What to wear to appear both competent and leisurely, authoritative and non-threatening, especially now that the weather has warmed up? That’s my dilemma tomorrow. Here’s my solution:
- On a recent random stop at Goodwill, I scooped these shorts for $1.50.
- Serendipitously they happened to match the rumpled-looking corduroy jacket, which a daughter just decided she didn’t need.
- I have reasons for choosing the black t-shirt: black, at least around here, carries alot of authority; plus black and blue is an expected pairing, one that’s been lurking in my mind this season.
- Full shoes mean I don’t get my toes wet if it rains. Which it might.
Actually, this spring has been unusually fine in the mountains of The Great Northwest; I keep expecting to wake up to rain. If that happens tomorrow, I will probably save this outfit for another time and wear jeans, t-shirt, and washable suede jean jacket. Or should I wear the vintage leather?
Nice to have choices, isn’t it?? I love that I can wear washable suede and not get all antsy that it could rain!
Hmm, my question is what do you mean by “authoritative”?
This outfit looks put together, but in my mind (and that’s probably my idiom speaking) it doesn’t look professional as in “business casual” type professional (if that’s what you meant by authoritative). I guess to me it is just something about the knees showing-if the shorts came down to the knees maybe.
Then again, that might just be a difference in the different parts of the country-also, I may be thinking something totally different than what you meant-by the specific nature of your criteria you were obviously doing something very specific yesterday!
PS-on the rain issue, I had a great “pleather” jacket that I had picked up for $10 at a sale at the mall that I just LOVED using as a rain jacket because it was water repellent, didn’t look like a rain jacket, and it could just be worn as a fun “leather” jacket (distressed leather blazer style). It finally died 2 weeks ago when a friend’s rather large dog jumped up on me and ripped it (it was starting to rip at the seams in several places-hey the $10 jacket had lasted me 8 years) Now I’m looking for a similar type replacement, so of course I’ll never find one unless it is outrageusly expensive. sigh.
Yeah, Jenn, I do think it’s a regional thing. No matter where I was going, unless it was actually an office, business casual would be too formal for a Saturday morning around here. And actually the shorts are a bit longer than they appear the way I was standing in the picture.
So sorry about your jacket. It looks as if I won’t be needing one today!