Is It Important What You Wear as a Research Scholar?

The academic profession has competing demands and the people who are there in this field need to look knowledgeable and trustworthy. To add to this as a professor you need to also appear approachable to your students. A lot of people are of the opinion that it does not matter what an academician is wearing and they should be rather assessed on their performance as a teacher more than anything else. I beg to differ here and propagate a completely different opinion to this. I have always firmly believed that aesthetics should be fundamental to humans and all of us humans assess others on the basis of how they present themselves.

To go a bit more in detail, what can we ask from our clothes to reflect as an academician? Essentially other than potentially acting as a talking point, the dress that an academician wears has to reflect authority, knowledge and also a professional personality. How much one focusses on that is an individual perspective though.

Some Tips Here May Be of Use to You:

1. Go for Good Quality Clothes with a Nice Cut: Doesn’t this sound like something very obvious? You may be thinking it is a very strange advice but the cut and fit of your trouser or your jacket would also matter as much as what you are wearing.
2. Chose for Simple Easy on Maintenance Clothes for Travel and Conferences: you would be attending one and more conferences during your doctoral tenure and surely would be travelling around for the same. Don’t add on to the hassle of taking care of clothes that have delicate fabrics or need repeated ironing. The focus need not be diverted from your presentation here to anything else.
3. Dress in Contrast to Your Looks: When I say that I mean that if your looks are young and more student like then ensure that you dress in such a way that you don’t end looking like one of the students. Don’t attempt to dress young if you look young.
4. Dress to Feel Great: This is last but not the least, your clothes should make you feel confident and happy. If you begin your day so, believe that more than half the battle is won.

It is ok to dress for fun and enjoy your otherwise mundane routine as long as you ensure what you wear helps to make your journey simpler and easier in ways more than one.

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