Academic leadership style--help!

[CallItLoneliness]

I've recently taken on an academic leadership role in a VERY male dominated arm of a university (in Australia, for context). The university is not the equivalent of Russell Group, more like e.g. City St George's; dress tends more to the casual than the more prestigious unis, so e.g. a suit would have me very overdressed.

In the middle of all this, I have hit peri and my own personal style is changing to something a bit more sedate--I used to wear more strong patterns, 1950s dresses, etc. I've gotten a bit of a belly for the first time in my life, and I feel really self conscious I'm a UK 12 and 5'4". Help me figure out WTF to wear! Outfits I do routinely wear and feel good in:

• Black half sleeve dress with white polkadots, ruched high waist, with brogues, black stockings, and a black cardigan
• Black above knee a-line skirt with white blouse and patterned jumper, bright opaque tights (the blouse is a new thing, I used to just wear the jumper but feel less put together)
• Black dolly and dotty 50s dress with a cardigan and (in winter) tights. Brogues or ballet flats.
• Accordion pleated floral culottes with black jumper or cos black t-shirt (these ones https://www.katehewko.com/collections/two-piece-sets/products/floral-printed-pant-set?variant=40813015269447)
• This jumpsuit with or without a black soft blazer https://www.theonlylabel.com.au/collections/jumpsuits/products/on-a-high-note-boat-neck-off-shoulder-jumpsuits-in-dark-brown-checkered
• On a more casual day, skinny jeans, boots, breton and patterend or bright blazer

I have too many clothes, and I want suggestions. I have long hair that I wear clipped out of my face, and I wear glasses.

Any ideas welcome.

I think your style sounds & looks quite wonderful already!

Keep doing what you're doing & congratulations on the new role!

You have too many clothes but want more recs? Not sure what you’re asking OP!

Maybe try on everything you have, charity shop things that don’t fit/don’t suit and maybe items in shapes that are dated/don’t feel like you. Then let us know what gaps you have and what you need to build outfits around.

Doesn’t sound as if beige chinos would be quite your thing, so I won’t suggest them!

Have you looked at Palava? I don’t know how it translates to Australia but your wardrobe sounds adjacent. You could just buy half a dozen dresses and you wouldn’t need to worry about looking put together and authoritative.

Palava

Closer to home, you could buy another half dozen plain black dresses from

Kowtow

Add plain brogues and you’ll be done.

Big cull planned but don't know how to dress with what I do have either. Not necessarily looking for recs of things to buy so much as looks/styles I might like.

Most of my clothes are vinted/charity shops because I don't do fast fashion

I'm an academic, though not in Australia. At my university, dress is quite casual, and it sounds as though yours is similar.

Would you like to overhaul your current style or just modify it slightly? If you would prefer some more "sedate" options, one suggestion would be to stick to solid colours and avoid most patterns (or at least limit patterns to those that essentially read as neutral, e.g. narrow pinstripes). But maybe that is a step too far for you?

I wonder if we're in the same place? I don't want to necessarily be sedate, just look less chaotic and more "put together", especially if I get called into a last minute media interview or meeting with the VC or whatever

?

book a session with a stylist? I got a colour/body analysis done two years ago and it has hugely helped with exactly these sort of dilemmas. I now have a solid underlying grasp of what suits me (that I can ignore when I love something) and am slowly editing my wardrobe to make life simpler. With a big new job (congrats) you just ideally want to feel good and not be fretting about clothes every morning.

Would suggest prioritising a couple of basic pieces to mix and match with. You sound committed to mostly volume on your bottom half, and brogues? Are you aiming for either stretchy waistband or no waistband if you’re feeling a bit bigger in the tummy at the moment? Lots of black in your list: does that feel good or is it just your default?

I'm an academic (you might be better putting this in the academic common room). I'd say that black is quite harsh. Perhaps consider finding a softer base colour.

Every single male academic in my dept wears blue chinos, brown shoes, shirt, blue/brown blazer. So I try to do a similar 'uniform' of plain jersey dresses, tights and boots for our terms (oct-april). Summer I do chinos, shirt and trainers. A whistles jersey blazer is my go to choice to smarten things up for senior meetings.

What I see from older women in academia is either super smart because they are stuck pre-covid in terms of work wear and can't let go of the pricey items they bought, completely dishevelled in a "but my genius is what I'm about, live with it" kind of way, or a prue leith bold glasses, bright prints, desigual outfits, lots of colour, often coloured hair look to avoid being ignored by all the chino-men.

Also an academic. I definitely wouldn’t see the chino-men as aspirational style wise. I’d like their easy confidence and their salaries, but not their wardrobes 😆

No but my point is that having a uniform is very easy and that if the senior men are in chinos, then if you march in in a tailored power suit or in very very casual wear you're going to look very out of place. Basically use them as a chino-barometer.

Loving the thought that only validated academics can comment on style for academic leadership!

Have to say, at the Oxford college I’m associated with I don’t recognise any of the categories above amongst the mature women. No one looks dishevelled, and there’s absolutely no Prue Leith presentation. Soft jackets, new dresses, relaxed trouser suits … Or, amongst those who’ve come from other careers - their own clothes, whether fashion plate or boiler suit.

None of which tells me what pertains in Australia. My post above was calibrated to suit the OP’s stated style. I can see no need whatsoever for a woman in a senior position to emulate the dressing of her male colleagues.

I think I might have to go the stylist route. I just feel so LOST at the moment in terms of my clothes.

My waist is definitely my best feature, so I do tend to wear volume on my lower half (partly for fit reasons, I fucking hate hauling things up because they only fit my arse, so if I want something that fits my waist, it's going to be voluminous). I wear brogues and flats because I have problem feet, bunions, pronation, etc, and also because I am bloody clumsy and heels of any kind are asking for trouble.

Is current style very different in Australia? In the UK women wear brogues and other flat shoes because that’s what’s been in fashion for several years, rather than because there’s anything wrong with their feet. I don’t think I’ve seen an academic in high heels in a decade (outside of a very formal evening event, and even then they’re not necessary). Are heels more common where you are?

As to the wide variation between your waist and hip measurements - you need an alterations service / tailor seamstress. Buy for your largest measurement and have the garment tailored to fit.

In my discipline heels are fairly commonplace (in the UK). It definitely depends on the subject though as I wouldn't tend to see them being worn by women in other faculties so much.

I think I'm self conscious about my flat shoes because I wore them aaaaages before they were fashionable.

I think I really need a stylist appointment, because I have no idea what I would get to have tailored, since I don't know what would look good....

Thanks team, the advice on this thread has been really helpful.

I haven’t worn heels since before the pandemic, chucked a pair on for work last week, and looked like ruddy Bambi all day. Definitely not channeling authority and confidence!

What about Cos? Their silhouettes can be interesting. Plain fabrics but interesting cuts and proportions. I am short so have to be careful they don’t drown me, but I can always find something a bit different and stylish without being OTT.

This kind of thing?

Do you have a budget for shoes? Because there are interesting flats around but they sometimes cost a bit!