Fashion consulting for librarians

New Zealand fashion expert Paula Ryan was invited to hold a workshop about "personal transformation" on the Library & Information Association of New Zealand's conference mid-September. Obviously, there was a lot of discussion in advance. Due to a recent newspaper article, Ryan "said the stereotype of a square and stuffy librarian was dated and the well-dressed librarians she saw yesterday were proof of that. Take Ms Waqanimaravu, for example [there's a photo] - no one would ever guess she was a librarian. She's never worn her hair in a bun in her life. Ms Ryan said the stereotype stemmed from films: 'They'd dress like that then whip it off and turn into a sexy nymphomaniac'". Thus, Ryan exactly describes what I've always called the fictional "unleash the librarian"-theme (or "entfessle die Bibliothekarin"-Motiv). Sources and links:

Hint by Maxine Ramsay

Kelly Mahika: "Librarians throw the book at stereotype". In: Daily Post, Sept. 13, 2007

Charlie Gates: "Staff smock it to Ryan". In: Stuff.co.nz, Sept. 5, 2007

birdie: "NZ Librarians Get a Fashion Makeover and the Bookworms are Aghast". In: LISnews, Sept. 4, 2007

Mary Jane Boland: "Bookworms' backs up". In: Sunday Star Times. Sept. 2, 2007

Have a look at "Librarians in smocks" over at Flickr - the Christchurch city library's staff's answer to Ryans workshop.

When talking about fashion, don't miss the weblogs of Fashionista librarian and Lipstick librarian.