How to dress for a conference like a fashionable lady scientist
Spend any amount of time researching proper attire for a business, technical or scientific conference and you'll run into all kinds of unhelpful platitudes like "Dress for success" or "Dress for the job you want." What does that even mean?
Scientific conferences are opportunities to showcase your research as well as meet and interact with your peers, whether collaborators or arch nemeses. Even if these situations make you feel socially awkward, you want to leave a good impression. You want to look your best AND you want to look like you give a shit.
The specific dress codes for scientific conferences range depending on size, where and when the conference is held, what field you're in, and even your age and academic level.
For men, it's easy. In my field, international conferences are generally more conservative so a full suit is appropriate, especially when presenting a talk. Smaller U.S. conferences are typically business-causal, which for a man means dress slacks, dress shirt and dress shoes. Unless they work for a government lab then apparently the uniform is khakis and a polo shirt. (I swear those guys all look the same! It's so weird!)
For women, clothing requirements are ambiguous and options seemingly infinite. And, let's face it: these days, women can still be judged harshly for their looks and academic abilities in a male-dominated scientific community, even by other women. Attendees of the recent Society for Neuroscience conference caused a minor stir online after accusing fellow female scientists of looking like slutty secretaries or being too unattractive.
I doubt there are many female scientists who go to a conference and intentionally dress sexy for male attention, or intentionally dress on the frumpy side because they're ashamed of their femininity. Maybe they just don't know how their outfit comes across to others. Maybe they said to themselves, "This is good enough." Or "I'm a scientist. Who cares what I'm wearing, anyway?" Truth is, people do care. And you should too.