Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different priorities and different budgets. Not everyone spends large chunk of time and money on superficial stuff.

This is true, and caring too much about fashion and appearance is vain and shallow. People in DC have more important things to care about - like the future of the nation.

And this one, knew it was coming, too. You can't be a good thoughtful person and care about your appearance. Only people with ugly clothes and not care for their appearance have depth of character.

You can be, but it’s an outlier. The reality is if you spend most of your time studying science, you aren’t spending a bunch of time studying hair, make up in fashion.

Also, there isn’t as much positive feedback to looking good when your career is curing cancer.

Hm.
Bozoma Saint John
Whitney Wolfe Herd
Melody Hobson
Sheryl Sandberg
Thasunda Brown Duckett
Shonda Rhimes
Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett
Dr. Lisa Dyson
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Rosalind Brewer
Dambisa Moyo
Ginni Rometty
Dr. France Córdova

Alllll of these women are stylish. You can be smart, ambitious, successful and look good all at the same time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different priorities and different budgets. Not everyone spends large chunk of time and money on superficial stuff.

This is true, and caring too much about fashion and appearance is vain and shallow. People in DC have more important things to care about - like the future of the nation.

And this one, knew it was coming, too. You can't be a good thoughtful person and care about your appearance. Only people with ugly clothes and not care for their appearance have depth of character.

You can be, but it’s an outlier. The reality is if you spend most of your time studying science, you aren’t spending a bunch of time studying hair, make up in fashion.

Also, there isn’t as much positive feedback to looking good when your career is curing cancer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Per Miranda: “because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back”.

Sure that’s true when you’re working for a fashion house.

But if you’re working in a lab curing cancer you are too serious and there’s nobody there to see you so you’re not telling anybody or telling the world anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different priorities and different budgets. Not everyone spends large chunk of time and money on superficial stuff.

This is true, and caring too much about fashion and appearance is vain and shallow. People in DC have more important things to care about - like the future of the nation.

And this one, knew it was coming, too. You can't be a good thoughtful person and care about your appearance. Only people with ugly clothes and not care for their appearance have depth of character.

You can be, but it’s an outlier. The reality is if you spend most of your time studying science, you aren’t spending a bunch of time studying hair, make up in fashion.

Also, there isn’t as much positive feedback to looking good when your career is curing cancer.

Anonymous wrote:Per Miranda: “because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different priorities and different budgets. Not everyone spends large chunk of time and money on superficial stuff.

This is true, and caring too much about fashion and appearance is vain and shallow. People in DC have more important things to care about - like the future of the nation.

And this one, knew it was coming, too. You can't be a good thoughtful person and care about your appearance. Only people with ugly clothes and not care for their appearance have depth of character.

Anonymous wrote:DC is about not showing off and not being flashy. That looks frumpy in LA, but LA fashion looks tacky here. Wearing heels at work looks un-serious in DC, and clothing that is sexy or overly figure conscious also looks less than serious, and DC women are serious and want to be taken seriously. That's what you're seeing. Smart, successful women who are focused on their careers and not on showing off their bodies or their wealth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are so many people offended by this post? A lot of you admit that you don’t dress well, don’t try, don’t care. OP is simply observing what you’re stating and simply asking why.

OP I get it. Having lived in London, LA, Miami, New York, Paris, and Milan there is definitely a marked difference here in DC when it comes to fashion. I think a large factor is also that, DC, unlike the other places listed above isn’t part of the flashy entertainment world. Does DC even have a fashion week? It just isn’t the culture here, because it isn’t 🤷

I don’t think anyone will look down on you for dressing up. You might stick out. But what’s wrong with that? Do what makes you comfortable. That’s the DC fashion credo: Practical comfort.

You don't get why women are insulted? Women are working! They need practical clothes to show they are serious. Sexy will not get men to respect women!

Anonymous wrote:What’s wild is it’s not even a married vs single vs dating thing. Everyone seems to dress the same. Lane Bryant to the max

Anonymous wrote:The writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has talked about this. Basically, she challenges the notion that seriousness and intellectual capacity in women are somehow diminished by an interest in looking good.

Though her feminism may seem at odds with this embrace of the fashion world, Ms. Adichie has argued, most recently in a letter she posted to her Facebook page about raising a daughter, that diminishing things that are considered feminine, such as makeup and fashion, is part of a culture of sexism. As to why, consider the following. (The conversation has been edited and condensed.) https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/fashion/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-boots-no7-makeup.html#:~:text=Though%20her%20feminism%20may%20seem,a%20culture%20that%20diminishes%20women.


How have your feelings on makeup evolved?

In general, the cultures that I know — Nigeria, the U.S., the U.K, Western Europe — all largely judge women quite harshly for appearances. But in Nigeria, there’s a slight difference. There isn’t much of a judgment if you’re an accomplished woman and seem to care about your appearance.

But I do remember that when I moved to the U.S. — and I think maybe there are different standards for people who are supposed to be particularly intellectual or particularly creative — I very quickly realized that if you want to seem as a serious writer, you can’t possibly look like a person who looks in the mirror.

Why do you think things that are associated with femininity, like fashion and beauty, are not taken seriously?

It’s about a culture that diminishes women.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't care what others wear, but the notion that a well-educated, intelligent woman makes herself look less so by dressing up makes me seethe. This attitude is so prevalent here on DCUM (see posts throughout this thread).

Guess what? Smart and successful women can look nice and that doesn't detract from their intellect.

It's prevalent because it's real. None of us thinks looking nice actually makes you dumb. But we all know from experience that it gets you treated like you're dumb - or worse, like you are looking to flirt/sleep your way up.

The people I'm talking about who criticize women who look attractive/well put together are other women - not men. We see this all the time here on DCUM - women attacking other women because (god forbid) those other women choose to look nice at work. There's clearly a huge element of jealousy going on here and it's very transparent. Dress however you want - and I'll do the same.

Yes! Worked in an office in Bethesda for 5 years (won't say the name to spare the guilty) but the cattiness towards women who gave a hoot about their appearance from the ones who looked like they just rolled out of bed was off the charts. 1 or 2 were hauled into hr because they would not stop making nasty comments. These weren't young women either. Most were in their 40's or 50's or looked it. Whomever mentioned Afr Am women, yes there was racism too speculating why a few of their Afr Am co-workers dressed so much better than they did and how could they afford it. If you hate your clothes, the next time you go shopping, make better choices, but cut out the mean girl office act towards those who care.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different priorities and different budgets. Not everyone spends large chunk of time and money on superficial stuff.

This is true, and caring too much about fashion and appearance is vain and shallow. People in DC have more important things to care about - like the future of the nation.

And this one, knew it was coming, too. You can't be a good thoughtful person and care about your appearance. Only people with ugly clothes and not care for their appearance have depth of character.