I can’t find the e-mail right now (this is a theme with me lately, oui?) but I know that one of my little lambs just wrote a long, frustrated letter asking for help packing for our General Assembly. It was much like a letter I got not long before the Festival Of Homiletics asking essentially the same question: “What’s the dress code?”
Let’s keep this as simple as possible.
If you’re presenting, dress to the top of your game, which means to the most polished and beautiful version of your public image. If that’s Social Justice Earth Mother, make sure your flowy skirts are a lovely fabric and fit well. Get your hair trimmed to get rid of any stragglies. Get a pedicure and wear sandals, but nice sandals. If your public leader image is Corporate Power Pastor, wear a great suit and wingtips. Work it. Shave and get your hair did. Get a man manicure and buff your nails. If your public leader image is Hipster Church and Social Media Maven, wear a jacket without a tie. Get a hair cut. Find some really snappy shoes. Make sure you’re impeccably groomed no matter how cool you want to appear.
If you’re a conferee who is not presenting and not interviewing, dress for a day at the office. We’ve talked enough here about how to dress that you should know by now how to dress comfortably but still neatly, and like a grown-up. I personally LOVE seeing my colleagues so much better dressed than they were fifteen years ago — it warms the cockles of my heart to see such beauty and care among us. I love seeing some of my younger pigeons in sports jackets and dresses, looking all fine. It makes me very happy and I think it reflects well on our religious communities when we are nicely dressed at conferences. It shows respect for self and others.
But given that suitcases now cost $25 to put on the bloody plane, I encourage all of us to find ways to pack simply and lightly. If that means obsessing for a month about exactly which pair of pants to take, it’s probably worth the agony. I myself just booked conference travel between Boston and Louisville with very short connections that will have me running to make my flights. I may very well limit myself to a carry-on and just kiss my cute shoes goodbye as they sit this one out. After the spring I’ve had I’ll just be happy to sit around in a very boring outfit with comfortable shoes and listen to other people with interesting things to say. If you forced me to pack right now I bet I’d throw in white pants and black pants, a navy blazer and a couple of cardigans, a pair of oxfords and a pair of sandals, skip all the contact lens solution and all the hair products and say, “Here I am. I just got through Candidating Week,bought a house by myself, said farewell to my congregation of ten years and started to pack up the parsonage. This is as good as it gets.”
But of course I will make every attempt to at least have cute accessories. A girl can’t completely let herself go!
IMHO, it’s worth paying the $25 to check your bag through if you have short connections. Bad enough you have to run through the airport; worse if you have to lug your luggage along. It’s the airline’s responsibility to get your suitcase onto that next flight. You have enough to worry about just hefting your purse and your briefcase. Go for it!
Can’t wait to see you there!
And then there is the conference that you carefully pack all the right clothes, shoes, even a change of purses to coordinate with said clothes and shoes… and you forget ALL your makeup.
I’m SUCH a proponent for carrying on baggage–I’ve packed for a cruise and for two separate european trips (one in the winter) in a carry on bag. Strategic packing and planning mean you get their with your stuff and when you come home you don’t have to wash the stuff you packed and didn’t wear. I can’t say I achieve simplicity generally, but I like to do it as a sort of spiritual practice when I pack.
Just pleased I don’t have to pack a darned robe. Mine is voluminous and practically needs a suitcase of its own. Toward the end of the church year, when I struggle to pay attention at committee meetings, I do confess to mentally planning GA outfits. In a particularly stressful year, I start planning them in March.
There is certainly something to be said for travelling Southwest Airlines. No baggage fee for the first bag.
I’m flying Southwest (yay!) but am doing an epic journey to GA via New York, DC, and Tennessee (flying is expensive, so when I do it I have to See Everyone)- plus I’m preaching at GA, and I’m trying to figure out how to be professional while expressing my gender fluidity (it took me two weeks to find a bag to carry). Ahh packing stress.
We’re also in the middle of moving, and my finals got delayed due to a concussion, so just… wooo stress in general? [UM, just a LITTLE? Good luck!! – PB]