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So.
Clothes.
And the fact that I seem to care about them.
That is a thing, yes it is. It is a somewhat new and unusual thing for me, as I am very staunchly of the "I will wear jeans and a t-shirt and it will be fine" camp. And yet, virtually my whole life I have been a fan of playing dress-up, figuring out just which pieces looked best with what accessories. Oh sure, at some point I started to call it "costuming", and I've never been one to tell whether the colours I picked were willing to play nice with each other, but clothes are kinda fun! Sure, I don't have any talent at making them, and have been known to publicly revile sewing with the same intensity I normally reserve for that thing that happens in the kitchen1, but then again, I hear there is this marvelous new invention called the sewing machine that may make it a less loathsome task. And, well, it's all very good to revile sewing, but thrift stores will only get you so far in finding costume components.
However, while costuming is all well and good, and between my good luck and charm, often surprisingly easy for me2, there's this whole other aspect of clothing, and that seems to be the day-to-day outfits. Things that you wear out and about in the world, at all the various levels from casual to full formal, but don't necessarily count as costume3. I am especially shite at professional, as it seems to have all these rules that sound like you should dress formally, but if you wear a prom dress, you've somehow done it entirely wrong.
The other problem, with both costume and non, is that I grew up in a household that was very low on caring about clothing. I ultimately think this was for the best for me --I certainly prefer my mother to your stereotypical frippered fifties housewife-- however, it has left me with a slim gap in terms of figuring out exactly what looks good on me, in terms of both colours and style. Clothing styles are made complex by the fact that not every body shape looks good in ever style4, 5, and so while there are almost certainly clothes that look good on everyone out there, it is sometimes difficult to discern what those clothes are. I had virtually no training in this as a child (t-shirt and jeans look pretty okay on everyone, though certain jean styles run into problems) and so I'm somewhat having to wing it now, mostly through the use of mirrors, and being as vain as possible. Also, I actually try on clothes before I buy them, unlike many other people7, which usually gives me a small hand up.
What this entire post is trying to say, in a delightfully roundabout way, is that I don't actually tend to look very good in tops without straps9, 15, especially very femme ones. This actually makes perfect sense in light of something that![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rm recently pointed out --that when you have small tits, it often works better to emphasize the curve from shoulders to hips, rather than the more traditional breasts to hips11. Strapless tops tend to draw emphasis to that breasts-to-hips curve, which on my body...is relatively straight, honestly. Or at least, relatively straight until I get down to the hips, at which point it flares out.
This isn't at all a bad thing --I dearly love having small breasts, and would not swap them for anything13. Similarly, my childbearing hips are crucial to being able to carry things (especially children, honestly) and providing the framework to my lovely arse. However, trying to emphasize that particular lack-of-a-curve just doesn't look very good on me14. It makes my shoulders look broad (they are, comparatively) and my breasts look decidedly non-curvy (again, they kinda are) and doesn't at all look as sleek and sexy as I'm usually hoping it will.
And best of all, I now know this. Meaning that when I *am* trying to look sexy, I can wear something else. Now, all that's left to do is figure out what precisely that something else is...
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Sex?
2: If I tell you what I paid for my reasonably period, gorgeous dark blue brocade Regency-era tailcoat, you will quite plausibly glare at me. Hint: nothing. I swiped it from the dress-up pile, long after Chort donated it. I love love love being second-gen fan, and knowing all the right people. <3
3: I think I can, because of aforementioned tailcoat, wear a more intense formal dressed in costume (and as a male) than I can in non-costume (and as a female). This is very silly and makes me smile.
4: See also "Everyone looks pregnant in empress waistlines unless they are extremely lucky or wearing the proper corsetry"6
5: And even more complex by the fact that the people who make styles really only make styles for a very small number of body shapes, and I'm not positive I'm actually one of them, but that's a rant for another day.
6: Ohmhyghod, and I just entered "empress waistline" into Google to see if the images would back me up on this, and the very first hit on regular search is some style site question of "How is it possible to wear an empress waist dress and not look pregnant". Internet, you have supported me today, I award you a cookie. Oh, and the images don't seem to know what I am talking about when I say empress waistline, so don't bother.
7: I suppose I get this at thrift stores, when you don't know if the clothes have been cleaned8, but at like a department store? Seriously, how will you know if it fits right if you don't try it on? Especially when we're dealing with women-sizes, which make roughly as much sense as a platypus on meth.
8: At the store I worked at, we sure as heck didn't have the facilities to clean clothes. We looked through them to make sure they weren't blatantly stained or ripped (and tossed them into the ragpile if they were), but we just hoped the donators actually washed things before giving them away. And now you know!
9: Perhaps that should be feminine-strapless-things. At the risk of sounding as though I'm fetishizing trans culture, I think I tend to look pretty good when wrapped in ace bandages10, or otherwise binding my breasts (using methods with or without straps.
10: Yes, yes, I know you're not supposed to. I've never worn them for longer than a couple hours. I both can't afford and am dubious as to my right to a proper binder12.
11: As an aside, this is my single favourite curve on the entire female body. Every once in a while, I will realize that I am just running my hands up and down a female friend's sides, and become quite chagrined. Usually, they are okay with it (and often I ask first.)
12: Bee-tee-dubs, can we not argue about this here? Thanks.
13: Unscrewable boobs, on the other hand? I would be all about that.
14: Blah blah, subjective, blah blah, I'm probably not qualified to judge whether I look good despite it being my body, blah blah have never tried it with a properly uplifting bra (I don't own a strapless variety), blah blah whatever.
15: As an afterthought, I also look somewhat good in the strip-of-cloth-tied-around-the-bosom thing, possibly because it *just* emphasizes the breasts curve, and is often worn as part of a visually interesting costume, *and* I do have a single strapless top that I look okay in --the shape of it cooperates well with my body. So it's not impossible, just tricky.
Clothes.
And the fact that I seem to care about them.
That is a thing, yes it is. It is a somewhat new and unusual thing for me, as I am very staunchly of the "I will wear jeans and a t-shirt and it will be fine" camp. And yet, virtually my whole life I have been a fan of playing dress-up, figuring out just which pieces looked best with what accessories. Oh sure, at some point I started to call it "costuming", and I've never been one to tell whether the colours I picked were willing to play nice with each other, but clothes are kinda fun! Sure, I don't have any talent at making them, and have been known to publicly revile sewing with the same intensity I normally reserve for that thing that happens in the kitchen1, but then again, I hear there is this marvelous new invention called the sewing machine that may make it a less loathsome task. And, well, it's all very good to revile sewing, but thrift stores will only get you so far in finding costume components.
However, while costuming is all well and good, and between my good luck and charm, often surprisingly easy for me2, there's this whole other aspect of clothing, and that seems to be the day-to-day outfits. Things that you wear out and about in the world, at all the various levels from casual to full formal, but don't necessarily count as costume3. I am especially shite at professional, as it seems to have all these rules that sound like you should dress formally, but if you wear a prom dress, you've somehow done it entirely wrong.
The other problem, with both costume and non, is that I grew up in a household that was very low on caring about clothing. I ultimately think this was for the best for me --I certainly prefer my mother to your stereotypical frippered fifties housewife-- however, it has left me with a slim gap in terms of figuring out exactly what looks good on me, in terms of both colours and style. Clothing styles are made complex by the fact that not every body shape looks good in ever style4, 5, and so while there are almost certainly clothes that look good on everyone out there, it is sometimes difficult to discern what those clothes are. I had virtually no training in this as a child (t-shirt and jeans look pretty okay on everyone, though certain jean styles run into problems) and so I'm somewhat having to wing it now, mostly through the use of mirrors, and being as vain as possible. Also, I actually try on clothes before I buy them, unlike many other people7, which usually gives me a small hand up.
What this entire post is trying to say, in a delightfully roundabout way, is that I don't actually tend to look very good in tops without straps9, 15, especially very femme ones. This actually makes perfect sense in light of something that
rm recently pointed out --that when you have small tits, it often works better to emphasize the curve from shoulders to hips, rather than the more traditional breasts to hips11. Strapless tops tend to draw emphasis to that breasts-to-hips curve, which on my body...is relatively straight, honestly. Or at least, relatively straight until I get down to the hips, at which point it flares out. This isn't at all a bad thing --I dearly love having small breasts, and would not swap them for anything13. Similarly, my childbearing hips are crucial to being able to carry things (especially children, honestly) and providing the framework to my lovely arse. However, trying to emphasize that particular lack-of-a-curve just doesn't look very good on me14. It makes my shoulders look broad (they are, comparatively) and my breasts look decidedly non-curvy (again, they kinda are) and doesn't at all look as sleek and sexy as I'm usually hoping it will.
And best of all, I now know this. Meaning that when I *am* trying to look sexy, I can wear something else. Now, all that's left to do is figure out what precisely that something else is...
~Sor
MOOP!
1: Sex?
2: If I tell you what I paid for my reasonably period, gorgeous dark blue brocade Regency-era tailcoat, you will quite plausibly glare at me. Hint: nothing. I swiped it from the dress-up pile, long after Chort donated it. I love love love being second-gen fan, and knowing all the right people. <3
3: I think I can, because of aforementioned tailcoat, wear a more intense formal dressed in costume (and as a male) than I can in non-costume (and as a female). This is very silly and makes me smile.
4: See also "Everyone looks pregnant in empress waistlines unless they are extremely lucky or wearing the proper corsetry"6
5: And even more complex by the fact that the people who make styles really only make styles for a very small number of body shapes, and I'm not positive I'm actually one of them, but that's a rant for another day.
6: Ohmhyghod, and I just entered "empress waistline" into Google to see if the images would back me up on this, and the very first hit on regular search is some style site question of "How is it possible to wear an empress waist dress and not look pregnant". Internet, you have supported me today, I award you a cookie. Oh, and the images don't seem to know what I am talking about when I say empress waistline, so don't bother.
7: I suppose I get this at thrift stores, when you don't know if the clothes have been cleaned8, but at like a department store? Seriously, how will you know if it fits right if you don't try it on? Especially when we're dealing with women-sizes, which make roughly as much sense as a platypus on meth.
8: At the store I worked at, we sure as heck didn't have the facilities to clean clothes. We looked through them to make sure they weren't blatantly stained or ripped (and tossed them into the ragpile if they were), but we just hoped the donators actually washed things before giving them away. And now you know!
9: Perhaps that should be feminine-strapless-things. At the risk of sounding as though I'm fetishizing trans culture, I think I tend to look pretty good when wrapped in ace bandages10, or otherwise binding my breasts (using methods with or without straps.
10: Yes, yes, I know you're not supposed to. I've never worn them for longer than a couple hours. I both can't afford and am dubious as to my right to a proper binder12.
11: As an aside, this is my single favourite curve on the entire female body. Every once in a while, I will realize that I am just running my hands up and down a female friend's sides, and become quite chagrined. Usually, they are okay with it (and often I ask first.)
12: Bee-tee-dubs, can we not argue about this here? Thanks.
13: Unscrewable boobs, on the other hand? I would be all about that.
14: Blah blah, subjective, blah blah, I'm probably not qualified to judge whether I look good despite it being my body, blah blah have never tried it with a properly uplifting bra (I don't own a strapless variety), blah blah whatever.
15: As an afterthought, I also look somewhat good in the strip-of-cloth-tied-around-the-bosom thing, possibly because it *just* emphasizes the breasts curve, and is often worn as part of a visually interesting costume, *and* I do have a single strapless top that I look okay in --the shape of it cooperates well with my body. So it's not impossible, just tricky.
