Franish: on dress codes

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

on dress codes

I recently was asked by an online medical magazine on my thoughts on having a dress code in school, and it made me really think about the fact that I'm required to be professionally dressed to sit in lecture with zero patient contact. On the one hand, sometimes I hate it - mostly on test days, or days where I'm only in the school building for 50 minutes. It's annoying to have to change out of yoga pants to go take an exam, or to change just to sit in one lecture for the day.

On the other hand, I think having a dress code has been a great learning experience for myself, and many of my classmates. Before I started school, I didn't really have much "professional" clothing. I had "nice" clothing, but nothing that would be considered appropriate to wear to a hospital. The nice thing about these two years of pre-clinical schooling is that it gives you time to build up that wardrobe. I still currently get away with less professional clothing because it "follows the rules" but I won't be able to wear some of the outfits I do now starting next June.

I've been very aware of that fact, so I've been trying to keep my monthly purchases more on the conservative side. I ordered this pencil skirt a few days ago during a 30% off sale (in black) so I'm patiently waiting for it to arrive - I don't know how I've managed to go over a year without actually owning a black pencil skirt! My friend Serine also wore the cutest outfit the other week with grey slacks, and it made me keenly aware that not only do I only own one pair of truly hospital appropriate pants (I'm told ankle pants are still a bit iffy), but that I don't even have any grey bottoms. I went on a bit of a internet hunt for grey slacks, and there are surprisingly few options out there. I couldn't find any I liked from Ann Taylor, Banana, J.Crew, or Loft. I did end up ordering this pair from The Limited (along with two other pairs that didn't work out at all) but I'm still on the fence about them. I really like the color, but I feel the fabric is a bit too thin so it looks wrinkly (even though I ironed them) and shows any signs of pulling (which I feel comes with any pair of pants, but is more apparent with this fabric). I was told by a Limited employee that you can return pants to them even if you removed the tags and washed them, so I think I'm going to give them another shot (and maybe it's just these pictures, because I didn't feel like this when I just wore them) and if I'm still on the fence, I'll continue the search.