Fall 1999 Newsletter

What to Wear? Transgressing Gender in the Purple Valley

by Clara Thaler '98

Put two thousand students together in one isolated purple valley and what happens? Removed from urban hotspots of fashion innovation, Williams students begin to resemble each other. During my four years, the unofficial uniform of fleeces, khakis, warm-up pants, and Williams T-shirts became as ubiquitous and familiar as the mountain skyline. This common wardrobe helped define our community and became problematic only when challenged. When does a shared sense of style become a rigidly enforced dress code? In the morning I found myself standing at my closet, hand wavering between Polartec fleece and Geoffrey Beene necktie.

During my senior year, fresh from a semester at Smith College in Northampton, personal and academic forces alike were turning my interest to transgression at the level of the wardrobe. I studied the sociological and feminist meanings of gender and the potential for micro-level political change; my new ideas and commitments became my outfits on Monday mornings. I think my professors were pleased: not only was I taking their lessons about destabilizing Truth to heart, but they were always able to remember my name-I was usually the only necktie-wearing woman in the class.

In many ways, Williams was the safest place that I could have begun an investigation of gender-blurring. It took almost no effort to become visibly distinct. I was able to take small steps -- a short haircut, a man's shirt -- and observe the ripples in the status quo: the post office worker on Spring Street who called me sir, the man in Stetson who thanked the "young man" holding the door. My favorite stories include one professor telling me he was honored that I dressed up for his class; and a classmate, in the throes of corporate recruiting, who asked me if I was dressed up for an interview. (I still wonder what investment firm would have hired a cross-dressing lesbian.)

In fact, the comfort I felt at Williams gave me the confidence to show up for my first post-Williams job, working for a lawyer, in a man's suit and tie. And my interest in transgression as a social and political tool is largely what prompted me to enroll in law school. What I'll wear beyond law school remains to be seen; the uniform in the legal world is a far cry from Polartec fleece, but, in my view, it's equally inviting of a little gender play.

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