V-neck sweaters, pencils skirts, black pumps, little red glasses, and glossy up-do’s… We all know the tropes that give working girls such as secretaries, librarians, and teachers their Temptress Twins: the hot secretary, the hot librarian, the hot teacher (original, right?). On day 14 of Romance in Real Life, BwB continues our week-long Distress in This Dress mini-series, and April plays damsel in distress wearing a sexy teacher wardrobe. Will there be romance in real life for a working girl?

Strike two! Once again, no passers-by help April carry her heavy suitcase up the stairs. Un-gentleman of Taiwan! You should be ashamed!

A lady comes to the rescue–just like yesterday–when all of April’s papers go flying. The woman stops immediately to help April pick up her papers and straighten them up. And she does so with a very nice smile. But April and I are starting to wonder, can clothing really call to men? Or, are all those shopping trips and mirror checks a waste?

As April said:

With the Bag Drag: Nada. There are oodles of guys around but they don’t even spare me a glance. I go up; I come down. On my way down, a guy is walking nearly parallel with me on the same side and I kind of trip and fall into the wall with the bag…he doesn’t even look.

Lessons in life and love: The working girl is seemingly too independent a figure to earn the sympathy and help of strangers. More than that, even April seems affected by her wardrobe. When she doesn’t get help, she rolls up her sleeves and gets to work managing that bag! Although we can’t say yet if clothes make men want (to help) a woman, we can safely say that clothes make the woman, shaping how she walks and even how she thinks about herself and her relationship to the world around her.

Categories: Live Well, Romance in Real Life