but i often wonder if those of us wrapped up in the wonderful world of tfs are living in our own little bubble..... if ive started to assume that every other women thinks about clothes the way the women here do..... when clearly they do NOT....
I wish more people were aware of the social, environmental, etc. implications of their choices, although even with tfs at my fingertips, I'm still privy to my own type of material victimhood. It always surprises me when I meet someone with a $100 Jessica Simpson bag, or goes happily without irony into an Urban Outfitters. Sure I put fair trade on a pedestal and absolutely dither over American Apparel, but still.
Anyway, back on topic.
I'm pretty sure I dress to flatter my figure and my coloring. I will admit that I dress for men, but I also dress for women, and I also dress for myself. I dress to look attractive, and to present my personal best face to the world, and for me this doesn't include showing a lot of skin although I've known girls who can get away with baring a bit more without seeming...I don't know, victimized. I think how I dress now is how I would dress if I hadn't been bombarded with images of highly-sexualized women, if I hadn't been implicity taught to value myself as an object, incomplete without a man. I think I've come along way, although there's further to go, but I'm happy where I am in regards to the relationship between my morning ritual of getting dressed and the world I'm getting prepared to meet.
I remember as recently as my freshman year of highschool, about five years ago, I looked enviously at a classmate's figure, every slope and curve visible under her skin-tight shirt...I guess I associated a beautiful body and its display as power, and the way I approached dressing myself, a tighter and ironically less flattering (and also naturally, a bit less mature) version of how I dress now, reflected that.
What do you guys think about dressing for yourself, but showing a lot of skin? I don't think a girl/guy needs to be reed-thin to dress in less clothes and pull it off; sometimes its in her/his character, and suits them (for instance, I think it suits Tom Ford)...although very few of the females who do this actually pull it off. When people say they dress for themselves and don't care what others think, they tend to mean that they dress in a crazy, uncommon and quirky way, but what if they like to wear cleavagey shirts, midriff tops, etc. etc., just because they like it, not because of the reactions?
...or even if they don't get away with it, and everyone thinks they look funny. Like a hat that one loves, but looks ridiculous...except instead of a hat, it's boobs or something. A good metaphor, I swear.
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