We’ll just let this sink in: “Last week the Chicago Bar Association held a What Not To Wear Fashion Show.”
As we all know, dressing professionally – especially for a no “casual” in the “business” field like law (something we’ll hit on in a future post, promise!) – is a challenge. Whether the solution is to invite “guest judges and fashion industry experts” to call-out the choices of law students is another matter entirely! As one blogger on Above the Law described it,
The show consisted of law students wearing selected legal fashion faux-pas walking down a runway to the beat of Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack and Shakira’s She-Wolf. Then, the panel would criticize the improper attire and suggest dos and donts for appropriate formal and business casual dress for men and women.
If the whole thing sounds to you like it had the potential to be a weird, well-intentioned exercise in humiliation, well, you won’t be shocked by one intrepid blogger-attendee‘s description of t he event as, “How To Dress Like A Lawyer As Told By Some Women Haters, Old Men And Random Law Students.” She also reports that one professor uttered the following: “Maybe you bought your suit at Express or somewhere… and you bent over to get a Danish and I can see your tramp stamp.” And said another expert, “Ladies, have some respect for yourselves. There are a lot of married men at law firms and you do not want to tempt them.”
Slut-shaming editorializing aside, the gist of it was: be conservative. Really conservative. As conservative as it’s possible to be. (I would have thought this was pretty self-evident, but maybe Ally McBeal skewed a whole generation’s perspective on courtroom-wear. ) Because otherwise, base and bestial men will be distracted! And all the smart legalese in the world won’t help you then! Seriously, have a little self-respect. Hussy.
Fashion Dos And Don’ts From The Windy City [Above the Law]