When I go to the office, I am Frumperella. I have always been taught to dress professionally for work. When I was debating in high school and in college, my mom would make sure I got skirts that fell all the way to the knee.
My mom, being the conservative lady she is, never let me wear make up in high school. She flat out said, ‘You look like a whore.’ Gee, thanks Mom. Well, in the end, I do have to thank her since I save a lot of money by not wearing any on a daily basis. Now of course she tells me I ought to wear a little every day to the office, but she’s made her no make up bed and now she has to sleep in it.
I wear classic clothes to the office. I look like a preppy mom. Hey, that’s really funny. Why? Because the preppy moms at my high school shopped at Land’s End catalog. And that’s where I shop now! I love their Overstocks page. Be sure to visit on Saturdays when the new stuff comes out in the On The Counter section. Pay careful attention to when the discounts increase over the course of the week.
I am so frumpy that the guys from my old job flat out told me one night that though I am a cute girl, I dressed like THAT. That? What’s THAT? Then I looked down and saw my grey turtleneck, plaid shirt, khakis and hiking boots. I guess I saw their point. The next day, I dressed in a skirt, tall heels and slimming sweater. I looked great, got lots of compliments, and the day after that I went back to my frumpy clothes.
I have my vanities. I do. My hair is unreasonably long and I use a lot of shampoo because I can’t bear to wear my hair short anymore. But my role model was my Latin teacher. She is smart, witty, and kind of frumpy too. She wore Coke-bottle lenses in dark rims, Rockports and a narrow wardrobe of clothes. I admired her and learned that I don’t have to dress to impress anyone. I can impress them just by talking.
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I’m don’t try for the frumpy look, but it happens sometimes.
I suppose that’s the problem with being a young woman (25) in a conservative field. You either look old or slutty. I’m just starting to see some decent things now, but not much.
Frumpy doesn’t mean old. It means dowdy. Not very trendy. I don’t dress like a hoochie unless it’s Saturday night and a serious night of club-hopping is involved. (Holy bananas! When was the last time I did that?)
But as far as the office goes, conservative clothes is the best way to go. You outlast the seasons. I used to dress in Express business clothes out of college, but that line got dropped. Limited pretty much dropped that line too (same owner).