Today’s reader mail comes with a ton more of questions about interviewing…
I’m a 3L and have an interview next week with a panel of district court judges for a judicial clerkship. I have a few questions with regards to my upcoming interview:
1.) I (and the interview) are in the Midwest, so it’s cold and snowy outside. I am planning on wearing a black skirt suit and am wondering if it’s appropriate to wear black tights with my suit? Or would pantyhose (off-black) be more professional?
2.) What do I do about a coat? Is it ok to wear a wool coat over my suit? I’m not sure if there will be anywhere to hang it or leave it once I get to the courthouse. Or should I just leave it in the car and just suck it up during the walk to the courthouse from my car?
3.) What about a purse? All I’m planning on bringing with me are copies of my resume, writing sample, etc. so I don’t necessarily need a large bag, but I don’t know if it’s unprofessional to bring my purse and carry the paperwork in a leather portfolio.
Good luck on the interview! We’ll go through all of your questions…
First, on tights — this keeps coming up, and so we’re going to run some polls today. Our default answer, previously, was that off-black pantyhose should be worn with a dark skirt suit. However, readers in the past have disagreed with us, saying nude/sheer is more appropriate (check out their suggestions for the best brands in the comments here). We’ve also heard of folks who hate tights with a suit (which we also disagree with — tights, to us, are fine for any day when you’re NOT interviewing or something similar). So, without further ado:
In terms of the wool coat — it always pains us to see women wearing ski jackets or other short jackets over a suit. Maybe we’re old school, but a nice wool or cashmere overcoat — long enough to cover your thighs — will never go out of fashion. And of course you can wear it on top of your suit. For your interview, we would absolutely recommend wearing a coat — your common sense and judgment is a valid subject on the table, and if it’s cold out, common sense dictates you should wear a coat. You’re probably going to have to take the coat off to get through security, though, so we would just carry it, folded neatly, from that point forward. (Furthermore, there’s no real excuse for not having a proper wool coat right now, as tons of places have them on deep discount. Pictured above: Larry Levine Wool Coat with Camel Hair, part of the crazy sale that’s going on at Smart Bargains for today only. Was $279, now marked to $119, with an additional 40% off at checkout — comes to $71.)
Finally, as for the purse/portfolio issue — we’ve seen women do it both ways, and have never thought less of someone we interviewed because she carried a portfolio. (That’s what most of the guys do, isn’t it?) Personally we’re fans of carrying a nylon or leather tote bag, though, to hold both the portfolio or folder as well as the contents of our purse. We would suggest, however, that whatever you carry should be as professional and grown-up as possible — so leave the backpack with reflectors on it at home.
Readers, what say you?
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Reader L wrote in to us with an interesting idea for a poll — how far in advance do you plan your outfits? This is particularly interesting given that we don’t think our personal system has been working. Long ago, in our early 20s, we decided to let the “mood” of the morning decide what to wear each day — it seemed true! and right! and a lot of other things that now sound somewhat naive and overemotional. Whatever the basis for the decision, though, the practical effect of each morning is that, oh drat, we’re-running-late-yet-AGAIN and quick-just-grab-the-suit-or-dress-and-jacket and run out the door. (This seems particularly sad given that, you know, we write a fashion blog.) So we’re rethinking. Photo credit: Closet, originally uploaded to Flickr by Becaberry.
Readers, how far in advance do you plan your wardrobe? We’ve tried to hit broad strokes in the poll, but please tell us in comments why you’ve taken that particular plan of attack. Obvious things factor into the decision — the weather, what’s clean, what fits — but what else?
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We’ve been curious about this for a while — ever since we advised that a collared shirt should always stay IN if you’re wearing a suit, and numerous readers wrote to say that they had always been advised (by various career counselors) to wear their collars out. So we thought we’d take a poll.
For our $.02 — which purely comes from observation, as we have never heard a “rule” on it — a tucked-in collar looks better with a suit. More fashionable women tend to do it (Angelina, Madonna) when wearing a suit; and it gives them a neat, sharp look. It also puts the emphasis in the desired place, as our eyes are drawn to their face, not their clavicle or shoulders. We suppose it’s possible that there are greater rules here that we’re not aware of, for example dealing with fabric (cotton goes in, silk goes out) or the type of collar or lapel. Perhaps it’s a regional rule — e.g., in DC, collars go out with suits; in Hollywood, collars go in with suits. Either way, we thought we’d start a dialog…
Readers, what say you? Please comment, particularly if you choose #3…
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A while back, someone commented that instead of nude hose they wore nude fishnets in the summer. This piqued our curiosity — we used to do this also, back in the days after college, but not in a long while — we stopped because it felt inappropriate. So we thought we’d take a poll… (Photo credit: Fishnets, originally uploaded to Flickr by candinski.)
For our $.02, fishnet tights are generally inappropriate for the office environment. Let’s face it, they conjure up images of dancers (both professional and otherwise) and hookers — and that association is a little too much for bosses of either sex. Besides, the goal of a working wardrobe should be to avoid what we’ll call “the second look” — you don’t want any of your coworkers to look at you once casually in the hallway and then be forced to look a second time in order to answer the question, “Were my eyes deceiving me or is she really wearing that?” Even if they answer the question with a blase “ok, well, I guess that’s acceptable,” the second look in and of itself is something to be avoided. We would argue, though, that fishnet trouser socks could be appropriate as long as they’re in a neutral color. (Our reasoning here is that only perverts are staring at your ankles; otherwise, what you wear there is unlikely to elicit the dreaded second look.)
What are your thoughts, readers?
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Last week, we were surprised to see comments saying that a t-shirt is not appropriate to be worn beneath a suit, and we thought, a) perhaps we’re talking about different things, or b) perhaps we’re terribly wrong. So we thought we’d explore.
For our $.02: Agreed, agreed, you can’t wear a Yeah Yeah Yeahs concert shirt beneath a suit, nor can you wear the kind of v-neck from the Gap that you would paint a garage in. And of course, a silk or cashmere sweater or button-down shirt is preferable. But, we would say that a “dressy” cotton t-shirt like the ones we linked to that day, or very classic tees in a thick cotton or machine-washable fabric (e.g., a crewneck without a ribbed neckline), are totally acceptable to wear beneath a suit, particularly in a solid color like white. Our reasoning here is that we’ve just never studied another woman’s clothing that closely beneath her suit. Is it too tight? Too sheer? Too old-school rayon shell-like? If it isn’t any of those things and the suit looks good, the top generally fades into the background. It’s there to provide the woman with an option to take off her jacket if she needs to, but — as we’ve said before — we generally think you should keep the jacket on if you’re roaming the halls or going to meetings. In addition to being acceptable, there’s a benefit — if it’s machine-washable, it makes a working woman’s life that much easier.
But enough of our two cents — what do you guys think?
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We’ve been seeing lots of reports of trends and — as is far too common! — we’ve been rolling our eyes at the prospect of wearing any of them to work. We thought we’d take a poll…
First up: a brief overview of some of the trends we’ve seen reported in multiple places.
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| The boyfriend blazer (illustrated by Aqua Boyfriend Jacket, $88 at Bloomingdales) |
The jumpsuit (illustrated by Black Halo Strapless Jumpsuit, $390 at ShopBop) |
Nude clothes (illustrated by Derek Lam’s scarf dress, $2390 at Bergdorf Goodman) |
Cropped pants (illustrated by Sonia Rykiel’s cotton silk harem pants, $985 at Net-a-Porter.com) |
And now, the poll — will you wear any of these in the near future?
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This has come up a few times with regard to the TPS reports, and one of our readers suggested we take a poll on it — which we enthusiastically agree with. Are all sheer fabrics bad for the office, such as chiffon, slightly sheer silk and jersey, and so forth?
For our $.02: A black sheer fabric is always going to be veering into boudoir territory. (We will admit, though, that we have a sheer black blouse that we wear underneath sweaters and sweater-vests.) However, women’s blouses have traditionally been in fabrics like silk, crepe, and even chiffon, all of which tend to be slightly sheer — it’s one of the reasons women in the older days had to wear slips and camisoles as a matter of course. (And: We have just spent far too long searching Google Images for one of the many examples we know we’ve seen of anyone from The Thin Man through Tootsie through Working Girl wearing sheer blouses, all to no avail. Grrrrr.) Our point, though: as long as your undergarments are covered tastefully by a camisole, a slightly sheer blouse or sweater peeking out beneath a jacket is not unprofessional. (Although we would say that full-on sheer, like Salma Hayek’s wearing, is unprofessional. We don’t even think a more demure camisole would have saved that one.)
What say you all?
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Our readers are thinking along similar lines, because a second reader wrote in to wonder if there is a limit on how high a shoe can be before it’s unacceptable for work.
I recently bought some shoes, including these (pictured) (3″ black patent with tweed edging–for $30, I figured why not). When I tried them on, my husband remarked that they were “awfully tall,” and after initially thinking they would be a nice edition to my shoe collection, I began to wonder if they were not appropriate. So I guess my question is: is there a heel height cutoff, past which one should not go? I’m of average height (5′6″), and dress pretty conservatively at work (suits, pearls, the whole thing). I was planning on wearing these heels with pantsuits primarily to minimize the shiny tall heels aspect, but my husband’s comment has me wondering if they are too much for even the plainest black suit. Is there consensus on this? Does it matter on other factors (such as how tall you are to begin with)?
Above: Naturalizer Marleigh Shoe, now on sale for $30 at Naturalizer.com.
On this question, we really have no idea, so we thought we’d do a poll. For our $.02: anything over 3″ or 3.5″ seems a bit gauche to us — a bit along the lines of “are you practicing law or dancing on a table?” The big platforms that are frequently used to balance a 5″ or 6″ heel just seem unprofessional and almost teenagelike. We might make an exception if you’re either very short (under 5′2″ or so) and need higher heels to seem like you’re “sitting at the big kids table,” or if you’re very tall and want to totally own your height — that’s a power move, one meant to intimate the men and women around you (in a great passive aggressive way — we might save that kind of move for when you’re actually making a power play, though: supervising a new group of people, for example).
We have two big caveats for heels of ANY height, though:
- you MUST be able to walk in them. If you can’t stride gracefully, it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing 1″ or 5″, people are going to judge you poorly.
- if you’re wearing them with pants you must wear your hem at an appropriate length — in most cases it should brush the top part of your foot and almost entirely cover your shoe’s heel, with only about an inch or so of space between the bottom of your pants and the top of the floor.
But enough of our $.02 — what do readers think? Please weigh in with more thoughts in comments. Does it matter if you wear high heels with pants or a skirt? Where does a 5′6″ woman stand on the high heel continuum (if anyone beyond us acknowledges that)…
Further reading: How to Walk in High Heels [SheFinds]
