“Dress Profesh”: Academic Fashion Blogs
Academia has long been concerned with privileging the mind over the body—to be too stylish as an academic (especially for a woman) means to risk not being taken seriously. According to Eileen Green, “little attention has been paid to the ways in which women academics…use clothing strategies to ‘place’ themselves within academic cultures which marginalize and exclude them” (98). This speaker will discuss academic fashion, specifically the Tumblr “Dress Profesh,” which shows user submitted photos of what it means to dress professionally. The speaker will discuss the risks associated with publishing one’s body online in the service of challenging the notion that there is a right and wrong way to present oneself.
Academia has long been concerned with privileging the mind over the body—to be too stylish as an academic (especially for a woman) means to risk not being taken seriously. According to Eileen Green, “little attention has been paid to the ways in which women academics…use clothing strategies to ‘place’ themselves within academic cultures which marginalize and exclude them” (98). This speaker will discuss academic fashion, specifically the Tumblr “Dress Profesh,” which shows user submitted photos of what it means to dress professionally. The speaker will discuss the risks associated with publishing one’s body online in the service of challenging the notion that there is a right and wrong way to present oneself.

manthey_fashion_handout_nwsa.pdf |