Why These Female Meteorologists All Wear the Same $23 Dress

Getting dressed to present the weather is harder than it sounds.

There’s a lengthy list of wardrobe rules they must adhere to on-air — including nothing green, no lace and no stripes or spots — according to a Reddit thread.

“Some of us have very strict dress codes ... so it’s pretty hard to have a closet stocked with solid colours and jewel tones that are affordable and flattering,” Jennifer Myers, a meteorologist for Dallas’ FOX 4, wrote on the Reddit thread.

“Distracting prints are a no-no ... though I break that pretty consistently. Cleavage angers viewers over 40 something fierce, so we stay away from that. There’s no length rule on skirts/dresses but if you wouldn’t wear it to a family event, you probably shouldn’t wear it on TV.

“Nothing reflective. Nothing that makes sound. For some reason lace is still SUPER frowned upon. I assume that’s from the early days of news,” she wrote.
A group of female weather presenters in the US came up with a solution to the problem: This $23 dress from Amazon.

“Someone stumbled onto ‘the dress’ and a few of us ordered it and shared pics of it on air in our group. Everyone saw how great it looked,” Shelby Hays, a meteorologist at Oklahoma City’s KOCO told Tech Insider. Hays is part of a female metrologist Facebook group.

“At $23 we could buy a handful of these dresses for what we normally pay for just one.”

On the Reddit thread Myers went on to dispel some of the myths around female weather presenters. Most have to purchase their own clothes and don’t rely on a wardrobe department. They also do their own hair and makeup.

“I have enough dresses to go five weeks without repeating ... but the first two years of my job (another station) I only had a week and a half’s worth because I could barely afford to eat, let alone buy more clothes,” Myers wrote.

“Most on-air meteorologists get paid less than school teachers ... so yeah. We try to save money just like everyone else,” Myers writes.

TOO funny! Thx @JenMyersFox4 for the collage of all the women who bought "the dress!" #sisterhoodoftravelingdress pic.twitter.com/iSyJFESYpp

— Shelby Hays (@KOCOShelby) November 21, 2015