The Making of the Muse: The Anti-Muse: Job Interviews

I have more clothes than you can shake a stick at, my dresses live on a rolling clothing rack that moves around my bedroom, (in my defense my closet is tiny, requiring much creativity to fit my clothes even if I switch out seasonal items) despite this, I have nothing to wear. At least for this particular occasion. I have a job interview today, certainly not my first, hopefully my last and I hate them not because I'm nervous, but be cause I don't know what to wear. Recently I overheard some friends, fellow teachers, talking about how they went out and "bought a suit" and wore the same suit to every interview. Now aside from the fact that repeatedly wearing the same outfit makes my brain start to short circuit, it amazed me that anyone would do this. First of all, in teaching most interviews are done in the dead heat of summer, and most schools are not air conditioned so wearing a suit, which, most women's are made either wool or synthetic rather than cotton or linen is just setting yourself up for disaster. Second...well suits are a corporate thing, and education, lets face it, is anything but. On the other end of the spectrum, many teachers I know are far too casual. One friend was going right from teaching to a job interview and didn't change, her everyday style was always trousers that were really either colored/black jeans and a tee shirt. In that case one of the jobs actually told her she presented herself too casually. So where is the happy medium? Therein lies the issue. Anyone whose seen my clothes knows that I don't play well be the rules, I'm often too big, too bold, and clash far more often than I match. However I know that its really, really, stupid to rock the boat upon first encounter. I'm a teacher, not a fashion designer and I have to (up to a point) dress like one. So I compromise, not a suit, but I still color coordinate, I dress in seasonal appropriate fabrics, cotton, linen, silk, I use patterns sparingly and only in the same color palate. I push the envelope just enough that they still see the real me, not a watered down version of me, because if the don't want the really me I don't want to be hired by them.