Today’s reader mail comes to us from a reader with an interesting dilemma:
I just scored 3 awesome interviews with publishing companies in the South. I know I need to dress conservatively, but it’s so HOT down here in the South that I’m not sure what to wear. I don’t want to look like a freak all dressed in a suit when it’s 98F with 100% humidity. What would you suggest? Also, I currently work at a summer camp, so my legs are covered with mosquito and chigger bites! I’m way more comfortable in a skirt than I am in pants, but should I wear pants just to cover up the bug bites? Would really appreciate any suggestions and advice!
This is an excellent question, and one we don’t necessarily know the answer to. Unless your interviews are taking place outdoors, we would dress for air conditioning — which is to say, wear a regular skirt suit. Layer, layer, layer in order to deal with the heat — if you’re taking public transportation to get to the interview you may want to wear just the skirt and a tank top, and then add a button-down and the suit jacket on top of those.
Your bug-bitten legs are the most interesting question, for us, and we’re hoping the readers have some good advice for you. We would say that even though your legs are a bit marred, you should still wear a skirt suit: the point isn’t that you’re displaying your “assets” as you would on a date, but rather that you’re wearing an outfit that, for whatever reason in today’s society, registers as the one that is the most conservative and professional thing to wear. So theoretically it shouldn’t matter that your legs have bug bites all over them. If you’re sensitive enough about them to cover them up, though, we recommend playing around with concealers. For all-over coverage, Sally Hansen makes a spray-on concealer to help “tan” your legs and cover imperfections:
Sally Hansen Airbrush Legs Tan Glow, available at Drugstore.com for $10.95 (pictured at right). For spot coverage, you may want to look into stage makeup like
Ben Nye — it’s used a lot for covering tattoos, and won’t break the bank. (If it’s just one or two really bad bug bites, you may be able to cover them with a band-aid, also.)
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Last week we asked you whether a visible tattoo was ever acceptable to women lawyers. And wow did you guys respond — roughly 1500 of you weighed in. Although the poll is still open, here are the results thus far:
- 43% of you said a professional woman could never have a visible tattoo
- 30% of you said it was fine if it could be covered by clothes or makeup
- 12% of you said only so long as it wasn’t visible when you shook hands or interviewed
- 8% said sure, a visible tattoo was fine
The commenting section was where things got ugly — some commenters accused the reader who had e-mailed of already having gotten the tattoo, and just seeking assurance. Some commenters referred to “tramp stamps” (which, we agree with the commenter who noted that that’s only generally referring to a lower back tattoo). The extremely helpful “billybob” opined that tattoos were for hookers, not lawyers. Quite a few readers noted that tattoos were only in style in the late ’80s.
Others wrote that tattoos could be a distraction, and anything that distracts is a bad thing. Strategic business communications specialist Gretchen Neels wrote in to note that she knows many a professional woman who regrets having gotten a visible tattoo in her youth, noting that over time “that tiny heart can morph into a dark blob.” Gretchen gave the valuable advice that if you want to get promoted, the tattoo could be seen as a lapse in judgment by people who would otherwise hire or promote you. This was echoed by commenter “robbit,” who wrote that he did not hire people with tattoos, and if people showed him their ink after the fact then he filed it away as “an example of poor judgment, under career killer.”
Our favorite comment was this one:
As with many things, it seems like a situation where you have to weigh the risk that a tattoo will hurt your career . . . against your desire not to sublimate your entire personality in service of some perfect, conservatively feminine-professional ideal. The answer is probably different for most women, but I imagine many wouldn’t be happy in a job that was going to judge them too harshly for a half inch daisy on their right ankle anyway.”
Another commenter also noted that she herself had a nose ring and a tattoo and it has not thus far hurt her career. She noted that “at some point in your career, you have to try to find a job that fits you, rather than the other way around. If an employer won’t promote me based on my body art, I don’t want to devote the majority of my waking hours to working there anyway.”
Last week, we said that we thought a tiny inner ankle tattoo was the outer limits of what might be acceptable. We stick by that — our reader could always wear a pantsuit or dark hose to interviews and court appearances. Ultimately, though, one must find a job that suits your personality — and not change too much to suit your job. This seems to be one of the biggest struggles for young women in conservative professions — and we’ve yet to find an easy answer.
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The other day we got an e-mail from a reader:
I have a question about tattoos. I’m thinking of getting a new tattoo on my inner ankle, and I’m wondering what you/your readers think about what is appropriate for the office in terms of tattoos. In terms of placement, if I was wearing a skirt and heels the tattoo would be uncovered where I’m thinking of getting it (inside of the ankle, right above the ankle bone that sticks out). But it would be a small (.5 in. x 1 in.), black, abstract design – nothing flashy. And it would be on the inner ankle, so not as obvious. Do you think this is appropriate, or is any tattoo that’s visible at work inappropriate? If small tattoos are appropriate, is there any kind of consensus on when it becomes big enough that it’s inappropriate?
Excellent question. We’ve often thought about whether tattoos are appropriate for the working woman, and whether our friend who got a huge tattoo on her calf when she turned 18 (seriously, HUGE) has been at all limited in her career options. For our $.02, it seems to us that a small, tasteful tattoo on your inner ankle is the limit to which a visible tattoo would be appropriate — anything on your hand is certainly out (unless it’s a wedding band tattoo or something like that), as is anything on a part of your leg or arm that would be visible.
Another $.02: those are some beautiful tattoos from the Flickr sewing tattoos group. Flickr sewing tattoos group, originally uploaded by SwanDiamondRose
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