Conference Style. . .

 

Day One top and bottom.  Not visible, a light putty-colored trench coat with liner and one of my well-worn Borsalino fedoras.

Day Two top and bottom.

Day Three top and bottom.

Day Four top, bottom, and close-up of my UW-Madison socks.

3/4 of the knit silk necktie rotation during my recent travels.  The perfect conference necktie in my opinion.  Not too starchy, a bit more relaxed, and eminently stylish. 

Contrary to expectations, the Northeastern Modern Language Association conference I attended in Niagra Falls, New York over the weekend went exceedingly well.  My talk was received positively, I heard a lot of interesting work from other academics during the 2.5 days, picked up a few useful ideas to incorporate into my own work with students, and spent quite a bit of time talking to a publisher on Friday afternoon.  I've also got a couple of ideas to propose for panels of my own in Boston next year.

When it comes to the travel and conference attire shown, ladies and gentlemen I cannot stress enough, and can attest, that people very much DO notice and treat you better when you dress well.  And that is not a bad thing.

Many TSA, airline, hotel staff, and even a few other conference participants remarked very favorably on my attire and provided all kinds of extra small perks (including a free seat upgrade for the last leg of my return trip), which really made the trip there and back special. Hat, socks, neckties, suitcase.  People noticed. Certainly more than I expected.  It must have been the orange SWIMS overshoes! 

Hey, it was wet and cold in Niagra Falls. 

Of course, this flies in the face of convention.  Wasn't it Brummel who maintained that a well-dressed man blends into the scenery without drawing undue attention to himself?   Yet it's hard to dress better than average in 2023 without straying into sore thumb territory.  I long ago made my peace with that however.

The verdict?  Let's stop worrying quite so much about blending in with the terminally wrinkled, salsa-stained, flip-flopped crowd if or when we pull ourselves together and dress like adult males with even a modicum of grooming and sophistication.  Pleasant experiences and opportunities arise when we look like we give a darn.  About ourselves and those around us.  

 Why miss out on those possibilities?

-- Heinz-Ulrich