Dressing for work should be easy. It’s technically supposed to be the un-fun section of your life therefore you hold off your best bits anyway-for nights out, exotic holidays, dinner with your lover, raucous trips to the country.
Monday to Friday you wake, put on your uniform and away you go. That uniform might be an actual uniform if you’re a nurse or a cop, or it might be a suit if you’re... A suit. But if your work is a little more fluid or freelance and you can categorically deny being a ‘professional’ then the lines are blurred.
If you work in telly then the lines are totally messed up. If I had my way I would wear boyfriend jeans and a ball-y cashmere jumper I stole from some unsuspecting family member. Of course I enjoy dressing up, indulging myself and unleashing some feathers from time to time but I’m also a little rebellious so I prefer to do that when it’s not expected. When it’s obligatory I feel a little resistant. Of course I’ve had to shake this. Or at least attempt to quiet the voices in my head that dare me to show up for filming in my onesie and slippers.
Dressing for tv is fun. But it’s also hard. You are free to ‘be yourself’ just so long as ‘yourself’ fits with the show and the time-slot and the channel. If it’s a travel show going out in the depths of winter they want colour! The producer wants blue, you want black, the audience wants cleavage or legs or both. You can see it instantly too - Twitter can be the devil; if someone loves what you wear, maybe they'll tweet you asking about a dress or maybe they'll tweet saying you have chicken skin on your legs when in fact they are freckles not giant plucked pores…
It's undeniable and naive to believe that what you wear doesn't matter, we are, after all, visual creatures. Some of my favourite ever shows came to my attention because I liked the presenters outfits. The clothes you wear instantly say something about your personality and style.
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I once wore a cotton dress with a bang of maternity off it; loose and fluid and exactly what one would want to wear in San Francisco. Except we were filming on a boat below the Golden Gate Bridge and it was windy. Very windy. After multiple embarrassing takes, flashing of knickers and some amused looks from fellow passengers, I had to borrow a giant elastic from the sound man and they cropped my arse out in the edit.
Short skirts are great for summer holidays but when you’re being filmed on a bike, not the one. Short shorts are fine when you’re standing up but sitting down you begin to think more about your exposed flesh than is necessary for any human.
Shirts are my go-to tops but can appear matronly on screen and while heels make you and your legs feel great, they’re a nightmare for long filming days. These are things you don’t consider. You also are unlikely to realise your fetishistic leanings towards the colour navy until your producer bans you from wearing any variation of it.
And what about when you have to glam up? That’s when I really start to sweat. I don’t do bodycon dresses, I rarely unleash my cleavage on the public, I never knowingly expose my back. These are not mental bodily hangups that I am only now confessing to myself and you but more habits, my style, the way I feel comfortable and for me that comfort is key whatever I’m doing.
Being about to forget about that exposed flesh or the likelihood that you’ll have a nip slip, I can’t forget. I would much rather lose myself in an interview and be completely in the moment than have to adjust my arm so it looks like a teapot, a little bent and grossly uncomfortable but at svelte and toned. That level of awareness about individual body parts sounds exhausting and so I move towards finding a happy medium. Embracing colour and texture and choosing clothes that show my personality but not at the expense of my sanity.
Like this? Then you might be interested in:
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Meet The Chinese Graduates Going Under The Knife For The Perfect Interview Face
Follow Angela On Twitter: @AngelaScanlon
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.