Will’s View

Have you ever noticed that university lecturers have a universal ’style’? A style that transcends all normal definitions and trends, and has continued unfettered through the ages.Nominally this usually includes some mixture/arrangement of the following. (Note, this is mainly aimed at male academics. Being an engineering student I haven’t ever had a female lecturer…):

• A tweed jacket (possibly worn at the elbows, and maybe with leather patches, it depends on the length of time in academia).
• An open-necked shirt. This is usually in a plain colour such as blue, but if the lecturer is deliberately trying to be obtuse (or is going through a mid-life crisis) then obscene colours are open season.
• Recently pressed dress trousers. Again, usually in a plain colour.
• Recently shined brown loafers. This could be extended to brown dress shoes if the academic is feeling ‘racy’.

The reason I have gone to such an extent to generalise this inimitable style, is that I believe it may be changing.

I was in a lecture on Friday taken by what I call an ‘industry academic’ - someone who works in industry but has close links with academia - and his dress sense was closely aligned with the outline given above. However, when I went to a presentation by his company later on in the day, he was joined by several of his younger employees.

These employees were dressed in a more ‘modern’ smart casual, consisting of an open-necked shirt in a darker colour, jeans, and casual shoes.Looking around at this point I found that another, younger lecturer was at this presentation too, and he was dressed in this more modern style. So maybe this spells the end of the typical academic dress. Maybe when these older lecturers retire, their places will be taken over by sharper, more modern males.

I doubt it. Consider this: these lecturers who are now dressed so conservatively were most likely adolescents and young adults in the ’70s. This means it’s very likely they wore flowers in their long flowing hair, tee-shirts with peace signs on them, and flared jeans with bare feet. And look what happened to them.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 1st, 2007 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Purely Informative (hah). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.