Formal Friday

Computer scientists are notoriously scruffy. Most days I wear jeans and a t-shirt to work. I've always taken this for granted, and never really thought much about what I wear. I get ready for work so fast in the morning that my children are awake, dressed, and eating breakfast before I even have to get out of bed. I put my clothes on while they put their shoes on so we can head out the door to drive to school. My sneakers are comfortable enough that I can spend all day walking at my treadmill desk, and nothing I wear needs special care in the wash. When I travel to conferences, I pack a week's worth of clothing in a small carryon backpack.

But not today!

Today is Friday, and for the past few months I have been observing Formal Friday. I'm a little slow to the trend, given the Wall Street Journal was writing about it over a year ago, but that doesn't mean I'm not having fun with it. I even went shopping last week and bought myself a suit. A number of colleagues around the lab dress up as well, and we make quite the dapper group.

Predictably, I have learned that:

• Women's dress shoes are uncomfortable.
• Skirts require pantyhose.
• Pantyhose run and are impossible to keep in stock.
• Dress clothes require dry cleaning.
• Showering and putting on makeup adds a half hour to my morning routine.

But I look forward to Fridays, and now have nice dress flats, a dry cleaner, and a drawer full of unopened pantyhose. You can see my attempts at Formal Friday on Twitter.

I think dressing up would be annoying if I had to do it every day, but the nice thing is it's really just me playing dress up. And when I get tired of Formal Fridays and decide to start doing, say, Medieval Fridays instead (in my Renaissance Faire garb?), I'm sure my colleagues won't bat an eye.