Manolo the Columnist
Manolo says, now available for the downloading at the website of the Express of the Washington Post is the latest column of the Manolo.
Today, the Manolo discusses footwears for the professor who would be stylish.
Dear Manolo,
My husband is an literature professor at a small liberal arts college who insists on wearing the typical professorial uniform, you know, the tweed jacket, the oxford shirt, the khakis, and the dullest brown rubber-soled shoes known to man. What would you suggest?
Lynn
Manolo says, to the Lynn, please whatever happens, do not allow your husband professor to become the scrawny, old-before-his-time elderly man with the faded elbow patches and the grey beard, given to the dour ruminations and and the excessive chin strokings.
The Manolo asks, ubi sunt?
Where are the dapper professors of our youth?
What has happened to those engaging teachers in their elegant clothes and handsome shoes, who could inspire our provincial young peoples with their joyful and obvious conniseurship, their joie de vivre?
If the Manolo were the professor– Professor of the Super Fantastic!—he would perhaps choose as his model of style the architects, who dress in the manner that expresses the creativity and yet remains professional, so as to not frighten the natives in the building and business trades.
This style it is elegant and streamlined, however it allows for the knit ties and the unusual eye-wear, and of the course, the attractive leather shoes.
And so the Manolo he would recommend the Fairfax by the Allen-Edmonds as being the stylish shoe suitable for the professor who would be the envy of the faculty senate.
June 16th, 2006 at 10:22 am
“He dresses like an architect” was the highest praise we could heap upon our professors in my smallish southern university. In the Art History department, there was a possibility of coming across a well-dressed prof, unlike, say, the Chemistry department.
One such Art History professor is now running the Whitney Museum, and I have seen photos and yes, he still dresses somewhat like an architect, but more museum curator/architect.
Dapper indeed.
June 16th, 2006 at 11:54 am
His Honor always wears Allen Edmonds shoes because when you wield the Gavel of The Justice, one needs nice kicks.
June 16th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
Those are most beautiful. I especially love the understated perfing.
June 16th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
I am a student. I wish the male professors in my department would wear such beautiful shoes as you have shown. Unfortunately, they are more likely to wear sandals with socks, or sandals without socks (which on some of them is worse), or clunky black things with heavy rubber soles. If my boyfriend becomes a teacher, I hope I may persuade him to wear shoes such as you prescribe, rather than to emulate what he sees.
I myself, in the stress of writing a thesis, preparing a recital, and getting ready to say goodbye to my friends, nearly yielded to the temptation to dress like the other students (very casually) in my last year of undergraduate-hood, but the advice of the Manolo reminded me of the wisdom of my mother (it is better to wear classic clothes than to dress too trendily; when in doubt, dress up rather than down), and I did not succumb to temptation. I graduated with my reputation as the belle of the music department intact. Thank you, Manolo!
June 16th, 2006 at 3:58 pm
The Manolo is already tenured Professor of Superfantasticness at my Shoeniversity.
June 16th, 2006 at 4:47 pm
Ah, but in Scandinavia, the Architect is the worst of them all! Architect professors dress in sweaters in the material of the John Madden Mental Patient Slipper featured on The Horrors page… this paired with scruffy, unkempt hippie beards (gray with dirty yellow/read hair in them), dirty sloppy jeans and leather Jesus style sandals with either a sort of thin, cheap sock in the color gray or- oh, the humanity - no socks at all.
Yes, here in Scandinavia, the hippie professor is alive and well. He graduated in 1968 and has had what you call tenure since then. And he is so convinced the “look” from his youth still works.
June 16th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
The hippie professor is alive and well around in this country, too. I attended an academic conference last month. Scraggly gray beards? Elbow patches? Birkenstocks with socks? That was only the tip of the iceberg.
Worst unisex academic fashion statement: the mountainous backpack apparently containing the professor’s entire scholarly library and always worn on the back, not over the shoulder, so the wearer looks like a Himalyan hod-carrier. Of the hundreds of female scholars in attendance, I counted about five who who had made an effort to look attractive and professional: nice shoes, hair not cut with the help of a bowl, a blouse and skirt that went together, a crisp raincoat instead of a Michelin Tire Man stuffed jacket. And the table manners in our communal dining hall! After a while, I couldn’t look.
Every professor should be required to read this article[http://www.colorado.edu/Sociology/gimenez/corner/look.txt] by Regina Barreca (I think it originally appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education):
“Our men look like inmates only recently released from federal penitentiaries, forced to wear clothing thirty years out of style. They wear sweaters knit for them by the girlfriends they had during the Carter administration. These items, never flattering, now fit them around the middle like tea cozies. They have been known to wear clogs. They wear, for pity’s sake, berets.
“Grown-ups in other professions have been known to buy one or two new garments every season. They purchase shoes even when their other shoes are still viable. Not all their attire is made from fabrics so earth friendly that they feel like woven loofahs. Other responsible professionals wear snug clothing yet manage to avoid looking like segmented insects. They wear bright colors yet do not look like clowns. They are not trying to call attention to themselves, but instead to fit in while being well turned out….
“I’m not talking about Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. I am talking about people over thirty who work in public relations, development, software sales, graphic design, trade book publishing, film and television, upscale retail, and those writing reelance articles on ‘The Joy of Fiber’ for Self magazine.”
There is no reason why academics can’t dress like adults, too. You don’t need a lot of money or even a lot of fashion sense (which I sure don’t have) to put on a decently tailored sweater and skirt or sweater and slacks along with some handsome, professional-looking footwear (try the super-markdowns at Zappo’s, Shoes.com, etc.) before you get up in front of your class. Humanities professors these days moan like wounded gophers about the ever-diminishing number of undergrads who want to major in their fields. Maybe if the professors made an effort to present their fields as the sort that draw attractive, personable people whom others would like to know, they might have better luck creating a next generation of scholars.
June 17th, 2006 at 11:15 am
I think the writer’s husband has a perfectly acceptable wardrobe, no need for a professor to look like a fop. The man has probably been wearing the same outfit since he was a grad student, and the beaty of the look is that he could still wear it - and look good 20 years from now. He just needs a tiny bit of updating and upscaling. How about switching the rubber-soled shoes to a nice pair of leather-soled Alden tassel loafers, or perhaps this one: http://www.aldenshoe.com/cat_ane3_984.htm
…..
A bunch of bright repp ties would also go well with the button-down oxfords and tweed jacket - and he might even wear the things, instead of leaving them in the closet.
A few hours spent browsing the ask andy American Trad Forum would be very instructional for the good professor’s wife:
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=41
June 18th, 2006 at 11:03 am
Ah, the black hole of academic fashion!!! The Lizzard, she has seen it all, and still does not understand why allegedly bright, well-educated folk fail to realize presentation is as critical as content. While I’ve known a few timeless, stylish professors and collegues (I’m an orchestral musician), most have appeared developmentally disadvantaged regarding grooming and fashion. Many times, a woman instrumentalist who has expended even a modicum of time and energy presenting herself in a fashionable, well-groomed manner is treated by her peers (and profs) as if she were a mindless, frivolous, pretty, airhead dingbat who’ll never amount to anything! This has created legions of talented young women whose presentation causes cringing all around–a violin soloist from a recent concert comes to mind–unsecured hair obscuring face, too-tight bias-cut satin gown with no obviously no bra but VPL… And then there are all the ones my husband and I usually perform with, who cause him to groan, “If I have to wear a tux, why does SHE get to wear a faded black t-shirt, just because it’s black?!?” Maybe, someday, we’ll be able to turn the tide of unstylish smarties, but I’m not gonna hold my breath!
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November 10th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
interesting
November 13th, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Interesting…
November 14th, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Nice
November 22nd, 2007 at 9:28 am
Interesting…