Why I started This Blog

When I started pharmacy school I was excited about wearing “dress clothes” more often. I had always worn them more often than my peers and even started a “dress for success” day in high school. As I progressed through pharmacy school my style also progressed; from H&M and Zara to more classic menswear. I definitely started to love suiting and was discouraged that I would not be in a career that required them (more on that here). I knew I did not want to wear what I saw most pharmacists wearing (very casual "business casual") but I wasn’t sure how to incorporate my style into my everyday wardrobe. I often found myself scouring the Internet for information about how to be stylish in the healthcare field when you are required to wear a white coat every day. I did not find much but I found a few blogs and Instagram accounts that were inspiring.

Approaching graduation I was offered multiple positions, including one that required a uniform (more on that here). A UNIFORM. The fact that I would be required to wear a uniform was actually a major deciding factor for me when it came to which job I would accept. The pros of the uniformed job outweighed the cons and ultimately I accepted a position at the now defunct Target Pharmacy. In the beginning, I tried to inject some style and personality into the uniform. I really did. My Google searches were now focused on how to be fashionable/stylish in red and khaki and I found some pretty cool blogs. I definitely pushed the envelope on the uniform but I still felt limited.

Fast forward two and half years. Target Pharmacy was no more and I found myself with a job that required “business casual”. I could not have been happier! Now I would get to wake up excited about getting dressed again. But menswear had changed (actually pretty rapidly) and there was a whole new world to explore. I again took to Google to find some more inspiration thinking that there surely had to be someone talking about it now. Although I found some okay content, I still could not find exactly what I was looking for. It was around that time that I decided it would be cool to actually create the content myself. And that is how WhiteCoatFashion came into existence.

I wanted a place to talk about all the challenges of being stylish in the medical field. There are a ton of considerations that affect how you need to alter a classic menswear wardrobe to fit into the medical field, particularly if you wear a white coat every day. There is the ever-important footwear dilemma, the risk of spilling a multitude of (sometimes strange) things on yourself, the risk of bodily fluids splashing onto you, and numerous other issues to consider when deciding on your wardrobe.

I decided I was up to the task of figuring all of this out and finding a way to dress how I really wanted to every single day. I firmly believe in the Deion Sanders mantra “If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good you play good. And if you play good they pay good.”

So please join me on my sartorial journey as I explore the ins and outs of putting together an ideal wardrobe for a healthcare professional that wears a white coat. I would love for you to comment and send emails with questions and suggestions. I definitely value feedback. I hope you enjoy the blog and maybe even pick up a few useful tips. 

Thanks for reading!