If clothes make the man, what are they doing for the woman?
As a former female news anchor for over a decade, I can tell you right now, clothes are used against us. And I learned that very early on in my career.
My news director told me my arms were too big and I didn’t have the body to go sleeveless on air. I was 123 lbs.
(I must have carried all the weight in my arms.)
It destroyed me. He pointed to another female coworker and said, ‘See? she can pull it off!’
It was the first incident where my on-air clothes defined me and reduced me. (And pitted me against other females in the newsroom.)
Montana, 2014
It also made my on-air styling journey a living hell. I was making $23K a year. As it turns out, there is a lack of affordable professional work clothing in Billings, Montana… with sleeves no less! (No cap sleeves. Legitimate sleeves.) For most of my career, my entire wardrobe was financed by me.
Then, I moved to Palm Springs where summers average 113°.
One September day, I was doing a 5pm LIVE shot in Palm Springs. I was wearing one of my (Montana) mandated dresses with sleeves. The temperature peaked at 107° that afternoon (I just googled it). I was severely dehydrated, standing out in the afternoon sun. I started seeing stars and then the black-out fuzz washed over my eyes. My stomach churned. I am going to pass out.
I squatted down on the grass, out of shot from the camera lens. The producers screamed in my ear, “Sara! Where did you go?! We don’t see you! You’re going LIVE in 30 seconds!” I waved at my photographer.
I’m passing out. I’m going to pass out.
The stars wouldn’t go away. I hurried through my LIVE shot and then scurried to the air-conditioned news vehicle.
When I got inside, I felt a burning, tingling sensation on my feet. I hadn’t realized it, but the whole time I was standing on an ant hill. Not only was I suffering from heat stroke, but I now had fire ant bites dotted across the tops of my feet and in between my toes.
I quickly learned that in Palm Springs, I had to go sleeveless out of necessity to survive.
So, to the people of the Coachella Valley, I’m sorry about my arms.
Me on the hottest day of the year for Palm Springs, 2021.
This is the part of my breakup with TV news that I’m excited about the most!
Writing now from May 2026, I have begun the process of cleaning out my closet. I have hundreds of pieces of professional clothing that make the rungs in my closet sag. There are dresses I’ve hauled across the country, sometimes two-times over. Many dresses I’ve hung onto for too long.
Here’s the truth: I hate news anchor clothing. The polyester, the V-necks, the sensible pumps. The tailored blazers (as if I ever got one tailored on a $30K salary!) and the camisoles in every pastel and jewel tone. The Ralph Lauren snug-fitting midi dress. No patterns (although I often ignored that rule). Sleeved dresses. Sleeveless dresses.
I was dressing beyond my age. And that was by design.
In 2018 I received a beautiful hand-written letter. Apparently, I was the topic of conversation at a local senior living facility. I’m assuming it was a woman who wrote the letter.
That Sara Sanchez. She dresses so respectfully. She doesn’t show her cleavage! Thank you!
She never signed her name. I wish I would have kept that letter.
Not too long after, I was newly postpartum. Our regional new director had come to town. A Colombian living in Miami. Her background was in Spanish-language news television. Allegedly she had pulled my boss aside and said, ‘Take Sara on a shopping trip to White House Black Market. She dresses too matronly.’
Too matronly for Miami. Too much arm for Montana. Just right for the Palm Springs retirement community. Are you keeping up?
I didn’t cry this time, though. It didn’t wreck me. I just laughed it off! They never did take me on a shopping spree at White House Black Market, and to be fair, maybe Miss Miami didn’t actually say those things… it very well could have been local male management. We’re living in the post-Me Too days after all. Most news managers love to blame the higher-ups for decisions they don’t want to get the heat for.
Christmas Eve 2025, I wore a ‘holiday’ dress. A navy blue velour cocktail-style dress. A faux-wrap with a V-neck. A local professor (this woman signed her name) was appalled at my attire.
‘Inappropriate!’
The truth is, I hated all my clothing. I hated wearing polyester at 5 a.m. for a morning show. I hated staying in the same tight-fitted (ill fitted?) Anne Klein cocktail dress at 11 p.m. when I knew everyone watching me was at home in bed in their pajamas. Judging ME and my cleavage or my lack there of.
I hated wearing cocktail dresses next to men in suits.
TV studios are notorious for being either too cold or too hot. My coworkers from Connecticut remember the summer of 2024 when we were without AC in the building for a month. I exclusively went Palm Springs sleeveless that summer.
In the end, the uniform wasn’t me. I was acting a part and I hated the costume. It probably showed, too. I didn’t dress the best most days and I stopped investing in new work clothing because my closet was already full of clothes I hated.
Off-air I dress in dad hats, camo, tie-dye and cotton lounge pants. T-shirts that say things like ‘Really Busy Dilly Dallying’. Platform Crocs. (Have you ever heard of Adam Sandler fashion?)
Every time I have shared these stories, I’d get an‘I’m sorry.’
‘You’re not fat.’
‘You always look great!’
That’s kind, and I appreciate it. But that’s not the point of this conversation.
The point is, there’s no way to win here. Men in news wear the same thing everyday: suit and tie. The women have to dress for performance. Sheath and A-line and wrap and rouched and sleeves and no sleeves and solids-no-patterns and cocktail and work and appropriate and no-cleavage and no white but not too much black, save the darks for autumn… And many of us have to do it during pregnancy, too.
The men wear suits and ties.
(Have you heard of the Australian news anchor who wore the same suit everyday and no one noticed?)
This Mother’s Day I asked Mike to take the girls out for the morning so I could begin purging my closet. For anyone who does not have small children, this might sound awful. For those of us with small children, this is heaven.
I began separating my clothes by style, designer, size and donating/reselling.
First, I pulled 10 dresses aside. All size 6, various designers. I listed them in a bundle on Newscaster Closet, which is a Facebook group for newsies and former newsies to buy/sell/trade clothing for work or the Emmys.
What are these worth? I asked my husband. How much do you think shipping will cost?
I listed them: $65 SHIPPED TOMORROW. They sold in under an hour.
As I wrapped them up in a Priority box to be shipped Monday morning, I had to smile to myself.
Because they were all sleeveless.
My closet, mid-purge on Mother’s Day 2026