« I Spy... A Cold War Bar | Main | Separated At Birth »
May 19, 2006
What's In A Name?
So I'm getting ready to go on stage on Wednesday... I was on the keynote panel that opened the conference, and since the other panelists and I hadn't actually met in person yet, we decided to have breakfast together and just develop a face to face rapport before going on stage together. This was my first time on stage in Europe, and of course you want to make an impression... so I was dressed in my corporate American best -- Ralph Lauren pinstripe suit, Boss dress shirt (dark blue, though -- no white shirts on stage, I don't suck up that bad!), relatively conservative tie... I looked very much the representative of big business that I am when I go to these things. Besides, while two of my fellow panelists were from the blog world, the other two were corporate reps as well -- I figured they'd be dressed like me.
I got downstairs in the hotel, and made my way to the cafe. When I found my new friends, I realized that I was a) the only one in a suit; b) the only one not wearing at least something black. The group greeted me fondly, but quickly settled into giving me friendly hell for my choice of outfit.
"You don't look like a blogger," I was told. "You should go change."
Now, generally I am a casual guy by nature, and am much more comfortable dressed down than up. So it was almost a relief to run back upstairs, throw a black t-shirt and jeans on, put the pinstripe blazer on over it, and come back downstairs just in time to do the panel. No one was the wiser, and I probably looked more comfortable up there than I would have looked in the suit.
But the whole exchange got me thinking: just what the hell does a blogger look like, anyway?
If the whole point of blogging in general is that now the means of expression and for the sharing of expertise are in the hands of anybody who chooses to use said means (rather than only in the hands of those few with the financial and distributive resources to communicate), then wouldn't it follow that bloggers look like everybody? In which case, some bloggers will be dressed in black or jeans (or, in the case of one of the speakers from later in the day, a leather kilt)... while others would be dressed in suits... while others might blog in their pajamas? If we who blog come from all walks of the Net, why can't some of us be businesspeople who feel most comfortable in Ralph Lauren pinstripes?
I am more comfortable in a t-shirt and jeans, so I don't feel bad about having changed; I was comfortable. But I am disappointed that I allowed myself to be talked into it -- and in the mindset that somehow we have to conform to some avant-garde or hipster dress code in order to officially look like a blogger. If there's a uniform, it's not going to fit everyone.
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.thechroniccurmudgeon.com/cgi-bin/mt/mtb.cgi/171
Comments
you weren't really talked into it -- you put your suit on as a costume in the first place "to represent big business" which you weren't comfortable in. So when it was suggested you change, you really did what you wanted to do -- dress like the average person. I don't think it's a shock to anyone that bloggers by nature are sort of the anti-or at least againsst the grain of super duper corporate america.
At least I'm not shocked. Shocker.
Posted by: thebeav at May 20, 2006 12:40 PM
It doesn't shock me, either. And I don't think that's a bad thing. But I do kind of rebel against the idea that a blogger by very definition *has* to look a certain way or *can't* look corporate. If someone's comfortable in a suit, and they happen to blog, then they look like a blogger in their suit.
Not that I look like "me" in anything other than a t-shirt and jeans. Just that I was surprised to be judged as "non-blogger" by my choice of clothing.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at May 20, 2006 01:11 PM
Portrait of a blogger:
Posted by: Linkmeister at May 21, 2006 06:54 PM
Perhaps I am missing something here about the reason not to wear a white shirt on stage being to avoid sucking up. (Would that be too corporate? Too politician-like?) Because the reason I wouldn't wear white on stage is that if not lit from the proper angle, it's blinding for the audience. You don't want them to turn away from your face in horror when you have something important to say.
Posted by: Jill at May 22, 2006 01:02 PM
Linkmeister - now THAT'S a blogger!
Jill - maybe "sucking up" wasn't the right phrase. I am trying to avoid looking too stereotypically corporate... I refer you to my post last year shortly after getting the promotion that has resulted in my hitting the conference circuit and given me my fifteen minutes:
http://www.thechroniccurmudgeon.com/archives/2005/05/suits_success_a.htm
I try not to wear white shirts if I can help it... as the commercial says, "Just my way of sticking it to the man." ("You ARE the man.") "I know."
As for turning from my face in horror... I'll save Doc, Erika and many others the trouble of making the joke: they ALWAYS turn away from my face in horror no matter what I am wearing. ;-)
Posted by: Curmudgeon at May 22, 2006 08:16 PM
you know - you thwart any trappings if you just go...
in a fluffy bunny suit.
Posted by: thebeav at May 22, 2006 11:04 PM
