Industry Fashion

Do you want to know one of my biggest struggles, being a female finish carpenter?  Well, as vain as it may sound, one disappointing difference between comfy job and current job: I used to look pretty cute and put-together at work.  Now I look…well, like a carpenter.  It’s one thing that really bums me out about my current profession – it’s hard to feel like you even look clean, let alone presentable.  Going out to happy hour after work with friends becomes an exercise in self-affirmation.  I tell myself that I’m just as smart as all those professional women with their attaché cases and adorable hairdos, I’m just as beautiful as those women wearing skirts and make-up, *sigh* but you’d probably never think any of that by the way I look after work: unkempt, covered in dust, and just plain worn out.

Here’s my self-imposed uniform: a pair of double front brown carhartts (I’ve learned that the normal carpenter pants and jeans wear through too quickly and other colors fade too soon), a small and sturdy t-shirt (bonus points if it doesn’t have a stain or paint on it), and sensible dark leather slip on shoes with steel toes (easy to take on and off when entering/exiting a client’s home).  I usually also have zippered hoodie or something of that nature--though I usually take that off if I’m working with rotating blades.  Aside from the shoes (I am 100% excited about those because I just discovered the brand and style), my work wear is completely uninspired.  Practical and plain, just like my hair – it’s short, and there’s no sense in putting any effort into styling it when it’s likely to get messy within thirty minutes of arriving at the jobsite. 

I love these shoes (thanks Catherine!). They are slip on, waterproof, steel toed, and have big luggy soles.

So, you may be able to tell I have a dilemma.  It's impossible to feel pretty when I'm so dirty and messy.  I consider myself to be a reasonably attractive woman, generally speaking. But I never feel sexy or pretty at work or in my work clothes.  I suppose I’m partly to blame.  I rarely wear any make-up at work because I don’t want men at the jobsite to get the wrong idea. I have a boyfriend and I’m not trying to attract any unwanted attention.  My carhartts are expensive and when a hole wears through the first layer, I just ignore it until it wears through the next -- why did I pay for the double front? That’s why.  I only recently went through my t-shirts and threw out the ones that were truly beyond repair, but most of them were originally purchased at a thrift store -- it’s hard to feel compelled to spend money on new shirts when you know they’ll be trashed in a matter of months.

Juliette Caron was a female carpenter born in 1882 -- amazing.

I found this great old photo of a female carpenter named Juliette Caron wearing what’s called a “largeot” in the early 1900s.  Even though I think she looks fantastic, I bet her attire (which is about as impractical as it gets) was the least of her troubles on the job.  So all this got me thinking…if feeling grubby is one of the worst things I can think of about being a female finish carpenter, we sure have come a long way!  I mean, I know Seattle is particularly progressive, but I rarely encounter rampant sexism.  There are so many things I have the propensity to dwell on, and in the end I delight in reminding myself that it is indeed a luxury to worry about anything as mundane as fashion.