Faculty Sets the Style

The way people dress gives an insight into their interests, reveals a home country and shows one’s voice. AAU is a choir with hundreds of abundant styles resonating with their own tunes.

Last semester we took a quick peak into the students’ fashion, this time faculty staff opens up their wardrobes.

Professor of Composition I/II | California, USA

Style: Retro / Eclectic / One foot in the grave
Fashion Passion: Glasses. I started wearing them about the same time I realized I am not going to be a surfer.
University outfit: What you see is what you get. I dress the same all the time whether jumping around in front of students or jumping around on stage playing bass.
Fashion Stores: Any shop, flea market or garbage bin will do.
My student look: In High School, I went through a “dandyish” phase of dressing up, wearing make-up and having cool haircuts. Basically, I was a heterosexual drag queen.
Changing point: I had to make some radical reassessments of what fashion means when I started travelling in my twenties. Living in the tropics made me care less and less about my style.
Interesting fact: I developed my current hairstyle while doing archaeology on Tahiti. Since we didn’t have electricity, after every cold shower I started putting gobs of gel in my hair and then violently rubbing it free as it dried. My friends could tell the time of day by the stickiness or messiness of my hair – they still can!

Professor of History of the Cold War and European History | Australia

Style: I try to look as little as Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear as possible
Fashion passion: Definitely jackets, I have approximately eight of them.
University outfit: I do not turn up to work in shorts, that’s for sure, even though I would love to.
Fashion stores: The ones I can afford: Marks & Spencer and Van Graaf
My Student look: I was a sort of student who was dressed by his mother. Elderly people thought I looked very smart, but women avoided me.
Changing point: When I changed my hairdresser.
Interesting fact:  A pair of good old Levi’s jeans are an inevitable part of my style.

Professor of Introduction to Sociology; Sub-Cultures: Lifestyles, Literature, Music; Environmental Anthropology: Ecology, Culture & Globalization | Long Island, New York, USA

Style: Woodland, a modern style that incorporates some fantasy and forest elements, and Retro
Fashion Passion: Accessories, I like to put strange things in my hair and I feel undressed without earrings.
University outfit: A little more professional and a little less wild than I might wear to some other place.
Fashion stores: In the Czech Republic – second-hand stores, sometimes Promod. In America – ModCloth and various outlets.
My student look: Because of the tough weather conditions, I had to dress practically. I had big dark boots, some ripped-up jean because it was 90s and some colorful sweater and] Also, I always had some kind of interesting earrings that made me feel good.
Changing point: I always used elements of the Woodland style, it just gradually evolved.
Interesting fact: I have been making my own jewelry for about 10-11 years. At first, I was just repairing the old ones, but then it grew into buying more jewelry material to go with my clothes and making necklaces from leftovers.  

Professor of Composition I/II, Creative Writing and Advanced Seminar in Poetry | Massachusetts, USA  

Style: Sharp and Angular
Fashion Passion: Jackets
University Outfit: In terms of choice what to wear there are two things that matter: situation and your personal style. When it comes to teaching and standing in front of bunch of people for three hours, I tend to dress a little bit more formal. For me it always comes down to fabric and cut, and if the clothes fits well – it is the main thing
Fashion Stores: Occasionally, I order something online or buy clothes when I go back to the States.
My Student look: When I was a student, I was really into skateboarding, so I wore baggier pants, sneakers and T-shirts.
Changing point: When the need to present myself in public appeared.
Interesting Fact: A British writer W. H. Auden once said, “Poets should dress like businessmen.” I really liked that idea because for me it is very different to what you usually conceive of a poet.