Comfortable women’s dress shoes are so hard to find, especially if you need to be on your feet all day at a work, for travel, or at a conference. Seriously, why are office shoes so terrible?? I’ve run through boxes of bandaids trying to avoid blisters in the past and am now committed on 3-4 pairs of shoes that will never betray me at work. Here they are.
Continue reading “Comfortable women’s shoes for work and walking, aka shoes that will not betray you at conferences”I’m sitting in Newark (drinking rosé, eating fries!) after a successful 3 days of conferencing. It turns out that being on the job market DOES suck some of the fun out of conferences because it amps up all nerves I’ve been harboring as-is. This conference was specifically for doctoral candidates on the job market to be seen by established professors in the same field, so as you might imagine, the pressure felt real.
Anyway. On to clothes. This was a fall conference, which is the best time to dress for because business casual is no longer too warm! Here’s what I wore…
Professionalism is hard enough without it being 90 degrees with 80% humidity, but that’s exactly what I’m facing next week at a Nashville conference I’m attending. Here’s what I’m packing and what’s on the agenda:
This week I am headed to a conference that poses a packing challenge because I am wrapping in 2 days of conference with 12 days of visiting my parents in Phoenix. This called for some extreme minimalism: 2 shirts, dress pants, 2 pairs of shoes, and a sweater.
I blogged recently about my hatred of dress pants, and the good news is I’ve found a pair I like a lot at Loft. I actually managed to make a conference outfit that feels like “me” this time around, also, which is progress because I really don’t enjoy business casual clothes.
I’ve started to think more seriously about building a business casual capsule wardrobe as well. I won’t be on the job market for another year, but I’m a slow shopper so I would like to get a start on this now. As part of a capsule wardrobe, I like to pick 4-5 colors and focus on buying clothes in those colors so everything matches (this makes packing for anything AMAZING!).
However, I’m not really sure what colors to go with on this. I would love to do black/camel as my neutral bases and blush (pictured here) and burgundy as accents. However, I can’t deny that I tend to gravitate toward navy and grays also. But, because I’m going to start with a small business wardrobe I think I should start with more limited colors. (PS: I just got these Sam Edelman flats and they are the most comfortable flats I’ve ever owned. Conference MVPs for sure).
What do you think? What colors would you go with? If you’ve built a business capsule, do you have any advice about what items to start with?
PhD in Clothes 