It’s no secret, I have a bad fashion sense. As a child, my mother used to lay out my clothes for me, and when my sister was old enough and couldn’t tolerate seeing the daily fashion faux pas any more, she took over. However, the problem with someone else dressing you is that you never quite figure out your own sense of style. Now that I’m a grown woman, I’m still trying to figure it out. Some of the nicest outfits that I own were purchased for me by my husband!
I’ve always dressed conservatively for work. Being an IT professional for so many years has meant working with a lot of male colleagues and I never felt the need to be flashy around them. Let’s face it, women dress to impress other women. Many times, I’ve found myself wearing the same outfit as the men in the office. The typical IT worker’s “uniform” is a blue shirt and khaki pants. Go to any technology conference wearing that combination and you are guaranteed to fit right in.
Blue shirt and khaki pants – your basic IT worker’s uniform (Photo credit: SNL – nbc.com)
Recently, I’ve tried to shake up my wardrobe a bit. Before she retired, my friend Sophie told me that my spring/summer clothes are much nicer than my fall/winter clothes. Now that the weather is cooling off, I am starting to panic about the wardrobe that I have been reluctant to refresh because I find my clothes pretty darned comfortable. The problem with comfort is that it’s not necessarily stylish. To their credit, my male friends have been very kind. They’ve tried to help me by encouraging me to buy the trendy item they see me eyeballing, telling me what their wives would wear, or even pointing out which women in the office I should approach for assistance. But this is a personal journey I have to take on my own. I need the confidence to pull off a current fashion trend and not feel like a geeky girl dressed up for Halloween.
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