Sweatercoat (sic) Weather

First of all, on behalf of Fashionable Academics, I'd like to say a great big THANK YOU to Elaine of Clothed Much who gave us our new banner and did our overall redesign. As some readers have already noticed and commented, it looks fab! We couldn't be more pleased.

1. Dress - Corey Lynn Calter/Anthro (remixed)
Tights - Target
Shoes - Clarks (remixed)

So, I'm a little blurry in this one, but I wanted to share with you what you probably already know: dark tights and dark shoes create length. And the illusion of length is really important from wear I stand. I've worn this dress with these shoes before, but black v. nude/no tights really creates a different line.

My favorite item to wear with this dress is a sweatercoat that I bought for my exam defense last December:

2. Sweater Coat - Charlie + Robin/Anthro

I had tried on multiple blazers at J.Crew, Banana Republic, and Ann Taylor (i.e. stores that offer petite sizing) and was ready to invest in a good one for the defense, but I never found one that fit quite right--and fit is important. But I found this purple sweatercoat when browsing one day and thought that it better reflected the crazy stuff that I would talk about in my exam defense, such as John Foxe's disgust for St Agnes's hair. The sweatercoat was wayyy out of budget, but it was missing a button, so they gave me $40 off.

3. Earrings - Macy's (remixed)
Floret pendant necklace - Gifted (In-Laws)
Background - Courtesy of Wm Rowley

The academic job-seeking season is upon us and some of the faculty in humanities at my university sent around a  general "advice for the job market" document last night and some of it touched on the proper attire for interviews and job talks.  There seemed to be a consensus from faculty that job candidates should seek styles that make them feel confident and comfortable--don't "reinvent," one advised, just "upgrade" a bit. The last item on the list was from a well respected scholar who wrote, "it is possible to get a job without wearing black for your whole campus visit." Viva la color!
Addendum: SFE acknowledges that she fucked up and wore her ONLY item of purple yesterday. She  regrets this decision. She is considering mixing up an entire rainbow outfit to make up for it.