Dressing the part |
EVERY time I go see M, a local fashion designer I discovered earlier this year after deciding to only buy local brands, she asks me how that piece of clothing makes me feel. She doesn’t approach fashion asking ‘how do they look on you’ but ‘how it makes you feel’. It may sound funny but I really started to think about how I felt in clothes at her studio. I began to consider how clothes draped, how they moved when I did for example, rather than the singular lens with which I used to consider any clothing: does this make me look fat?
I suppose growing older has helped insofar as I care less about what others think. I have always chosen comfort but I realised that was just a guise for fear of standing out. Even though I said I was exercising choice in my clothes, I realise that choice was driven by societal expectations. What will people think of me if I go off script, like, not subscribe to the three-piece lawn suit or, more recently, the coordinated suits which resemble pajamas? One time I laughed at my image in the mirror because I looked like a doily you use under cakes but, even then, I thought at least I blend in.
Ah, the pitfalls of women wanting to stand out!
In that respect, the body........