How to Dress Like a Writer

February 25th, 2010Blog1 comment

I had dinner with one of my agents recently and we were talking about the need for people in her position to dress well and present themselves properly. Appearance isn’t everything, but it’s very important. This goes for their surroundings as well — when I’ve been in their office, everything looks like it’s supposed to: Nice bowl of fruit over here, bottled water and Diet Coke all lined up as it should be, red pencils (all sharpened and ready to use) in their place.

So she said something that people have said to me several times before: “You’re a writer, so you can dress however you want.”

This is true. I could arrive to meetings with a pancake on my head and a kilt made out of muppets and people would probably cut me some slack. Sure, they’d talk smack once I left, but eventually they’d let it go because I’m a creative and eccentricity is what makes me go. Whee!

So I could dress weird or I could dress sub-casual. Since I work from home there’s definitely a temptation to dress down and wear pajama pants and a Whitesnake t-shirt all day — hey, I’m not going to see anybody anyway, so why not, right?

But I think for me, both choices are incorrect. I’m pretty conservative fashion-wise, and I think dressing like a layabout is the equivalent of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

This book (which I also highly recommend) has a brief section on what to wear as a writer. Essentially the author says that you shouldn’t wear a suit, since that’s what execs are supposed to wear and doing so confuses them. Likewise you shouldn’t wear shorts to a meeting because you want to project an air of confidence and competence.

Confidence and competence. That sounds good to me.

So this is what I do: Every day I dress like I’m going to work. Nice shirt, sporty shoes, the proper accessories. I get up early, exercise, shower, shave — dress like I’m going to a meeting even if I’m just going to spend the entire day in the library. This is a job where I’m my own boss, and I want all my employees (i.e., myself) looking presentable and like they know what they’re doing.

Plus a basic law of human society, like it or not, is that people like you better when you look good. They want to work with and associate with good looking people. Yes yes, it’s what’s on the inside that counts, but why not present the complete package — look good outside, be good inside? It’s not that hard. Besides, I don’t want to take a single moment for granted — ever.

But every now and then I’ll throw in a little weird detail. Add a little artsy, off-the-cuff touch. A skull ring. My special hipster nerd glasses. Wiener dog underwear. Because I used to think that fashion was a bit of a chore, but now I know that the details can be really fun.