As some of you might know I have been coordinating and planning a Sustainable Fashion Show and Panel at my university. It is the culmination of a series of events that have created a collision of my two work worlds: Accidental Icon and Professor. Many people seem to think that is a good thing and it should make me happy. I could not unreservedly say it does.
I have been challenged in the last several weeks by this convergence of my public (Accidental Icon) and private (university professor) work identities. I must admit I have very mixed feelings about it. I did manage to keep Accidental Icon all to myself so to speak, for a year and a half before my university got wind of it. For some reason, perhaps dear readers you could offer me your thoughts, the idea of a university professor becoming a fashion blogger seems to be compelling. So there have been some features lately that address these two identities. Somehow I really wanted to keep these two parts of my life in different compartments. I guess it was naive to think I could.
I have been very aware of the risks of putting yourself out in the world in a very public way as I have chosen to do by writing a blog, although I have to admit I really did not expect all this attention. It would be dishonest to say I don’t like it. I have been careful in what I reveal and until now feel I have been in control of it. As I have said before, Accidental Icon has allowed me to play with a self that is far more extroverted than the one that is me in my personal life. For some reason I am ambivalent about sharing her in my everyday work world. Following the preference of one of my favored designers, the notoriously elusive Rei Kawakubo, my aim with Accidental Icon has always been that people “get to know me through my clothes”. What I choose to wear, how it inspires me and how I write about that choice is the way I have wanted to tell my story. Up until now I have felt that I could maintain a state of being “invisibly visible”. I still want to aspire to that. But I guess if you wear a coat with red lips in the middle of a blizzard and don’t think you’ll be seen it may be more of a leap than I originally thought.
I totally get that.
Thank you for the thoughtful reply. That is what I thought was missing and why I started the blog. I knew there were other women who were looking for that too, like you!
I totally get that.
You offer intelligent perspectives on fashion in your commentaries. And your weekly citation of references is a wonderful resource. In doing so, you bring the discipline of your profession to fashion. Most fashion blogs are like whipped cream–not yours. Hope that answers your question about why readers are intrigued with a university professor blogging.
Thank you for the thoughtful reply. That is what I thought was missing and why I started the blog. I knew there were other women who were looking for that too, like you!
I love your looks so much, I follow for instagram and I like so so much your style.
Have a nice week
xx L.
http://www.lalouuula.com/2016/01/tesoros-treasures.html
You too!
I love your looks so much, I follow for instagram and I like so so much your style.
Have a nice week
xx L.
http://www.lalouuula.com/2016/01/tesoros-treasures.html
You too!
Personally, I am delighted you are visible. It give me hope. I am 60 years old and have watched how so many women are made invisible by our culture as we age, so it was a breath of fresh air when your blog became visible featuring someone who is creative, intellectual, and gravitates toward the same designers that I appreciate. I understand that the overlap between your creative endeavors outside your professional world can be a bit discomforting, but I never thought of you as invisible to those who follow your blog. You have given such clear evidence of your inner self through your many probing reflections, questions , observations, and intellectual rigor through your commentary that sometimes accompany your posts. Your visual interface to the public domain supports the inner landscape of your personality and reflects a highly creative, thoughtful, and expertise of expressing the unseen. In my view, that is style at its best…the invisible becomes visible.
Personally, I am delighted you are visible. It give me hope. I am 60 years old and have watched how so many women are made invisible by our culture as we age, so it was a breath of fresh air when your blog became visible featuring someone who is creative, intellectual, and gravitates toward the same designers that I appreciate. I understand that the overlap between your creative endeavors outside your professional world can be a bit discomforting, but I never thought of you as invisible to those who follow your blog. You have given such clear evidence of your inner self through your many probing reflections, questions , observations, and intellectual rigor through your commentary that sometimes accompany your posts. Your visual interface to the public domain supports the inner landscape of your personality and reflects a highly creative, thoughtful, and expertise of expressing the unseen. In my view, that is style at its best…the invisible becomes visible.
I just recently "discovered" you and I can’t tell you how much I admire your "visibility" and your thought-provoking blog. Until I read your post today I didn’t know it was your original intent to keep your professional life and "style" life separate. In fact, that is what I find so compelling, you share your love of style and your professional life so seamlessly — and all of it against the backdrop of the city I love. Thank you!
I just recently "discovered" you and I can’t tell you how much I admire your "visibility" and your thought-provoking blog. Until I read your post today I didn’t know it was your original intent to keep your professional life and "style" life separate. In fact, that is what I find so compelling, you share your love of style and your professional life so seamlessly — and all of it against the backdrop of the city I love. Thank you!
Oh that coat, wow! I like being "invisible" but not to the pt where people actually invade your space. Now THAT infuriates me. Rick Owens is my "not be noticed-be-noticed" clothing.
I adore it! Just enough but not too much at the same time.
Oh that coat, wow! I like being "invisible" but not to the pt where people actually invade your space. Now THAT infuriates me. Rick Owens is my "not be noticed-be-noticed" clothing.
Amazing coat! I love the pattern.
<3
katsfashionfix.blogspot.com
I adore it! Just enough but not too much at the same time.
There are some peeps out there who have to be the centre of attention. It is only a secure comfortable-in-your-own-skin individual who is content to be invisibly visible, as you so aptly phrase it.
Lyn, I so admire you!
I can understand you ambivalence about your academic career and your blogging. Many people are fortunate to have a passion for fashion and also pursue other professional avenues. There are also a lot of people who pursue the fashion profession and have the passion for the history and techniques involved who never rise above the surface- unfortunately they don’t accidently just happen to become a literary blogger by having a passion for literature- or maybe they do. The world has changed. Just embrace both and enjoy !
Thank you. I realize I have actually enjoyed being both. I am clearer now that it was the specific details of the school etc. where I am a professor that felt like a line was crossed.
I can understand you ambivalence about your academic career and your blogging. Many people are fortunate to have a passion for fashion and also pursue other professional avenues. There are also a lot of people who pursue the fashion profession and have the passion for the history and techniques involved who never rise above the surface- unfortunately they don’t accidently just happen to become a literary blogger by having a passion for literature- or maybe they do. The world has changed. Just embrace both and enjoy !
Thank you. I realize I have actually enjoyed being both. I am clearer now that it was the specific details of the school etc. where I am a professor that felt like a line was crossed.
Having just recently happened upon your blog and being in the over 60age group, I have been overwhelmed with the fashion content and aspirations found in it. You have an innate sense of style which gives women of my age hope and the confidence to pursue life and continue to make their mark on the world around them. Love the choices you make in being ‘out there’ in the fashion world and feel that this part of you and your life is something personal and should not be seen to ‘collide’ with the career you have carved for yourself. Please keep on going with the blog as I feel you will now feel ‘lost’ if your sense of direction now changes! I look forward to following you in your choices for the future!
Thanks to comments like this from my readers I will not change my course!
Having just recently happened upon your blog and being in the over 60age group, I have been overwhelmed with the fashion content and aspirations found in it. You have an innate sense of style which gives women of my age hope and the confidence to pursue life and continue to make their mark on the world around them. Love the choices you make in being ‘out there’ in the fashion world and feel that this part of you and your life is something personal and should not be seen to ‘collide’ with the career you have carved for yourself. Please keep on going with the blog as I feel you will now feel ‘lost’ if your sense of direction now changes! I look forward to following you in your choices for the future!
Thanks to comments like this from my readers I will not change my course!
Know what? You’re teaching/demonstrating to your students that we are not one dimensional – we’re multi-dimensional creatures. Many facets to who we are – fashion icon, professor, inspiration to many for many different reasons.
Graduating students are stressed about career choices – you show them that you can have several at different times in life.
I absolutely agree.
Amazing point maybe that’s why my classes are always full!
Know what? You’re teaching/demonstrating to your students that we are not one dimensional – we’re multi-dimensional creatures. Many facets to who we are – fashion icon, professor, inspiration to many for many different reasons.
Graduating students are stressed about career choices – you show them that you can have several at different times in life.
Amazing point maybe that’s why my classes are always full!
When we are privileged to choose what we wear, clothing can be experimental costume. This is especially true in New York City, where the streets are so often theater, offering momentary and anonymous encounters and sightings. This is very different from the workplace (or a small city or town) where we see our colleagues day after day. I’m also wondering if your dilemma is related partly to intellectuals’ fear of not being taken seriously if they reveal a love of fashion. What then to make of Valerie Steele?
You raise great questions, Lyn — and look fabulous!
Thanks for your thoughts. Valerie Steele is an amazing role model and she is someone I have read and admire. A good person to use as a guide.
When we are privileged to choose what we wear, clothing can be experimental costume. This is especially true in New York City, where the streets are so often theater, offering momentary and anonymous encounters and sightings. This is very different from the workplace (or a small city or town) where we see our colleagues day after day. I’m also wondering if your dilemma is related partly to intellectuals’ fear of not being taken seriously if they reveal a love of fashion. What then to make of Valerie Steele?
You raise great questions, Lyn — and look fabulous!
Thanks for your thoughts. Valerie Steele is an amazing role model and she is someone I have read and admire. A good person to use as a guide.
The articulate comments say it all,don’t they?!
Good morning! Love your posts and your style! Your coat is fab! I love the backdrop of the snow in the park. Very authentic and surreal.
I feel like I’m "invisibly visible". People see me but they don’t "see" me. It’s very frustrating sometimes to be heard but not listened to. I am the "invisibly visible" woman.
Good morning! Love your posts and your style! Your coat is fab! I love the backdrop of the snow in the park. Very authentic and surreal.
I feel like I’m "invisibly visible". People see me but they don’t "see" me. It’s very frustrating sometimes to be heard but not listened to. I am the "invisibly visible" woman.
I’m not sure if my response answers your question or not.
But I’ve found that blogging or having a web presence is difficult to keep private, especially once you’ve become a name of note in related industries. In my opinion, many institutions have a political realm which can be affected by the changing dynamics of one or more people. This shows the power of social media.
Personally, I think more institutions would benefit in using this ever growing and trending phenomena to enhance their image and presence in the world. However, many institutions aren’t sure how this implementation should take place.
Gary Vaynerchuck, in NYC, is a social media enthusiast who is adamant that societal organizations and structures embrace, on some level, social media. Many college institutions are hiring him as a consultant to address the issues and how to integrate this platform.
He has a high level of presence, particularly on YouTube, and demonstrates how powerful the social medium platform is and the various uses for connection. Just yesterday he did a video which showed addressing the lack of student enrollment in colleges and how to use social media to change that. Every college institution should be concerned about this powerful tool for their own survival.
He believes that it’s better to connect and control one’s image than to let someone else do it. After reading and watching his videos, I realized that there still exists a societal "lag" in the acceptance and integration of social media in our culture: there is resistance perhaps caused by a misunderstanding of how to use the power and fit it into tradition which on an energetic level moves at a slower pace.
For this reason there are many people who have found it difficult to express themselves using social media and maintain equilibrium with people in their outside social connections(especially those who are wary or afraid of the computer tool being used for social connections)
I knew you were a teacher, and I thought it is was really cool that you are able to express and share informative and meaningful information with the world as your student body. I envied your apparent openness and the support of your networks.
I hope that you will continue your work, but more importantly I hope that your affiliations will see that what you’ve presented here has enhanced the perception of their capacity to accept social change.
Follow up: No I don’t think you can remain "invisible". In fact, no one is invisible because of social media. It may appear to be that way. We’re in a different world. But one can control the "degree" of visibility. You have presented yourself with integrity and character and that counts.
Your coat is amazing, especially with the snow as background.
I’m interested in following the convergence of your two identities. Your background as a professor is part of what makes your blog irresistible.
Very few people in my private life follow my blog, which is fine with me. At times I feel as though I too have more than one identity!
Thanks for the advice, I agree the two identities do interact.
Your coat is amazing, especially with the snow as background.
I’m interested in following the convergence of your two identities. Your background as a professor is part of what makes your blog irresistible.
Very few people in my private life follow my blog, which is fine with me. At times I feel as though I too have more than one identity!
Thanks for the advice, I agree the two identities do interact.
I found your blog accidentally (quite in accordance with its name). Love your style, a combination of clear minimalist lines and dramatism. I used to have a similar dilemma. Being a professor in linguistics, I took up knitting and became a knitting designer. At first, I tried to keep the two apart. But I live in a very tiny country (population 1.3 mln) with well established crafts tradition, so it is difficult to conceal things for a long time :). Many of my colleagues and students love knitting, too, and follow me on FB or on my blog. I decided to do nothing. When people learn about it, they are usually nice and ask genuine questions.
Anna
That seems very true and similar to what is happening to me. I will follow your lead and not fret about it!
That’s very interesting. Under the rule of academic freedom I have some leeway in being able to say what I think without the university limiting me.
I found your blog accidentally (quite in accordance with its name). Love your style, a combination of clear minimalist lines and dramatism. I used to have a similar dilemma. Being a professor in linguistics, I took up knitting and became a knitting designer. At first, I tried to keep the two apart. But I live in a very tiny country (population 1.3 mln) with well established crafts tradition, so it is difficult to conceal things for a long time :). Many of my colleagues and students love knitting, too, and follow me on FB or on my blog. I decided to do nothing. When people learn about it, they are usually nice and ask genuine questions.
Anna
That seems very true and similar to what is happening to me. I will follow your lead and not fret about it!
First, that coat is AMAZING!
I also struggle with maintaining a firewall between my professional and blogging identities. Because I’m in management, the position of my employer is that anything I say or do under my real name (whether on social media or IRL) could be considered a representation of the company, so I cannot use my real name on the blog. In some ways that’s probably a good thing, as it protects privacy somewhat, but it’s also limiting.
That’s very interesting. Under the rule of academic freedom I have some leeway in being able to say what I think without the university limiting me.
I think it is possible to be invisible up to a point. In the end though I think each of us is a multifaceted person. In my opinion no one is just their specific job, or a mother, or a wife. We are many things and should let all those things shine no matter what others may approve of. And at the moment I’m invisible as well. I had a Youtube food channel but wanted to do something else, so under a pseudonym created my fashion blog, which I am loving! And your coat is amazing!
~Lili
http://www.thefashionsalt.com
True enough! Part of what is engaging to people is someone who shows all their "selves" in a genuine way.
I think it is possible to be invisible up to a point. In the end though I think each of us is a multifaceted person. In my opinion no one is just their specific job, or a mother, or a wife. We are many things and should let all those things shine no matter what others may approve of. And at the moment I’m invisible as well. I had a Youtube food channel but wanted to do something else, so under a pseudonym created my fashion blog, which I am loving! And your coat is amazing!
~Lili
http://www.thefashionsalt.com
True enough! Part of what is engaging to people is someone who shows all their "selves" in a genuine way.
I think it is possible to be invisibly visible. When I first started blogging, I was anonymous for quite sometime. but then things shifted – in terms of blogging, I mean, it became the norm to be more visible to step out from behind the dashboard. But also from a professional point of view, as a freelance journalist That’s Not My Age became my online portfolio and so I had to put my name on it. But even though I now occasionally show pictures of myself online – I still don’t feel entirely comfortable with it and I do think it is possible to have a private life away from that.
Thanks, I think I can find it too! And so right when it starts being a business too people need to know your name.
I think it is possible to be invisibly visible. When I first started blogging, I was anonymous for quite sometime. but then things shifted – in terms of blogging, I mean, it became the norm to be more visible to step out from behind the dashboard. But also from a professional point of view, as a freelance journalist That’s Not My Age became my online portfolio and so I had to put my name on it. But even though I now occasionally show pictures of myself online – I still don’t feel entirely comfortable with it and I do think it is possible to have a private life away from that.
Thanks, I think I can find it too! And so right when it starts being a business too people need to know your name.
I would not know about this visibility or invisibility. I am such an extrovert person, I don’t think about this. Everything in my life is out in the open. No blackmailer would stand a chance with me. Even the milkman knows my deepest secrets. Well.. that is, if there was still a milkman. Figure of speech.
Greetje