Interesting read though is it a smidgen self-justificatory? If we're being honest, surely personal vanity is rather more to the fore than wanting to project a particular, professional image? You can project a professional image without spending hours on a board fetishising clothes to the extent that we do. You can project a professional image without a psychedelic hanky exploding from your breast pocket. And nobody at your meeting cares that your shoes cost enough to fresh drinking water for the rural population of Somalia.
For me, I never underwent some sort of epiphany where I suddenly decided to 'up my game'. I've always liked clothes, from being an 8 year old watching the punks marching up and down the Kings Road to the mods and skinheads who used to descend on the town of Brighton, where I grew up, every bank holiday to batter the bejesus out of each other. As a kid in the 80s, I ran the gamut of kiddy fashion, from sta pressed and loafers of the 2 tone and mod revival to the classic label obsession of the casuals (I still have fond memories of my selection of soft wool Kappa golfing sweaters and Lois jumbo cords). By the time I was doing A levels, the vintage thing had kicked in and I was a combination of vintage Americana and thrifted sports jackets (soundtrack by the Jesus and Mary Chain and the C86 'birth of indie' bands), reading ID, The Face and the first issue of Arena (the US GQ seemed too neurotic and insecure, full of 'How do I dress if I want to make the right impression at my new country club?' type pieces at that stage). By the time I'd finished my degree and started my post graduate studies, I'd begun to settle down into a slightly preppy-inspired style which was fashionable in the mid-90s and was particularly useful as I'd begun lecturing alongside my PhD. Didn't want to look like the students I was teaching but neither did I want to look like a young fogey. But that would have been the same even in a different profession: by your late 20s, you shouldn't be dressing like a teenager but neither should you be dressing like a Tory MP on a day off. I've mostly stuck with this ever since (still wearing a couple of Smedleys purchased then).
So, in short, personal vanity. I suppose. But, by the same token, I hate prissiness or self-obsession. As a student, I would have happily taken a flame thrower to any of my fellows who turned up to class in a suit (unless they'd come straight from the dock!). Couldn't stand these mini-Niles Cranes who thought dressing like a grown up would make them stand out from the nasty, rough boys.
So as well as being vain, I'm also a raging bundle of contradictions. Sounds like I need some sessions with Holdfast to sort my head out.
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