Fashion of PyCon AU

In 2018 I attended my fourth PyCon AU, my first time as a speaker. I had an idea to do a lightning talk about the clothes people were wearing. I spent breaks on Saturday and Sunday interviewing people and photographing their outfits, but didn’t get to give the talk. Now that PyCon AU 2019 is approaching I’m (finally) writing it up as a blog post.

The Programmer’s Uniform

As it wouldn’t be fair to look at other people’s outfits without letting anyone see mine I’m starting with a picture of myself. Jeans with a t-shirt is what I call the programmer’s uniform. Obviously not everyone who wears jeans with a t-shirt is a programmer, however it is a very common choice for programmers and you can bet that most people wearing jeans and t-shirt at an event like PyCon AU are programmers.

The graphic on the t-shirt is uncluttered. The t-shirt is a bright colour that stands out without being loud. The jeans are dark without any pre-fading. The footwear are dress boots not old sports shoes. Everything fits close without being tight. Everything is in good repair. With attention to detail you can dress well without dressing up.

Choice of t-shirt is the first place you get to show your own style while in uniform. I’ve gone for a nerdy joke. The joke shows me as someone who works on highly available software. The joke also serves as an icebreaker: if you want to talk to me but aren’t sure how to start you can tell me you got the joke or ask me to explain it. Not all programmers have the stereotypical poor social skills, but some do and PyCon is all about meeting people so I tried to make it easy.

Now let’s look at some other ways to wear the programmer’s uniform.

PyCon AU has a conference t-shirt. If you wear it on the second day of the conference you will fit right in as many attendees will be wearing the same t-shirt. If you plan to wear it on the second day you can even pack one less t-shirt and save some luggage space.

Here we see someone in uniform with the t-shirt from the previous year’s PyCon AU. This choice sends a message that you’ve been here before and decided to come back. You are part of the PyCon AU community.

Here’s someone wearing the shirt from PyCon in the USA. This shows that not only are they part of the PyCon AU community, they are part of the global Python community. This person is a Python core developer so the message is very accurate in this case.

There is one major problem with the uniform: jeans and t-shirt has traditionally been considered #menswear. While women can and do wear the uniform, not all of them want to for their own personal reasons. Maybe it isn’t the clothes they grew up wearing, want to wear, or feel most comfortable in. This presents a dilemma: many women aren’t taken seriously as programmers because it is a male dominated profession. Not wearing the uniform would make that even worse because they wouldn’t look like they belong. Wearing the uniform would leave them unhappy as they are wearing clothes they don’t want. How do they resolve this? One approach is to wear the uniform (to be taken seriously), but to add a few feminine touches (to feel comfortable).

Here’s an example where the usual crew neck graphic t-shirt has been swapped for a plain scoop neck t-shirt.

Here’s an example where the jeans have been swapped for a navy skirt and tights. A brighter skirt would have made this further from the uniform. A navy skirt makes it the same colour as jeans and keeps it much closer. The green bandana shows this person as a PyCon AU volunteer. Not everyone wore it on their hair, there were plenty of volunteers who had tied it to a wrist, worn it as a scarf, or attached it to their lanyard.

Here’s the uniform accessorized with a bright cardigan, shiny tote bag, and a necklace.

Here’s the uniform with a skirt again, this time in black with blue tights. Black and blue are both colours you can get jeans in, keeping this recognisably an example of the programmer’s uniform. The tshirt has a cute design and is the same shade of purple that I was wearing.

That’s enough examples for now. If you want to be identified as a programmer but don’t feel comfortable in jeans and t-shirt (this goes for everyone, not just women) you can add a few elements of your own style to help you feel better and still look the part.

Formalwear

Not everyone is (or wants to look like) a programmer. Here’s some people who have dressed a little more formally.

A black suit with a black t-shirt. Bold choice and I think it works well. Why a t-shirt? Because they are a programmer and that’s what they wear. Why a suit? Because they are giving a keynote talk and it’s fun to dress up for those. The PyCon AU lapel pin adds a touch of colour to an otherwise monochrome outfit.

Button up shirt and slacks. This is classic #businesscasual. No longer just a programmer, this is someone that has moved up to founder of a tech startup.

More #businesscasual. Programmers might get a uniform, but managers get an entire dress code. Dressing like this tells people that you have a team that answers to you. The rainbow brooch tells the team that you expect everyone to behave respectfully. A small visible symbol can send a big message when it has decades of history behind it.

Style, profile

Now lets look at the outfits of some people who are displaying their own personal style.

Dark and mysterious with just a hint of “would use a hot air balloon as an escape vehicle”

Pale and mysterious. The washed out outfit really makes the bright shoes stand out. Photo taken near the Django sign because this is the organiser of the Django sub-conference.

Dress in Monty Python print. Incorporating Monty Python references into serious Python projects is the international pasttime of the Python community. Working it into an outfit is taking it to the next level.

The top half of this outfit looks great on stage. The bottom half of this outfit looks comfortable for being on your feet all day. This compromise was necessary because this is one of the conference organisers who would need to be on stage several times and also be on their feet all day.

More monochrome style.

Monochrome again. Look at all the different textures here.

Punk rocker or computer security professional? If I saw this outfit on the street I wouldn’t be sure, but everyone dressed like this at PyCon spent all day in the security miniconference on Friday.

This outfit says party more than it says PyCon. Turns out they were going to a party from PyCon and wouldn’t have time to change between events. They decided it would be OK to be a bit dressy at PyCon and I support being dressy.

Here’s a mix of traditionally masculine facial hair with a traditionally feminine ankle length skirt. There are many places where you would be attacked by bigots breaking tradition like this. PyCon AU is not one of those places.

PyCon AU is a place where everyone is accepted and welcomed. Knowing that people are comfortable showing their true selves here is a big part of why I keep coming back. We have an amazing community and I’m proud to be a part of it.

That’s all the pictures I took and I doubt I’d have been able to say everything I wanted to say about them in a 5 minute lightning talk. There’s plenty more aspects I could have talked about like how to spot the difference between educators and managers or how the programmer’s uniform in South East Asia is different the the programmer’s uniform in Australia. Maybe I’ll take more photos this year (and not wait so long to post them).

Like what I have to say? Follow me on twitter or come to PyCon AU so you can chat to me in person.