Librarian Fashion

The title of this blog post may seem like an oxymoron because the librarian stereotype seems to belie what we think of when we think of fashion.  The stereotype is a woman, hair in a bun with a pencil in it, glasses on her face or dangling from a chain around her neck and double tread floor gripper shoes. High fashion and librarians don't seem to mix.

But then I saw this piece in Elle Magazine.

I kept it in my office as a reminder that no matter how times have changed, no matter how eclectic librarians really are as they toil in libraries, librarians do have a perceived stereotype, even when perceived from the echelons of high fashion in a seemingly flattering light.

Yes, the above "seems" flattering, but at second glance...

The Stereotype:

"Bookish accessories"...check

"Proper polka dots"...check

"Smart cover-ups"...check

Glasses...check.

Cardigan...check.

Flat, sensible shoes...check.

Name tag that says "Librarian."  Maybe, check.

Yep, it's all there...and then...

Dress with thigh high slit?...Yikes! 

Despite that one little thing, which I will get to in a minute, even now, even when the article is actually trying to be flattering, this stereotype surrounds librarians.

When I started out in the profession, I can't tell you how many times someone would say, "But you don't look like a librarian."  And that's because I was young, I dressed in the current styles and was outgoing, something that belies that old librarian stereotype.

That really bothered me.  Why?

Because a stereotype, even when it involves fashion, somehow belittles and diminishes.  It detracts from the important work that librarians do. 

I wanted to look like a librarian because I WAS a librarian.  But I didn't want to perpetuate that stereotype of the homely, anti-social librarian, so I worked to change that stereotype through how I looked and how I performed my job.

People who become librarians are as diverse as any other profession.  The stereotype of the quiet, bookish woman librarian persists mostly from people who haven't set foot in a library in years. Because if they had, they would know that libraries are so much more than books, and librarians don't have time to be "bookish," because they are too busy dealing with the issues that come up in any public place and putting out the fires that are part of a busy job.

Proper?  Not sure what that means.  I know male librarians who wear kilts and play in rock bands and women librarians who are tattooed from head to toe and dance in strip clubs at night.  Well, not really, the strip club thing, but they could.

Smart.  Well, yeah.  I will go along with that one.

Glasses.  I haven't worn glasses in public for over 40 years.  Most of us have heard of contacts, OK?  We are smart people.  But what if we WANT to wear glasses, huh?  What do you think about that?  What if we think really cool glasses are fashion statements?  What about that?  Huh?

Cardigan?  Ok, but with a classy belt.

Flat, sensible shoes?  I was never good about the sensible part.

Name tag...OK, I'll give you that one.

Dress with thigh high slit?  Well, no.  But I don't think you could get away with that in a law office or bank either. Though I like the idea of Elle Magazine adding that little twist and some sex appeal to librarians, I have a feeling it's harking back to that other librarian stereotype...the pent-up sexually frustrated librarian-type who keeps all of the dirty books behind the desk and who is just waiting for a hunky guy to come along so she can doff the glasses, pull her hair out of the bun and let him ravage her on the desk.  It's a guy thing.

I don't like that stereotype either.

The truth is, libraries are dynamic places that are helping people find jobs, helping children prepare for school, helping students with their homework, providing tax assistance and English as Second Language programs...I could go on and on.

And the library staff providing those services are dynamic people who may or may not be fashionistas, but that bun-wearing old lady shushing everyone who dares breathe too heavily are few and far between.

But despite that, the stereotype persists, so I have some advice for librarians who want to smash that stereotype while maintaining a professional attitude.

If you want to be taken seriously, dress seriously.
People go to librarians for assistance and they want to know that the people who are helping them know what they are doing.  So it's probably not a good idea to wear a T-Shirt that says something like "Librarian by day, Zombie Slayer by night" or "I like BIG BOOKS and I cannot lie."  Likewise, political statements or rude sayings, such as "I'd tell you to go to hell but I work there and then I would have to see you every day" probably won't inspire confidence.  That also might get you fired.

If you want to be treated like the professional person you are, dress like a professional person.
You don't need to "Dress for Success," like we did in the 70's, but jeans, a t-shirt and sandals are too casual if you want to be treated like a professional person, especially if you are a library manager.

Keep up with trends.
If you dress with some indication you know what's in fashion, it will also indicate you are aware of what's going on in the world.  Even women of a certain age can wear a trend of some kind.  I think it's a psychological thing.  People associate looking current with being current, that you know what's going on.  And looking like you know what's going on is a must for a librarian.

As for "Looking like a librarian?"

Here's what a librarian looks like.

1970's

1980's

 (what can I say?  It was the 80's)

1990's

2000's 

Today 

I am now retired after 40 years as a librarian.  I have weathered (and tried) every fashion trend.  Even in retirement, I still try to stay current with and write about fashion, (here's my post about "Retirement Chic,"), though more and more I seem to wear my jammies until late in the day if I don't have to go out.  But that's one of the perks of retirement.

I still keep that Elle Magazine article in my office to remind myself that even in retirement, I look like a librarian.

Why?

Because I AM a librarian and this is what she looks like!

Thanks for Reading!

See you Friday 

for my review of the new movie

"Big Eyes,"

The Week in Reviews,

as well as my progress on

"My 1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project."

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Letting Myself Go: Questionable Fashion Choices for a Woman of a Certain Age and Size

OK I know what you are thinking, but it looked really cute in "Elle Magazine." 

What I didn't realize at the time was that it was probably on a 7 foot model who weighed about 120 pounds and was probably air brushed to boot.  However, when I see something in a magazine or catalog, I tend to think that's what it will look like on me. It's a weakness I have.

So I bought that coat and wore it on a recent trip to California.  At the place where we park our car at the airport, the attendant said to me, "That's some coat."

Now, let me say that whenever someone starts a comment about you with "That's some...," that is NOT a compliment.  "I like your coat" is a compliment.  "You look nice" is a compliment.  "That's some coat" is not a compliment.

So I should have been ready when we were going through security and the TSA person said to me, "Is that your dog?" 

"What?!" I replied.

She immediately realized she had mistaken the fur on the bottom of my coat for a dog.  We both had a laugh (I was crying inside).

I should have asked her if my "dog" made my butt look fat.

So that little incident made me think about my current fashion choices.

It's no surprise to anyone who knows me or who reads this blog that I consider myself a bit of a fashionista.  OK, basically I am a clothes horse, a hoarder, a shopaholic, whatever you want to call me.  It's been like that practically all of my life, probably since my Dad told me he thought it was perfectly reasonable for me to have a different outfit for every day of the week. That said, it wasn't difficult for me to make the stretch to have enough outfits that I would never need to wear the same thing ever again.

And I have never been afraid to embrace the latest styles, colors and fads.

At 13, I wore this cape to a football game.

I wasn't afraid to sport green shoes (they had pink trim to match the ensemble)

Big earrings were always my thing.

I embraced the famous "Sassoon" haircut when it was first popular.

I even went shorter when I was feeling "punk" and wanted to channel Annie Lennox (Hey, it was the 80's!)

I experimented with vintage dresses, armbands and headbands

Bell bottoms

 

And hats.

When you are young and slim, you can get away with a lot in fashion.

When you are a woman of a certain age and let's say, no longer thin, not so much.

For example, these shoes are hard to explain.

When you have to suck it in this much, probably not a good fit.

And when someone asks you if you are trying out for a part in "Wicked," probably not a good fashion choice.

And here I look like I am about to break into a song from "Snow White."

Does this hat make my head look fat?

 

And please, Lord, tell me I was wearing this to a costume party or a rodeo.

 

(I wasn't).

 

 

So you can see I have been dragged into old age kicking and screaming.  Some habits die hard.

 

One thing many of us women worry about as we age is "letting ourselves go." (You men should worry about it, too, but that's a whole different blog post.)

 

That usually means getting fat, lazy, not wearing make-up, going gray...I think it's even worse for the Baby Boom Generation because we didn't think we would ever get old.  They should have called us "The Peter Pan Generation."

 

But that's not a bad thing.  We may be in our 50's and 60's, but we aren't doing "old age" like our parents.  We may be retired, but our retirement is not our parents' retirement.

 

Ellen Goodman, in her last column upon her retirement after 46 years of writing, wrote about "Letting ourselves go," but she was not talking about getting old and fat.  She wanted to "reclaim" the phrase to mean something quite different.

 

She said, "Now, we find ourselves on the cutting edge of another huge social change. This time, it's the longevity revolution. Ours is the first generation to collectively cross the demarcation line of senior citizenship with actuarial tables on our side...We don't have a label yet to describe the early, active aging. But many of us are pausing to recalculate the purpose of a longer life. We are reinventing ourselves and society's expectations, just as we have throughout our lives."

 

So "letting ourselves go" can be a good thing because we are letting ourselves GO FOR IT.  Just as in our youth we were the generation of great social change, so will we be as we age.

 

I have enjoyed experimenting with fashion all of my life, and I am not stopping now.  Yes, I could lose a few pounds, yes, I will probably make more fashion mistakes, but I don't care. 

 

Because, whether it's fashion or life choices, I am going to continue to let myself go for it. 

 

 

 

Too much?

 

 

Thanks for Reading!

 

See you Friday

 

for my review of the new movie

 

"Birdman"

 

My Week in Reviews

 

and an update 

on my

 "1001 Movies I Must See Before I Die Project."

 

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Dressing Well on a Fixed Budget and The Week in Reviews

[I review the new film "The Hundred Foot Journey," the DVDs "Crazy Horse" and "Memory" and the Book of the Week is Anjelica Huston's memoir "A Story Lately Told."]

But First

One thing I have noticed since I retired is that I look like hell most of the time.

But it's not my fault.  I just don't have the money to spend on clothes anymore.

Well, I also have gotten so lazy that it's all I can do to put on sweats.  But I really do want to look good.  I really do.

So how do I look good on a limited clothing budget? 


Here are some things I have discovered.

• Forever 21 and H & M.  I'm not kidding.  Even women of a certain age can find some deals there. They have on-trend duds for next to nothing.  Rumor has it that the clothes are so poorly made they will fall apart in next to no time, but, who cares?  You would hit those stores for up to the minute clothes, not classics you want to last forever.  They are great places for trendy tights, scarves, and denim jackets. And don't be put off by the fact that they cater to the younger set.  Just say you are shopping for your daughter (or granddaughter).

• Buy a scarf or other accessory that doesn't cost much.  It will make you feel like you have something new without paying a lot of money. 

• One word.  Shoes.

New inexpensive on trend shoes can pick up the dreariest of duds.

• Repurpose the clothes you already have.  Think outside the box.  Why not wear that old mini dress (I know you still have one of those) over leggings or jeans?  Or add new buttons to a cardigan or coat.  Shorten a long skirt.  Or better yet, borrow something from Hubby, like this hat.

• Take some of your "old" clothes to a consignment shop.  I have just recently discovered the joys of consignment to the tune of almost $200.  Then I take that $200 to the mall and go crazy!

• Goodwill.  Or some other thrift store.  You wouldn't believe what people just give away to these places.  I have never found an Oscar de la Renta or anything like that (rumor has it that those are skimmed off the top for larger events or sold to the more upscale used clothing stores), but you never know.  While you are there, you can also pick up something for your dog.

I know.  Cheap laugh that I couldn't resist.

What do you do to save money on clothes

but still remain stylish?

Now on to The Week in Reviews

***In Theatres Now***

The Hundred Foot Journey

The Kadam family loses their restaurant in Mumbai and head to Europe to try to start over.

Hassan Kadam (Manish Dayal) has a chef's palate from an early age as he learned to cook next to his mother in their family restaurant in Mumbai.  When the restaurant is attacked and burned down, his mother is killed and the family tries to start over in Europe, first in England, then in France.  Their car breaks down near the small French village of Lumiere and that is where Papa (Om Puri) decides to settle down and open another restaurant.  Unfortunately, it is across the street and 100 feet from a Michelin starred restaurant owned by Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren) and she is not happy to have them there nor will Papa let her stop them.  It's war.

In the meantime, Hassan becomes fascinated with French cuisine and is more and more drawn to Madame Mallory and what it takes to attain a Michelin star.  Her sou chef Marguerite is also a draw for Hassan and feeds his desire to become a true chef.

The road that divides the two warring restaurants is 100 feet wide and acts as not just a metaphor for the divide between the two restaurants and their food but between the generations, between youth and adulthood and between cultures. 

Just as Dorothy discovered in "The Wizard of Oz," sometimes happiness lies in your own backyard.

Lasse Halstrom ("Cider House Rules") directs this sumptuous feast of love and food based on the book by the same name. 

Movie fans might recognize Puri from "The Reluctant Fundamentalist," which I reviewed favorably in 2013, and he is a great foil for Mirren, who has perfected the imperious woman with the cold exterior but soft heart.  When Kadam refers to her imperiousness as acting like a queen, it's a fun reference to her many stints as Queen Elizabeth. Mirren is such a remarkable actress that she can express just the right emotion with her back to the screen.

This marks the first big screen leading role for Manish Dayal and he makes a wonderfully sensitive leading man and Charlotte Le Bon as Marguerite is a new fresh face who was delightful in this role.  The love story between these two had a subtle twist and was much less predictable than most.

Rosy the Reviewer says...Helen Mirren, Paris and the gorgeous French countryside and food porn.  How delicious.

***DVDS***
You Might Have Missed

And Some You Should Be Glad You Did

(I see the bad ones so you don't have to)

Crazy Horse (2011)

Directed by Documentarian Frederick Wiseman ("Independent Lens"), this is a cinema verite behind the scenes look at The Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris that claims to have the best nude dancing show in the world, offering stylish, erotic and chic nude dancing.

"Le Crazy" has been around since 1951 when this kind of soft core burlesque would have been ooh-la-la.  Now in this time of nudity and graphic sex that is so commonplace, it seems rather tame and old-fashioned.

Wiseman was given unprecedented access to French choreographer Philippe Decouflé and his staff as they prepare for a new revue called Désirs.  Production meetings are interspersed with actual performances. We get to see what it takes to put on a show like this and the pressures that are brought to bear to keep things fresh and new and please the investors.  But with no narration or historical perspective, we don't really learn anything much about the theatre or the history of The Crazy Horse.

Wiseman is the creator of over 40 documentaries and here has produced a documentary that is neither erotic nor particularly interesting.  It's clear he wants us to take this art form seriously, but it's almost too serious in its wanting to be taken seriously. Remember those Aerobicise segments that used to come on in the early days of Showtime that were more soft porn than exercise?  That's what this documentary reminded me of - close ups of writhing body parts interspersed with business meetings. The audition segment was a good one, but a female cattle call in the truest sense.

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you like to look at beautiful naked women, this is for you.  Otherwise, there isn't much more to this film than that. (subtitles)

Memory (2006)

A medical researcher in the field of Alzheimer's pricks his finger on some Amazonian tribal powder and starts seeing things that happened before he was born.

Billy Zane plays Dr. Taylor Briggs who is doing good work in the Amazon when he gets some mysterious powder into his system and starts channeling the mind of a serial killer from years before.  The killer kidnaps little girls and makes plaster casts of their faces before killing them and the killer is still out there, continuing to kidnap little girls.  For some reason the good doctor thinks this serial killer could be his own father, whom he never knew. When he tries to tell his friends and family what is happening to him, of course no one believes him so he is forced to solve this mystery on his own, which he predictably does. 

The movie asks the question, "What if our DNA stored the memories of our parents?"  Answer?  Who cares. 

Another question is, whatever happened to Billy Zane?  He has leading man good looks and is a decent actor, but somehow decent roles have eluded him and he doesn't seem to care either.  But with four movies in the can and six in pre-production, perhaps he will break out.  He's been at this since 1985, but maybe he is just a slow started.

The movie poster makes this movie look scary.  If only.  It's a muddled mess with nothing much explained.

Dennis Hopper and Ann-Margret have roles.  Not sure why they needed Dennis Hopper.  I figured out what Ann-Margaret was doing there early on.  You will too.  In any kind of detective story or murder mystery, I always ask myself.  Why is this character in this film?  When you ask yourself that question, that person is usually the killer.  Pretty predictable stuff.

Sadly, it's not "memorable."  Get it?

Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are a fan of Lifetime Movies, you might like this.  But just remember, there is a reason some movies go straight to DVD.  This is one of them.

***Book of the Week***

A Story Lately Told: Coming of Age in Ireland, London and New York by Anjelica Huston (2013)

The daughter of director John Huston and an Academy Award winning actress in her own right, Huston shares the story of her early years.

Huston came from Hollywood Royalty.  Her grandfather was famous character actor Walter Huston and her father was John Huston, director of such classics as "The African Queen," "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Misfits."  She was raised by her ballerina mother on an Irish estate where her father brought an array of famous friends, from Carson McCullers and John Steinbeck to Peter O’Toole and Marlon Brando.

They all move to London in the early 60's, but her parents separate, which devastates her. But it's the Swinging Sixties and Huston tells of encounters with the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac. She understudies Marianne Faithfull in Hamlet.  But at seventeen, she is devastated once again when her mother dies in a car crash.

She moves to New York, falls in love with the much older, brilliant but disturbed photographer and becomes a model.

"A Story Lately Told" ends as Huston launches her Hollywood life. A sequel that will take up where we left off ("Watch Me") will be coming out in November.  I can't wait.

Rosy the Reviewer says...a well-written memoir with a style reminiscent of Hemingway.  For movie mavens and Baby Boomers who enjoyed the Swinging Sixties. 

That's it for this week!

Thanks for reading!

See you Tuesday for

"Stuff that Should Not Happen"

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