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Me, a good influence?

By Meg | July 9, 2007

One of my duties next week in London will be to chaperone several high school girls (well, actually one has graduated). I’m actually looking forward to it because they seem really nice. Hopefully, they won’t prove me wrong. It wasn’t too long ago that I was in high school and I remember how much trouble students could get into on trips.

In the meantime, I’ve had to attend a couple chaperone/parent meetings. It’s not the most exciting way to spend one’s evening, but they were necessary. So, I attended and in my usual out-of-the-house outfits - a nice casual, knee-length dress, cute ballet flats, a structured jacket, and some complementary jewelry. Now, the meetings have been in my home town, also in North Florida. As I’ve explained before, this area is typically very casual. As a result, it’s easy to make a great impression by dressing up just a little bit nicer than everyone else (a rule that works pretty much everywhere, including job interviews).

Well, from the sounds of it, I did manage to make a very good impression. It’s a rather small town, so word did get back to my mom - so I’m really, really glad that I made a good impression.

The best compliment, though, came from the mother of one of my girls. She came up to me to introduce herself and her daughter and ask if the girls would ever not be chaperoned (the answer by the way is no, except when they are in their room with tape on the other side of the door to make sure that they didn’t sneak out). What she said that really touched me, though, was something to the effect that when she saw me out in the parking lot dressed so nicely that she knew that I’d be a good influence. That really made me smile. Knowing myself, I’m sure I’ll prove her right.

It was interesting to me, though, that she did tie it explicitly to my outfit. The truth is, I did think about what messages I wanted to send when I got dressed for the meeting - and she picked up on them. I wanted to look like a responsible adult (which I believe I am), and I did. Of course, I also didn’t want the high schoolers to think that I was a total bore or fuddy-duddy. So, I wore cute ballet flats instead of loafers (not that I have any loafers), tried to wear fun jewelry like a white butterfly necklace on the day that I wore white shoes, and overall made sure that I looked like I had a sense of style by making sure that everything worked together. By the sounds of it, I was successful. The girls all seem excited that I’m their chaperone - which is a really awesome compliment for someone that is a self-described nerd.

So, with a little planning I managed to impress high schoolers and their parents - without wearing anything too trendy or risqué on the one hand, or too conservative and boring on the other. As I said above, the outfits I’ve worn are actually pretty typical for me, in part because they do send the messages that I want to send (responsible but fun and modern young adult).

The question is then, what do your outfits - particularly your day to day outfits - say about you? Is it the message that you want to send?

If you aren’t sure, or if you want to know how to change your look to match your message, please feel free to ask - either in the comments below or on the contact form on the Ask Meg page.


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