I'm glad it's going well Tanya! Did you feel like a secret fashion reporter, checking out what everyone was wearing? Do you wish you could post a "Do and Don't" photo montage like fashion magazines do?

Hi ladies, here's an update on the conference which ended last night.

As I briefly mentioned, women were wearing pretty much everything possible: shorts & tanks, jeans&tees, sundresses, suits, business casual... There was no theme, which I sort of expected, and started this thread since I did not know what to do myself. The young lady I mentioned earlier in super tight pencil skirt and stilettos was wearing similar stuff throughout the conference: usually a pencil skirt ( only once tight clamdiggers made of pantsuit-like material), tight sleeveless top and very high strappy sandals. I think the main reasons she could get away with that are that she's already very accomplished in her carrier and her body type is basically a slim rectangle so those outfits did not look as sexy as they would have looked on an hourglass, though she certainly looked great.

I mainly stuck to the button-up + dress pants formula we decided on, and here's what I wore (no photos, I was too busy to take them, but might do it this weekend if time permits):

Day 1- wide-legged khakis #1 and blue striped shirt #4, tan wedges

Day 2- grey Theory pants and new black shirt , black wedges; this exact outfit I posted earlier:
http://s300.photobucket.com/al.....CN3083.jpg

Day 3- caramel striped Theory pants and white shirt #2, tan wedges

Day 4- brown pants #9 and pink shirt #8, bronze Me Too flats (by this point my feet could not stand heels anymore, wedges or not)

Day 5- charcoal pants not shown above and teal shirt #9, Me Too Swann flats

All the days I had my new cream jacket or the cream cardi for the talks, since the AC was blasting full on!

I was feeling quite confident and happy about my choices, even though it might have been a bit bland and understated. I wished I was dressed like the lady I described at the beginning of the post, but it would not have been right for my situation.

For conference dinner I wore black tropical wool pants #7, purple/black DVF wrap top over black cami and black wedges. Again there was a huge range of attire, some people had no time to change from the daily activities, some ladies which I have not seen earlier so I'd guess they were partners of the male attendees had on cocktail attire. There were quite a few coral dresses. One lady wore a gorgeous sleeveless coral silk shift dress with ruffles at the neck at bottom that made me think of Ana all the time. There were two attires that struck me as very inappropriate. One lady ( a fellow grad student) wore completely sheer black sleeveless tie-neck blouse ( her black bra was on display) with hot pink pencil skirt that hit her mid-thigh and black heels. The other one was by a lady who was somebody's partner and that all the man couldn't help but stare at all the time. She had a gorgeous bombshell-figure, displayed in day-glow orange sleeveless turtleneck micro-mini-dress: one of those finely ribbed knits that completely hugs the body. In addition, she was tan very blond ( the lightest platinum), had on tons of make-up, artfully applied tough, huge hoop earrings and very high strappy sandals. She really looked like a shiny exotic bird among all the nerds, or like a super-model if you want.
It was very fun to observe the male reaction to her

Anyway, I have to get going now, but feel free to ask in case I haven't covered everything.

Wow, Tanya. Thank you for the interesting feedback. I feel you played it nice and safe. Very appropriate. Were you happy?

Thanks for the report, Tanya. Do you feel more prepared for professional dress in a way that doesn't deny your style sensibilities?

Thanks for the super report back! Becky poses a great question.

Thanks for the notes, Tanya, it's great to hear about your experience. I must say I'm so glad you stuck with the professional/bland note. The outfits you describe from the dinner, and even the one from the conference attendee in the high heels and pencil skirts just sound "off" to me for the context. But hey, to each her own.
And now I bet you're glad to get back to wrap tops and color and wedges, huh?

Tanya, congratulations on completing this milestone. I hope you feel proud of yourself. I for one, wouldn't think of dressing the way you describe the tank top lady or the day glow orange lady for professional events. Actually I could never do the day glow orange I'm glad you stuck to your guns and took the high road. Way to go!

Thanks for the comments ladies!

I indeed feel that I've played it nice & safe. I'd probably like to be a bit braver (or a bit more me) in the future, e.g. I think that a tailored wrap shirt (like my purple one) would have been perfectly fine in this environment. Becky, I do think that I have a better feel now. I'll try to slowly build a base of nice shirts and trousers from Theory and such designers, that would probably the best long term investment.

The attire was very interesting to observe. I'd guess that the female grad students were mostly casual (jeans and tees) and professors more matronly ( shapeless calf length floral skirts), but there were some snappy dressers. It could be that this is not typical since there were more attendees from Europe than from USA. Either way, I wish I could have taken bunch of photos and posted them here for you to see