Technology Tip: 30 Second Skip on Your DVR

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I love my DVR and I'm guessing you love yours too. It's a professionelle's best friend. How else are you going to keep up with Jill, Bethanny, Jack, Kate, Serena, and Blair when you're spending prime time at the office?

DVRs are also great for skipping through commercials. Turning your "fav" button into a 30 second skip forward button will make skipping commercials even easier and your TV watching experience even more efficient. Push it 4 or 5 times, toggle back once or twice and voila! Click here for directions.

This tip was forwarded to me by a friend who saw it on Lifehacker, a technology focused blog with tips on how to make your life more efficient.

Graduation Dresses

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HLS's graduation is next week. A reader asked for a post with some suggestions for what to wear to graduation or class day. Since most graduations are in the summer and caps and gowns can be hot, it's best to wear something cool. I know there's also the temptation to wear something "springy" but keep in mind that black gowns can bleed in the heat. I've been told by several sources that the HLS gowns we rented will bleed. So here are a few dresses that are darker yet still pretty.

Pique V-neck Ruffle Dress (78.00)


Floral Shadow Dress (22.80)


Linen Halter Dress (115.00)

A great opportunity to wear a light colored spring dress is at Class Day where no caps and gowns are required. Here are a few suggestions:

3.1 Philip Lim Pleaded Mini Dress (177.00)


Surplice Halter Dress (129.00)


Trina Turk Hawaiian Jacquard Secret Palm Dress (256.00)


Becky Babydoll Dress (151.00)

Blue Toe Nail Polish?

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I want to add to Jiabei's post about the New York Times article on courtroom attire. Both this article and a story that a friend of Jiabei's and mine told me recently have gotten me thinking about the importance of workplace dress codes (both official and unofficial) and how far we, as employees, should push the boundaries of these codes. Must we stay safely within the guidelines or can we wear things that might be just over the line or surely right up against it?

This friend of ours when she was a summer associate at a business casual law firm painted her toes with blue polish and wore open-toed shoes to work. A female partner pulled her aside and told her that her toe nail color was unprofessional and that she should remove the polish. This friend then asked her associate mentor for advice on whether she should do as the partner said. The associate said that, especially in this economy, the friend should remove the polish to ensure she received an offer at the end of the summer. My friend did as she was told by the partner and the associate, but the experience influenced her decision not to accept her offer at that firm.

Was my friend right to wear blue toe nail polish and open-toed shoes to work? The judges mentioned in the New York Times article probably wouldn't think so. But my friend didn't think she was doing anything wrong. She wasn't trying to test the system. She is just a colorful person and painted her toe nails to express her personal style. But is my friend's intent to express herself even relevant to whether she did the right thing wearing blue polish to work? Maybe part of going to work each day is leaving our "selves" at home. Maybe employers are entitled to have "self"-less employees, and dress codes are a way to ensure that the workplace is a "self"-less place.

Assuming work is a "self"-less place, are employers right to make us check our "selves" at the door? This is a loaded question that often comes up in sociological studies of the workplace (for e.g. it comes up in scholarship on sexism and gender differences at work). Putting aside the larger philosophical and moral issues this question evokes, I think that employers are sometimes right to enforce dress codes at the expense of self-expression. An employer is justified in enforcing a dress code against an employee if that employee's attire interferes with the goals of the employer. For example, my friend's employer would be justified in making her take off her blue toe nail polish if her nail color made her a less effective courtroom advocate or dealmaker, if it offended clients or business contacts, or if it interfered with any other employee's ability to do his/her work.

But maybe this is too simple. I am already doubting my formula. Even if my friend's toe nail polish didn't interfere with her, or any other employee's, ability to do their jobs is she really justified in flouting the dress code (which lets assume prohibits colored toe nail polish)? The recent law student in me thinks "Oh no! Beware of the slippery slope!" What if my friend's cavalier toe nail painting encouraged other employees to violate the dress code? Eventually, inevitably, some employee would go too far and that employee's personal style choice would interfere with the employer's goal. So maybe it's better to nip the problem in the butt before it escalates, unfortunate as that would be for my friend.

So I guess I haven't decided whether I think an employer is only justified in enforcing a dress code at the point that an employee's attire interferes with the goals of the employer or whether the employer should also have discretion to enforce against minor deviations from the letter of the law of the dress code. Luckily, while this question is intellectually interesting and important to address in the long-term, it is not one that we need to know the answer to in order to know what to wear to work each day. My answer to the question of what you should wear to work each day is to dress conservatively. You should play it safe with your employer's dress code to ensure that you find yourself far from the black-and-white area in which your boss is clearly justified in telling you to change because your attire is causing an interference.

This is not to say that you can't have fun with your workplace attire. I would just be selective in how you choose to add flair to your work uniform. Identify the elements of your employer's dress code that leave room for originality and stand out through those elements -- Colorful pumps or handbags? A scarf? A patterned blouse? A long necklace? One of the goals of this blog is to help you find ways to flex your personal style even within the confines of a business formal office. If you would like advice on how to use a particular accessory or item of clothing to incorporate some flair into your look, please let us know in the comments. We would love to help!

Courtroom Clothing

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Sarah's boyfriend shared a very interesting article with me this afternoon. It seems that the age old debate about whether conservative dress codes for women are sexist has hit the judges of the 7th Circuit.

What do you think? Should women be forced to cover up so that men don't feel uncomfortable? I personally think that dressing appropriately for work doesn't mean you need to stifle your personality (in fact, that's one of the main reasons for this blog), but come on, feminism is no excuse for showing cleavage or too much thigh in the courtroom. Women dressed inappropriately make me feel uncomfortable so why shouldn't they make a man feel uncomfortable as well? But perhaps I'm wrong, I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this issue.

Giving Back: Urban Debate

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I'm sorry to have slacked a little on the posting this week but I'm back with a very important post. It's a volunteer opportunity that will allow professionelles to use their skills to improve the lives of underprivileged high school students. Most of us have benefited enormously from good education allowing us to succeed both personally and professionally. It's time to give back and support those who may not have access to the same opportunities.

Urban debate leagues bring debate programs into inner city high schools. High school debate dramatically increases the likelihood for future academic success among its participants. The statistics are impressive. The LA Times reports, "Literacy scores among debaters have increased by an average of 25%. High school graduation rates among regular participants are nearly 100%, and more than 75% of urban debaters attend four-year colleges."

There are urban debate programs in 18 cities across America and they desperately need enthusiastic and capable volunteers to serve as coaches or judges. I would imagine that each and every one of these leagues would love to capitalize on the skills of the professionelles reading this blog. No debate experience is required. Debate is actually an activity that is very easy to pick up so long as you have analytical and communication skills and the passion to impart those skills onto others. Here are the details:

If you're an HLS student, as many of you are, the easiest way to volunteer is to join Harvard Law Students for Urban Debate. Please contact, Hrishi Hari at Hhari@jd11.law.harvard.edu for more information.

If you're are not an HLS student but live in the Boston area, please contact Steve Stein at Steve@bostondebate.org for volunteer opportunities with the Boston Debate League.

If you live in Seattle, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Southern California/Orange County, Phoenix, Denver, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Dallas, Austin, Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis, Houston, Detroit, Memphis, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Providence, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Washington D.C., please contact Eric Tucker at Erictucker@urbandebate.org for volunteer opportunities in your city.

Copyright for fashion?

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Representative Delahunt from Massachusetts recently reintroduced the Design Piracy Prohibition Act before the new Congress (a Senate bill will follow shortly). The Act would give copyright-lite protection for fashion designs for the first time in the United States (a similar type of protection has been effective in the European Union since 2002). What is copyright-lite? It's not a legal term. It's my attempt at describing the less-than-full set of rights that fashion designers would receive under the Act relative to book authors, music composers, and screen writers (to name a few traditionally protected groups). Instead of the usual copyright term of life of the author + 70 years, the Act would only protect designs for a term of 3 years. Additionally, instead of the traditional "substantially similar" test for copyright infringement, the Act would make it harder to prove infringement in the fashion design context -- a plaintiff would have to show that the allegedly infringing design is "closely and substantially similar in overall visual appearance to a protected design" and that this similarity doesn't "merely reflect a trend."

Is this Act a good thing? Scholars have written about the consequences the Act would have for intellectual property law and for the economics of fashion. But what about for us --would this Act, if it became law, be a good thing for us? Would it lead to there being "better" -- i.e. more "original "** -- fashion at cheaper price points? If Forever 21 could no longer rely on the designs running down the runway at the Prada and Dior shows to be templates for the clothing it puts out season-after-season, might Forever 21 re-work its business model and hire a set of in-house designers to create “original” designs for the company? Surely, this would cost Forever 21 more money. Would we be willing to pay a premium for “original” clothing? The fact that stores like Forever 21 do so well suggests that many of us do not have a problem wearing "copies" of high fashion designs and would probably not put a very high premium on originality. On the other hand, H & M and Zara, which strive to add originality to their designs and which do not engage in the identical copying that Forever 21 does, also have booming businesses.

Whether we'd be willing to pay a premium for original clothing comes down to two things: (1) Do we like original clothing better or do we like looking like the people that wear high fashion and like each other (because Forever 21 et al. mass-produce these copies, many of us are bound to be wearing the same copied design, while Prada et al. recognize that exclusivity is part of the what makes their clothes valuable and so make many fewer of each design)? And (2) Do we feel that we have a moral obligation to wear clothing that is not an exact knockoff of a fashion designer's hard work? The second question is more personal, and each of us may feel differently about it -- for some this may be akin to stealing, while others might consider fashion designs to belong to all of us as part of the public domain.

An answer to the first question, I think, is more capable of generalization. Most women get a sinking feeling when they see another woman at a party or at work wearing the same outfit that they are wearing. For most women, then, some degree of originality is important. But most women also like to go out each season and buy a few on-trend ensembles. To be on-trend, by definition, these women have to wear things that look similar to what other women are wearing. So this seems to be a question of degree. Most of us want to look somewhat original and somewhat similar. In the comments, I would love to hear how "original" you like your clothing to be and how important looking "original" is to you. Does it matter how "original" each individual piece of clothing is or do you feel sufficiently original combining knockoff pieces with other pieces and accessories to create your own unique ensemble?

** I put "original" in quotes because truly original (as we usually think of the word) is hard to come by in fashion -- pretty much everything that can be done has been done. Instead, what's original is the unique combination and arrangement of already-done elements (e.g. florals, ribbons, fringe, etc.).

Cosmetics Review

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For the first time ever, I am completely content with the contents of my make up bag. After trying dozens of eyeliners, mascaras, and blushes, I have found the perfect combination. Below are the winners.

Mascara: Mascaras are my obsession. I have the tiniest, shortest lashes, so I'm constantly looking for a miracle mascara. In this category, I have three favorites. The first is Chanel's Exceptionnel ($30). It has a unique six sided brush. Three of the sides are combs and the other three are brushes. The formula creates incredibly thick and feathery lashes. You're supposed to roll the brush up and out when applying, but I find that putting it on the old fashion way works just as well. The second is Rimmel's Glam Eyes ($7.49). This is a great, cheap, alternative to Exceptionnel. If you have slightly longer or thicker lashes, this may be even better for you. The brush is also unique in that it's a four sided comb that seperates as it thickens. The third is Maybelline's Lash Discovery (6.59). This lengthening mascara proves that bigger is not always better. The mini brush grabs each lash individually and lengthens from root to tip. I like to apply Lash Discovery first, and then layer Exceptionnel or Glam Eyes on top.

Chanel's Exceptionnel


Rimmel's Glam Eyes


Maybelline's Lash Discovery

Pencil Eyeliner: I've been using the same eyeliner since I first started using make up. Estee Lauder's Automatic Eye Pencil Duo ($23) is by far my favorite. The liner is soft so that it always goes on smoothly. The pencil comes with a smudger on the other end, but you can buy a refil in a different color and put it on the other end instead. I currently have Black on one end and Charcoal on the other.

Liquid Eyeliner: I only recently started using liquid eyeliner. Admittedly, it takes some practice. But once you get the hang of it, it's easy to apply, and I like how it adds more definition to the eyes compared to a pencil liner. The key to liquid liner application is having the proper liner. I have found that it's more important to find a good liquid liner than it is to find a good pencil liner. My preferred liquid liner is Shu Uemera's Liquid Eyeliner ($18 for the empty pen plus $15 for the ink cartridge). $32 is a lot to spend on an eyeliner but there are several reasons to invest in this eyeliner. First, the cartridge lasts for several months. Second, take it from someone who has wasted $5 here and there trying on inferior eyeliners, dabbling in bad products definitely adds up.

Eye Shadow: I have brown eyes. Brown eyed girls, so I've been told, should wear purple shadow. I'm not sure how true this conventional wisdom is, but I just love Clinique's Colour Surge Eye Shadow Duo in Blackberry Frost ($17.50). It's the perfect combination of shimmery purple and deep gray to create light and dark constrasts.

Blush: I love that flushed, glowing look. Like you've just gone on a run, except, as anyone who knows me can tell you, without the running part because I loath exercise. I use a two step approach to creating this look. First, I apply Benefit's Benetint ($28). Next, I sweep on a very light layer of Nars Orgasm Blush ($25) across my entire face. The Benetint provides that subtle color while the Nars provides the slight shimmer. Do not, however, mistake Super Orgasm for Orgasm. I find that Super Orgasm is too sparkly for every day use which makes it definitely too sparkly for work.

Benetint

Nars Orgasm Blush

This is obviously not a complete beauty product review. I'm still searching for the perfect lip gloss or tinted balm combination as well as a lightweight tinted mosturizer with sunblock. If you've got any suggestions, please leave them in the comments section or on the Facebook page.

Shoe Report

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Another reader asked for a post about work shoes because she has little choice in what kinds of clothes she can wear to work. Even employers with strict dress codes allow more flexibility in the shoe department. Here are a few of my favorites, from the classic pump to something a bit more daring.

Nine West Barbe Pump (69.00)
As many of you know, I wear heels nearly every day. I've searched far and wide for the most comfortable pair of heels and Nine West shoes are consistent winners. Plus, you can't beat the price on these classic pumps.


Mariana by GOLC Pam (119.95)
These adorable flats are playful yet professional enough to wear if your office is on the casual side.


Christian Louboutin Triclo Crisscross d'Orsay (795.00)
Now these are the kind of Louboutins I would invest in if I had an extra $800 dollars laying around (alas...). They're classic enough to make them worth the splurge, but they're unique enough that it would be hard to find something similar for less. Plus, they're incredibly sexy, and after all, isn't that the point of wearing Louboutins?

Public Transportation Worthy Books

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I started a discussion on Professionelle's Facebook page with a call for post suggestions and a reader wrote in that she would like suggestions for books to read while riding public transportation to work. She, like most of us, likes the occasional chick-lit but wanted something that went better with a suit than a swimsuit. I have to admit, since starting law school three years ago, I haven't had much time to read anything other than casebooks. One of my favorite Saturday afternoon past times, however, is to go to the local bookstore. I head straight for the "award winning fiction" section and peruse the tables for the prettiest cover. I figure it's more acceptable to judge a book by its cover if it's already "award winning." Here are a few of my favorite books that I've picked up using this method. They're all deliberately targeted towards a female audience without being too lifestyle focused. After all, you shouldn't read novels for fashion trends, read Professionelle instead!

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
This is one of my favorite books of all time. Not a whole lot happens in terms of plot, yet the book is incredibly touching and romantic.


Prep by Curtis by Sittenfeld
Although the cover makes Prep seem like just another chick-lit, it's actually not chick-lit at all. It's the modern day A Separate Peace.


Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
I haven't read Olive Kitteridge, this year's Pulitzer Prize winner, but the synopsis looks interesting and it will probably be the next novel I read...after the bar exam.

Deal Brief:The Outnet.com

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I was shocked to learn yesterday that Phyllis hadn't heard about TheOutnet.com so I figured that if she didn't know about it yet, most of you didn't either. TheOutnet.com is Net-a-Porter's try at competing with Gilt Groupe, Rue La La, and Hautelook. It's a hybrid of sample sale sites and more traditional sale websites like Bluefly.com. The merchandise is very upscale so it's not a place I check every day, only when I'm looking to splurge.

Here are a few of my favorite finds:

An entire page of Herve Leger dresses at 50% off


12th Street by Cynthia Vincent Draped Back Tunic (110.00)


Rupert Sanderson Regal Patent Mary-Janes (278.00)

Amazing Folding Technique

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My boyfriend sent me this video a while back. It was on my old blog (it's finals time so I've resorted to recycling posts), but it's pretty amazing and promises to make doing laundry more efficient so you can spend your precious free time doing something more fun.

Online Shopping Review

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These days there are so many ways to spend money online. Gone are the days when online shopping was restricted to Amazon.com or Ebay.com. Now, websites offer sample sales, sale alerts, and powerful comparison tools. Online shopping can be particularly useful (and oh so exciting!) for Professionelles too busy to hit up bricks and mortar shops or needing a break at work. Here are a few of my favorites as well as tips to make the most of your online shopping experience.

General Tips:

• Don't pay for shipping: Most websites these days offer free shipping. Usually free shipping on returns as well. For example, Endless.com, one of my favorite online shoe retailers offers free overnight shipping on most shoes. Amazing! If the website isn't offering free shipping directly, Google the web site's name with the words "free shipping" and you can usually find a free shipping code. People who hate online shopping often complain about the extra cost of shipping, especially if the item doesn't fit and needs to be returned. With free shipping, online shopping costs the same as in store shopping.
• Search for coupon codes: Stores often mail out promotional codes to preferred customers and sometimes those customers post their codes online for the rest of the world to use. It's definitely worth the extra effort to look for promotional codes.
• Price compare: once you find an item you like, make sure you look to see if other stores are carrying it at a cheaper price. This is as simple as typing the item into Google (notice a theme in this post?) and seeing what else pops up. If you do find the same item, in the same size, for less, you can check to see if your original retailer offers a price match or beat promotion. Also, make sure to check back within a week of your purchase to see if the price has dropped. Many websites will give you a price adjustment. For example, Zappos.com will credit you the difference within 10 days.

My Favorite Sites

• Sample sale sites: These websites take overstock items from designers, usually sold at sample sales, typically in New York, and puts them online. Most of these websites are "invitation only," but an invite usually just means a referral from a friend. There are two that I visit regularly: Gilt Groupe and RueLaLa. Both work in the same way. Each day, several new designer "boutiques" are opened. The sales last for a few days and the items are heavily discounted. Popular items go very quickly. From personal experience, when a Gilt sale is posted at noon each day, many items are sold out in 15 minuets. I personally prefer Gilt Groupe to RueLaLa, primarily because Gilt has better designers. RueLaLa will occasionally carry a designer I love, but Gilt is more reliable. Gilt, however, usually carries items at a higher price point than RueLaLa. A $500 bag is still unaffordable even if it is 75% off. A general tip for Gilt is to preview the week's coming designers and make sure to sign in at exactly noon on the day of the sale. Put all items you find initially desirable in your shopping cart. This will give you 10 minuets to decide if you want the item. When time runs out the item will be released to other shoppers. If you aren't already on Gilt, click here to sign up.

• Sale alert sites: My two favorite sale alert sites are Shop It To Me and Shopstyle. Sale alert sites send you emails informing you when items you're interested in go on sale. These sites allow you to customize the kinds of sales you're interested in by brand, category of clothing, or specific items (Shopstyle only, once you find a specific item you'd like receive an alert on, roll over the item, then click the sale alert button). You can also narrow your results by size and price as well as dictate how often you receive these sale alerts. Once you find an item you like, you will be taken directly to the online retailer offering it and you can make your purchase there. Shop It To Me also allows you to poll your friends on whether they like a particular item you're considering buying. When you receive your SaleMail alert click on the envelope icon under the specific item.

• Comparison sites: Comparison sites allow you to compare prices and styles. My two favorite are Like.com and Shopstyle. Like.com works by running visual, color, and detail searches of a base item or type of item you designate. For example, if you are looking for wedge sandals, search for wedge sandals. Once you find one you like, you can run a visual search which will pull up other wedge sandals that are similar. Through this search, you may be able to find something similar or even better for less. Alternatively, you can enter a specific item you know you like, but perhaps can't afford, or is not exactly perfect. Using the same search mechanism, you may be able to find a cheaper option or a more perfect item. Shopstyle is sort of a hybrid between aggregation websites (like yahoo or MSN) and social networking websites (like Facebook or Myspace). Shopstyle allows you to search a broad cross section of stores for theperfect item. It also allows users to create a profile , make a look book, or maintain a wish list. Other users can browse or follow particular people in order to find inspiration.