Welcome back to back-to-school shopping for college teachers! Today we’re going somewhere a bit unexpected: Athleta. Athleta makes activewear, yes, but they also make some pretty nice sweatproof and wrinkle-free clothing that can pass as casual office style. If you’re a professor or grad student who is about to teach in late summer weather I think they should be on your list.Here’s what I tried on!
Continue reading “Back to school shopping for grad students and professors: Athleta”
Welcome back to back-to-school shopping for college teachers! When I was shopping for teaching clothes as a new grad student, I also lived in a very small town. This made it hard to find things secondhand and meant we didn’t have most name-brand stores. One store we did have, however, was Target! Target has some decent work clothing if you’re willing to dig around a bit. Here’s what I tried on and how I would style it to go back to school as a new college teacher.
Continue reading “Back to school shopping for grad students and professors continues: Target try-ons!”
I have never met a purse, or tote, or backpack I didn’t like, so when people ask me “what kind of bag should I carry as a grad student?” I tend to have Opinions. Picking the right bag in grad school can also feel a little stressful: you carry a lot of books and snacks. You don’t want to be mistaken for a student (I remember so distinctly wondering if grad students wear backpacks??). And you need a bag that is high quality enough to survive multiple years of wear and tear but still affordable. Here are some options if you’re looking for a teaching or school bag this year!
Continue reading “Professional Bags for Graduate School: 2022 edition”
Searching for contrast in outfits, dressing for July temperatures…
Continue reading “What I wore this week”
I love a good midi skirt but I just couldn’t bring myself to work from home in them. Here are 3 easy summer and fall midi skirt outfit ideas for returning to the office in 2021! Do you need outfit ideas for skirts? Maybe not. Do I instantly forget outfits I like when it’s time to make a decision? Yes, of course. Here we go!
Continue reading “The back to the office cheat sheet: Outfits with skirts”
The office is calling! In person classes are calling! What are you going to wear?
Continue reading “What’s on your back to school list?”A new series where I show off what other stylish grad students are wearing (if you want to be featured, message me!). This week I asked my friend Sam, a MA student, to show us what she wore.
Monday
I never wear my hair up because I don’t like my chipmunk cheeks, but I think it’s always good to stretch yourself. As a curvy woman, I love a set of good fitting jeans. These jeggings are from American Eagle, one of the only store that fit my wide hips and smaller waist. I thrifted the boots from Goodwill.
Continue reading “Outfits with Sam”
The Summer 10×10 starts Friday, so I’ve picked my 10 items of clothing out to get ready to make my outfits. Here are my picks (some not pictured):
-4 tops (boho, knit tank, tie t-shirt: all thrifted, and chambray: J Crew investment)
-3 bottoms (linen pants, white midi skirt: thrifted, jean cut offs: here)
-1 dress (here, on sale for $40)
-2 pairs of shoes (converse, sandals thrifted)
No black clothes!
I tried to pick lighter colors this time around and gave myself the challenge to pick no black clothes. Black is my go-to neutral color and I’m trying to move toward tan and white in the summer.
On my agenda
My 10×10 this time consists of nothing but dissertation writing and social time. I need outfits that are appropriate for field work (I am doing qualitative research in a casual, but masculine, environment–I usually opt for muted colors and pants in that situation), but that’s my only constraint. I tried to pick fun items to remind me to go outside, downtown, and away from my laptop in general.
The other challenge of my 10×10 is that it’s so hot that all clothes seem like bad options. I picked linen and other soft, breezy items for that purpose.
That’s my 10×10 kick off–see you on Friday with the first outfit.
I’m so excited to say I passed my prospectus defense yesterday–I wrote 100 pages about what my dissertation will be about (1/3rd of the length of the full product!) and had to defend that before collecting data. Here’s what I wore…
Defenses are really weird. The build up is big and then the let down can be…like nothing even happened. As one committee member likes to remind me, a defense is just another meeting for professors. Fair, but it also DETERMINES MY ENTIRE FATE so yeah it’s a little scary.
This defense was also downright weird–we talked for 1.5 hours and then were running out of time, so everyone was just like “yeah, good meeting!” and left…but usually at the end of a defense in our dept committee members meet without the student and then announce to you if you’ve passed or not…and they just…didn’t do that?? So I left the room like “ok! that’s over!” and then got half way down the hall before I was like “wait did I pass?” I spent the next 2 hours on an emotional rollercoaster about that before my advising meeting, where I asked my advisor, who replied “yes, wasn’t it obvious?”
Um, no. I am in grad school. Validate me always. Thanks.
So with that flood of relief, I promptly changed outfits and went out looking for wine and a patio.
All in all, a fine day. Weird, but better than the time the department lost my comprehensive exam answers. But that’s a story for another time. To anyone else defending as the semester ends: good luck! 😀
PhD in Clothes 