Professional-ity or Personality?

Today was the Probationer Welcome Day, when we were all officially introduced to our mentors for next year, had to fill out the last few pieces of paperwork for our upcoming jobs and visited our schools for the first time. I think it technically counts as our first piece of Continuing Professional Learning and Development (CPD) for the year, and given the looks of the timetable we were handed today, there is a lot more to come!

Having met my mentor and headteacher at the School Fete the other week, I was feeling fairly relaxed about most of the day. The thing stressing me out the most was how to dress... I often wonder whether it is just vanity that makes me fuss about what to wear to school, or whether there really is some psychology behind it. I studied drama in my final year of secondary school, and much the same as putting on your costume for a dress rehearsal makes you feel very in character, I don't really feel like I'm a teacher unless I've got my 'teacher clothes' on.

I'm quite a girly girl, and my personal style is very feminine, but I sometimes struggle to see myself as a teacher (and essentially, an authority figure) when I am dressed in very 'pretty' clothes. The outfit on the left is the one I had planned to wear, but whilst trying it on this morning, I decided it wasn't 'teachery' enough and changed at the last minute to the outfit on the right (a little crumpled in the picture I'm afraid, as it wasn't taken until the end of the afternoon!). Looking back at the photos, I'm not sure if there is really all that much difference in the way I come across... Is it more important to dress for your job, or dress for your personality? Or am I creating a problem where there isn't one?