference? Here are some outfits I have considered!
I just got back from 6 DAYS of conferencing–definitely my longest conference to date. So, if you’re in need of business packing that can last you all week, here’s my packing list!
This may be a problem that other people don’t have, but I really hate dress pants. They just don’t feel like “me.” I think it’s the combined memories of wearing really lame suits to high school speech and debate tournaments and the fact that dress pants seem about 20 years behind the skinny denim trend that makes me feel such disdain. Unfortunately part of adulting is ??? needing to wear dress pants sometimes? Even in grad school? To deal with these moments, I’ve spent too much time and money in the last couple years trying, buying, returning, and browsing dress pants. Now I can say there are four pairs of dress pants I’m willing to wear & one more pair on my to-buy list. Here they are:
These are basically leggings in a dress pant fabric. They’re comfortable and feel really cool with a long tunic and sweater. Downside, I don’t like tucking things into them, I think the front of them is just too…leggings…to get away with it. But for teaching, I love them.
I’m not usually a fan of boot cut, but with heels these manage to look pretty sleek, while still definitely being a dress pant. Good for feeling sassy at conferences.
If you can’t get over the boot cut thing, like me, and still want something that qualifies as a really nice dress pant, this pair from Loft is my favorite favorite. They look high quality and still trendy. Also, they come in a tall and a petite inseam. Hurray!
Not sure these count as dress pants, but damn are they cool. Does anyone have them? I’ve been thinking about taking the $68 plunge for a while. I think these might be good “it’s summer and hot but I still need to wear pants I GUESS” pants.
This concludes all the pants I’ve scoped out to address dress-pant phobia. I’ll be back tomorrow with how I style them. In the meantime, what other dress pants do you all like?
This year I’m presenting on the last day of the conference. These J. Crew skinnies look nice but will be comfy when I head straight to the airport. This is my last day of outfit planning for an academic conference. Real embarrassing ootd shots from the conference itself coming soon!
What to wear to an academic conference, pt.3. A pencil skirt can feel tooo business to me (especially when I show up to a conference and half the people there are in flannel/khakis, though I guess that’s a discipline-specific problem), but this button up is soft and casual, unlike a dress shirt, so it tones the skirt down a little.