Maurer School of Law students could take home professional and business clothes for free this week during the school’s Career Services Office annual boutique. Racks were stocked with a variety of clothing items, including shoes, blazers, scarves and more.
The first CSO boutique was in spring 2019. Each year, Mauer School of Law faculty and staff donate old professional and business casual attire, which law students can take home for free. Anne Newton McFadden, dean of students and associate dean of student services at the law school, donated some of her mother’s old business clothes this year and said she got the idea for the boutique from living in Washington D.C. for several years.
“Everything's very expensive, and so my friends and I were always looking for ways to try to get workwear at an affordable price,” McFadden said. “We would host clothing swap parties where my friends and I would bring our clothing that we couldn't wear anymore. When I moved here, I didn't really have that, but I was thinking, ‘Well, you know who could use some of these things that I can't wear anymore is my students.”’
CSO collects donations over the course of the year. The boutique runs across three days to account for students’ schedules. Any leftover items on the third day are donated to My Sister's Closet of Monroe County, if it's women's wear, or to Goodwill, if it's men's wear.
McFadden said most of the Maurer School of Law professors and staff are former lawyers who know what lawyers need to wear in the workplace. They also know how expensive it can be, so in addition to the boutique, the law school also has a suiting night at My Sister’s Closet. Students can shop through extra suits, get image consulting and have alterations done on the clothing.
“We've done different things over the years to try to make professional attire more affordable for our students, because some of them are first generation or they're coming from backgrounds where they don't have a lot of extra money,” McFadden said. “Having a few pieces of clothing that can help them feel confident and successful until they get that first paycheck is really important.”
Jaelyn Guiton is a second-year law student at IU. She said with the high costs of business wear the boutique is a helpful free resource.
“I know I need to wear business professional clothes in my future career,” Guiton said. “However, I own exactly one suit at the moment because prices are high and I'm interested in public interest, so I'm not really getting paid much. This will really help with getting some affordable options.”
Guiton became interested in studying law because she saw a lack in the number of public defenders. A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who cannot afford their own legal counsel.
“In a lot of places there is a shortage of public defenders, and because of that, it kind of affects the extent to which they're able to represent people who aren't able to afford, like, a private attorney,” Guiton said. “So, I did want to become a public defender myself in hopes of at least slightly raising how many public defenders we have.”
Serena Bolden, a third-year law student, had never come to the boutique before. She decided to come on March 12 after one of her friends told her he got a full suit from the event. Bolden said she has a lot of business casual clothes but wanted to look for more business attire, especially items with color.
“I want to be a public defender, and a lot of the time I feel like it's really bland and boring,” Bolden said. “I think everyone wears just like black, white or gray, and I want to bring more color to the courtroom.”
