Victoria Secret Pants | Fashion For 2011

Find your fashion perfect fit pants today at Victoria's Secret.

Feminist Origins: My Childhood

First an outfit that I wore last week for a day of teaching.  Honestly, this was one of my favorite outfits in a long time.  It turns out that wearing silk pants is even more comfy than wearing pjs.

(Pants - Club Monaco (remixed), Tank - Target (remixed), Cardigan - Target (remixed), Boots - John Fluevog Mallory (remixed) Scarf - Jones New York, Earrings - New York & Co. (remixed))

I have been thinking a lot about feminism lately.  It's not just because of our CFP (enter by Friday 2/25!) either.  I don't want to get into a political rant, but I've been feeling lately as if women are under attack from certain political constituencies in the United States, who want to redefine rape and who want to pull funding from organizations like Planned Parenthood, which provides annual exams, STD testing, and birth control to women with low income who do not have sufficient health insurance.

But like I said, I don't want this to become a rant because I don't think that's productive.  Instead I want to explain my stance on feminism across a couple of posts over the next week or so.  The first of these has to do with the origins of my sense of gender equality through my childhood experience.  It was my upbringing that helped shape me into the essentially liberal feminist that I am.  I rarely write a post this personally revealing, but here goes.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a household where limitations were not put on me because of my sex or gender.  From an early age, I believed that I was just as capable as any bo(d)y, and my parents fostered that.  To the best of their abilities and limited income, my zoologist/teacher/professor father and my teacher/housewife/computer geek/counselor mother gave me equality of opportunity and taught me to shun stereotypes and stereotyping.  I believed and still do believe that discrimination on the basis of gender, class, race, physical appearance, or religion is wrong and that women's work should be appreciated and equally compensated.

Growing up, I had cowboy boots and a couple of barbie dolls.  I had dump trucks and Anne of Green Gables books. I loved Spiderman, Indiana Jones, Wonder Woman, and Jane Goodall.  I climbed trees, fished, and camped.  I put on lipstick and had a favorite clutch purse.  I did cartwheels.  I rode my bike and popped wheelies.  I had pet snakes and pet hamsters.  I was good at math and reading.  I wore jeans.  I wore dresses.  In the first grade I got in trouble at school for telling one of my classmates at lunch that shithead and doodoo brain meant the same thing.  At home, my parents agreed that I was right about that but suggested I not use such language at school.  As I got older, I did science fairs.  I did Model UN.  I was a cheerleader.  I did kung fu.  I curled my hair.  I cut my hair short.  I watched football.  I painted my toe nails.  I took Calculus and AP English.  In essence, my parents didn't gender my toys, my opportunities, my academic achievements, or my activities.  They let me decide what I wanted to do (so long as I mowed the lawn and didn't incur huge long distance phone bills and kept my grades up), and they supported me while I pursued those things.

It was never suggested to me that I should be anyone but me.  My parents encouraged me to be smart, strong, capable, opinionated, politically aware, intentional, independent, generous, and a third wave feminist.  They encouraged me to call bullshit when I saw it or heard it.  They raised me to make my choices without the constraints of gendered assumptions.  So much so, that I'm still occasionally surprised that these constraints exist and are still so deeply embedded in much of American society.

Friend Friday: New Year's Resolutions and an Outfit

It's Friday and I'm participating in Modly Chic's Friend Friday forum.  To learn more, pop over to Katy's fantastic blog.  I was hoping this would be a collaborative post, but since most of my co-bloggers are visiting family and friends, Shakespeare's Feminine Ending is allegedly building an igloo, and Megarita is nesting in preparation for the birth of Sprout, it's just me.

1. What's the one thing you vow to learn or do in 2011 to improve your
blog?
At some point this year, I vow to get a tripod and remote and to start experimenting with taking my own photographs.  M. is a great photographer and his skills have improved so much, but mine seem to have stagnated.  I'm also hoping that in 2011 I will post a bit less here and my co-bloggers will post a bit more.    

2. What did you learn about blogging in 2010 that you plan to put into
practice next year?
I learned that a cleaner layout makes for a better blog for us.  I also learned how to use twitter (sort of).  I'd like to get more of the FA team to join twitter, even if it's mainly so I can converse with them in 140 character messages all day long.  I also learned that CFPs are a lot of work for us, but the posts are so much fun to read when they are finally put together.  I'm sure we'll be announcing our next CFP sometime soon....

3. Do you have any high-level goals for your blog in the coming year?
Monetization? More comments? More connections with other bloggers? A
new template?
We would love to make more connections with Etsy vendors for giveaways, product reviews, and sponsorships.  So far we've only had mixed luck with this.  I love making connections with other bloggers, and I'm sure I'll continue to do so through commenting, tweets, and emails.  

4. If you could collaborate with one other blogger within your sphere
of influence in 2011, who would you like to collaborate with, and what
would you like to collaborate on?
Crap!  One!?!?  There is no way I could pick only one blogger I'd like to collaborate with.  I love to collaborate!  This blog is collaborative.  I'd love to do something fun with the awesome ladies of IPF (D-Med, we are running a half at some point in 2011!!), Be Fabulous Daily, and The Cohabitating Closet.  I'd also really love to swap posts or work with Courtney of Sartorial Sidelines.  I'm sure AUH and SFE would love to collaborate with Anthroholic. The list could go on and on but you'd be reading this post into the new year.  

5. What do you plan to do to support other bloggers next year?
I'll keep doing what I've done.  Comment whenever possible.  Take part in challenges as I can.  Respond to emails, FB posts, and tweets.  


I wore this outfit the other day to work from home on a publication project and some class prep for the new term.  I was hoping to get out for a couple of hours and meet a friend for coffee that afternoon, but by the time she called I had just really settled in to a work groove.  Since deadlines are fast approaching, I took a raincheck and my silk pants and I stayed in for an afternoon of checking a transcription of a sixteenth-century document.

 Shirt - Mandee (via Winners), Silk Pants - Club Monaco (on incredible sale and purchased during my expedition with Kristin), Shoes - Nine West (remixed), Lace Choker - H&M (gift from mother-in-law)

I'd love to know what you'd like to see on Fashionable Academics in the New Year!  Please leave us a suggestion in the comments!

In the meantime, I wish you a healthy, prosperous, and very happy New Year!

Weekend Wear: Not Quite Harem Pants

Since I needed to do some things at home (such as enroll in health benefits with my husband) and since I don't teach on Fridays, I'm working from home today.  I'm enjoying it because my desk in my home office is much nicer and more spacious than my desk in my campus office and because I'm very comfortable in these Pro-mod pants that I bought when we were in Italy.¹

1. Pants - Promod (remixed), Shirt - Cable & Gauge (remixed), Belt - De Lonti (via TJ Maxx and remixed), Shoes - Kenzie Girl (via DSW and remixed)

Seriously, these pants are even more comfortable than some of my pajamas!


So far it's been a productive day.  We made our benefits decisions, I've written most of the lecture that I'm giving on Monday, and I'm about to turn to some work on a writing project for the rest of the afternoon.  I'm looking forward to a low-key weekend of marathon training, date night to break my husband's Yom Kippur fast, watching football, a coffee and study date with a good friend, and working on some writing projects.  What's on your agenda for the weekend?  I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

LHdM and the Blustery Day

Holy shit!  Yesterday was ridiculously windy.  Here in my corner of the upper Midwest we were experiencing gusts of up to 50 miles per hour.  Skirts and wind don't mix so well, and I have little desire to flash students and colleagues, so I wore pants.¹  

1. Blouse - New York & Co. (remixed), Cardi - New York & Co. (remixed), Pants - Sharagano (TJ Maxx), Shoes - John Fluevog, Earrings - Target (remixed), Bracelet - ?? (thrifted and remixed)

If you've been a long time reader of the blog, you will perhaps recall that I don't have the best relationship with pants.  It's difficult for me to find trousers that fit well, and because of where I tend to gain weight they don't always serve as very versatile pieces in my wardrobe.  In spite of our fraught relationship, I managed to find this pair of pants last week that fit pretty well and were within my budget.

All in all, this wasn't my favorite outfit ever, but I loved the color palette and the fact that I avoided the wind blowing up my skirt all blustery day long.  And that enabled me to make an ass out of myself in other ways....

Back To School Fashion with Cargo Jeans

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Roman Holiday, Part II

You may remember that while the Dissertating Yogini was visiting, I started to admire and covet her harem pants.  While I was in Italy, I became all-out obsessed with finding a pair.  I kept seeing lovely ladies rocking them as we water taxied about Venice, climbed towers in Siena, and strolled while eating gelato in Florence.  On our first full day in Rome, as we walked from Piazza Spagna to the Trevi Fountain, I insisted on going into every store that looked as though it might have harem pants in order to fulfill my quest.  Sadly I could not find any that I liked or that fit me.  However, in Promod, I found not-quite harem pants.¹ 

1. Pants and Tank - Promod, Sandals - Boutique in Florence (remixed), Purse - Nine West (remixed), Sunnies - Oscar de la Renta (remixed)

 Even though I knew I would still continue my obsessive search, I decided to buy the next best thing in the interim.  I wore them the next day in Rome to do some walking around, visit the Pantheon and go out to the Via Appia to see the catacombs and the tomb of Cecilia Metella.

Of course, I felt way too comfortable in these flowy, lightweight cotton, not-quite harem pants so I changed into a stone toga.

I did find actual harem pants on my last day in Rome, but that's for another post....

While I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't wear these pants in the classroom, I love them for plane travel and more casual research days.  What do you think?  Classroom appropriate? When you are visiting another city or country, do you feel like it's easier to buy items outside your normal style boundaries or that would normally be off your radar?  Are you a fan of harem pants or do you think the craze is best left in Hammer Time?

Oh, and don't forget to submit your summer boots photos to us at fashionableacademics@gmail.com by Friday!

Weighty Thoughts

I mentioned a week or so ago that the final stages of revising a dissertation for defense are not good for the waistline.  Perhaps that statement was a bit off and might require a bit more elaboration.  After participating in Academichic's Dress Your Best Week this past week, there's no doubt in my mind that there are a lot of things that I love about my body: my hour glass shape, my shoulders, my upper back, my eyes, my hair, my calves, my hands, my nose, etc.  I love my body, and I think I'm an attractive woman.  My love of my body extends to both its form and its function.  I appreciate how it ran and recovered from two half-marathons and a marathon in the past year.

However, there's no getting around the fact that I've gained almost ten pounds since I stopped running 25+ miles a week in October, and I had not lost any weight during the course of marathon-training.  The holidays, the stress of being on the job market and dissertating, and the hours spent teaching at two universities this year cut into the number of hours that I could run or hit the gym and into the number of hours I could spend in the kitchen preparing healthy meals.  In other words, circumstances and inertia have made for a number of less than healthy eating choices.  With the exceptions of when I've been ill, I've still run, gone to the gym, or done ashtanga yoga around four days a week, but that does not compensate for the boxes of crackers, bags of chips, and blocks of cheese I have consumed while sitting at my computer. 

I'm not into body bashing or beating myself up for eating a cookie.  I've never been one to think that I need to run an extra mile or spend an extra hour at the gym because I ate an extra piece of pizza at dinner.  I'm not fixated on numbers, and I actually don't even care that much that I've gained a bit of weight.  The problem is that I can't fit into most of my pants and a couple of my pencil skirts....  The first place that I always gain weight is my upper thighs, followed by my hips, followed by my ass, followed by my stomach, followed by my arms, followed by my face.  This means that most of my dresses and skirts and tops still fit just fine.  I just can't get my skinnies over my hips and buttoned, and my slacks strain across my thighs and hips in a way that makes me feel terribly self-conscious.

I can't afford all new pants and there has been a certain element of pride that has kept and still keeps me from hitting the thrift stores and coming home with some in a size or two larger than the ones currently hanging forlornly in my closet.  And, to be honest, I'm a little bit tired of wearing dresses all the time.  So that leaves me with a few choices: cut back on calories (which entails actually keeping track of calories), get some new pants, or continue to sulk about how I can't fit into my pants while doing nothing about it.

So I've decided to start keeping a food journal and now that the semester is over at one of the two institutions I have some more time to funnel into exercise and longer walks with Bailey (as well as more time to devote to revisions).  I'm not making any drastic changes, and I certainly don't expect overnight changes.  I am hopeful, though, that by the start of the fall semester I'll be able to fit back into my pants.

Why have I (perhaps over)shared all this with you, dear readers?  I've been ruminating on this post and writing it, deleting it, and rewriting it for a couple of days now.  Maybe I should have just deleted it and let it go, but some part of me needs to post this.  I need just a little bit of extra accountability and also I suppose I'm hoping for a little bit of support.