I’m trying to be a little bolder with my sewing experiments — and also with my clothes. 
I’m 53, and I think I’ve gotten in the habit of dressing…modestly? I mean, not super-modest, but playground-appropriate?
In my 20s, I might occasionally tie up a shirt and show some stomach, but mostly, I tend to cover up more than that these days. Which is fine, but it’s not really so much a choice I’ve made, and more…I don’t know. Habit? Subtle social pressure? Something. I want to be more deliberate about that kind of thing.
So I have this dress, and I tried it on for teaching, and it just didn’t spark joy. I like the fabric, I like the overall fit, I like the patterning, but I just felt a little blah wearing it. So I chopped a bunch off.
Kavi (my style guru) said the new length was fine to wear, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen a teacher wearing something that short. And I told her about Professor Kathryn Stockton, who wore a leopard print miniskirt to teach our theory class, and used that as a jumping off point for a discussion of clothing and gender roles. Kavi said she guessed college was different than high school, which is true in all kinds of ways, but it’s also true that I probably haven’t seen too many teachers wearing mini skirts.
And yet, I think I’d be comfortable teaching in this. Esp. once I add a cardigan. A cardigan makes everything respectable, right? I’m not sure about the grey boots, though — maybe black (which I have), or navy blue or taupe (which I don’t have, and I’m trying not to spend money right now, so black it will probably be, at least for this week’s teaching).
I remember Amma (who used to police our clothing and make sure we didn’t wear tank tops in public), would get a little flustered when we looked at old photos from the 70s, where she (a gorgeous young thing in her mid-20s) was running around rose gardens in adorable mini dresses. “It was the style then!” she protested when we teased her about her scandalous outfits.
I think this new length suits the scale of my 5’0″ body better. And maybe it’s good for my students to have a slightly scandalous teacher.
