The Sacred Profession

In addition to buying office supplies, August is always the time of year when I “update my wardrobe” for the year. As a teacher, I am faced with two key realities that inform my wardrobe purchasing: 1) I have to stand up in front of 120+ people who will stare at me for hours everyday and so I should not be painful to look at and 2) I have a pretty limited budget.

Inspiration from Glee – skinny tie and cardigan

Teachers need to dress both professionally but yet comfortably enough to engage in the physical work of teaching (bending over, standing all day, monitoring recess/halls, etc.). So what to wear?

Non-example: Cameron Diaz in the movie “Bad Teacher”

And above we see another consideration as well as the reason why I have always worn my hair pulled back, my neckline high and my skirts below the knees. It is tempting to go the way of the iconic “apple jumper” but that feels like surrender. As does wearing school-branded polos or, even worse, the “spirit t-shirt” on Fridays – lord save us!  These sentiments are what led my friend and fellow teacher Heather Thompson and her colleague to start the blog Regular People Wear Their Clothes.

Heather setting the bar for teacher style

If you are needing wardrobe inspiration I highly recommend checking out Heather’s blog which is updated daily with new outfits and also includes source information. As for me I pretty much get everything from either Target, Too Good to be Threw (a nice re-sale shop in San Antonio) or, occasionally, Ann Taylor’s Loft.

So what should a teacher wear? Any tips for combining both style and functionality?