Ye Old Problem

What to wear?

I am preparing to facilitate an alternative spring break trip with a group of 15 undergraduates to a small Caribbean island. As part of our preparations for the trip, our group is meeting weekly to prepare for the trip, talk about our goals, reflect, and handle all of the logistics.

I consider myself a queen of logistics and also a master of packing. Therefore, I offered to take on the task of preparing a mini visual slide show for the attending students. Undergraduates don't always have the best fashion discretion, especially when it comes to dressing - on any given day, short shorts, skinny jeans, strappy tank tops, and sweat pants rue the day. Some playful coaching is in order.

Living out my Stacey and Clinton fantasy, I got to achieve a What Not to Wear moment assembling these collages using the addictively fun Polyvore. Much like WNTW, my approach was to give students some general guidelines or "rules." I tried to give options along a spectrum of better (left) to worse (right). Everything here is pretty cheap - it's a guide for undergrads, after all. It's not about money, it's about selecting versatile pieces that support the work at hand.

It made me feel a little old putting these images together.

1. Most of our "service" will consist of working with special needs children in a school. All volunteers are provided with clean t-shirts on a daily basis, but the "bottoms" need to be fairly conservative and professional. Here are my suggestions (everything is on the approved list):

2. When we're not volunteering, our group will engage in sightseeing and island tourism. Here, some clothing coaching was definitely in order as undergrads often struggle with appropriate play clothes. I recommend fairly modest Bermuda shorts, practical cotton shirts, and comfortable footwear (left). I plan to make light of the items on the left - emphasizing that young women traveling to the developing world ought to leave the short shorts, tanks, and high heels at home!

3. At some point in our trip, we're likely to have an audience with some local dignitaries - the Prime Minister, President, or the Education Minister. The tricky thing is that the island is tropical, casual and we're encouraging students to pack LIGHT. Given what I know, I think the items on the left will work - cotton sundresses, dressy tops, or slacks. The items on the right are too casual.

4. Perhaps the trickiest area to negotiate is the beach. The basic guideline I'd encourage the students to think about is that they should choose a swimsuit they'd wear when teaching swimming lessons to children - sporty one pieces and tankinis. Sunscreen, hats, and light cover-ups are a must. I am hopeful I won't get too much push back here, but I hope not to see too many string bikinis. Again, the left side features appropriate looks.