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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Field Fashionista Debut: Lookin’ good in the field

As a field biologist, you find yourself in a lot of hot, dirty, steamy situations. And that’s just during mating season. All kidding aside, field work requires working in a lot of unfavorable conditions. You may be required to work in heavy rains, intense heat, waist-deep water, or until the wee hours of the morning. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean you have to forfeit style.

Today I’ll cover one of my favorite basic field outfits. Unless you are working on land where hunting takes place, flashy colors are generally regarded as “no-no.” Inconspicuous earthy tones are the way to go. Beginning with the shirt:

shirtsafari Just your plain ol’ standard safari shirt. If I have to go out in public prior to entering the field, I like to accent it with a brightly colored necklace (preferred: turquoise). Giving you the air of sophistication, until they look down:

zipoffpantsYour convertible shopants will probably be dirty from a whole week’s (month’s?!) worth of field work that you refuse to wash because you’re trying to make the most of the 100% DEET you sprayed on at the beginning of the field season. And to finish it all off:

lacrosserubberbootA nice tall pair of rubber boots by LaCrosse. Fashionable and functional. Keeps your feet dry and also easily decontaminated with a bleach solution for when (in my case) working with a potentially fungal-infected species.

Next time you’re headed into the field, now you know you can still look good with some basic clothing items. Stayed tuned for more field fashionista tips dealing with hip-waders, Tyvek suits, all sorts or protective masks, and more!

3 comments:

Winnie said...

excellent post! I have a question about hats: do you need to wear a hat when you're in the field?

I'm in the market for a functional hat that doesn't make me look like a tourist/nerd; I hate for my head to get burnt when I'm at the beach you know?

Meg said...

Right now I'm not wearing hats because I'm out at night. When I was in the field during the heat of the day, I wore a blaze orange bandanna.
I usually refrain from hats because of my personal opinion that they make me look funny-but I've always been partial to the wide brim straw hats. I like them because they come in a variety of styles from cowboy to panama jack to sitting in the sun sipping tea
http://www.mydivascloset.com/jeloha.html
Ultimately, I think I'm going to have to go with a sombrero. I think Grey has one you can borrow!

Meg said...

Now you've made me want to buy a hat. I think I know where I'm going after pay day!