On style. Well, my style, anyway.

[ghostpaw]

Back last Autumn, Dan bought what we thought was a morning suit in Snoopers Paradise for not much money, with the idea of just wearing the tail coat. Long story short, it turned out to be a set of bespoke evening tails, made by a Saville Row tailor, and worth considerably more than he paid for them. This lead to him, and then me, getting a bit lot

Comments

[miss_adventure]

From one tiny, curvy lady to another, tailoring is really important for nicely-fitting suits, especially when one doesn't want to look like a drag king. If you buy off the rack, you pretty much have to have it tailored to look right, even if it's just getting the pants hemmed because these days everything is cut like we all spend out lives in towering heels. Or such has been my experience as I increase the lawyer drag part of my wardrobe. For me, that tends to mean getting the waists to fit, since all the lifting means that if a jacket fits my waist it will be too tight across the shoulders and if it fits my shoulders then there will be a lot of excess material at the waist. Not a flattering look. But it gets pricey, both the suits and the tailoring. Lawyer drag is a PITA.

I've been reassessing my style lately too--I've pretty much fallen into a uniform of sorts these past few years, the sort of thing I can throw on a variation of and feel ready to handle anything and everything the world wants to throw at me: jeans, tank top or band tee shirt, leather jacket or fitted blazer of some type, and some kind of shitkicking boots, plus the usual giant belt buckle and silver accessories. Grey was my gateway shade for not constantly wearing all black (though I frequently do); I've branched out into blue jeans and earth tones. I just swapped boots with a classmate the other day and now have a pair of whisky-coloured brown harness boots for the first time in my life. They make me feel like a girl version of the Man With No Name. I have declared them my Forever Boots, along with my ancient engineers and red cowgirl boots. I guess I've settled into a sort of low-maintenance tomboyish-yet-glammy rock and roll biker chick kind of thing.

As another child of the 90s, I will never not like giant boots with flowy dresses. I also have a load of tattoos and refuse to believe that harness or engineer or combat boots don't go with everything. I'm always a little startled when I have to take my nose ring out.

I have no idea what I'm doing either. Sometimes I want full-on smoky eyes, sparkly eye shadow, and red lipstick. Other times, nothing but sunscreen and lip balm. Or sunscreen and red lipstick. It's all performative, when you get right down to it, and a work in progress.

[ghostpaw]

tailoring is really important for nicely-fitting suits, especially when one doesn't want to look like a drag king
I thought this would be the case. Also, in the UK, off the rack women's suits are either really naff, synthetic rich fabrics, or prohibitively expensive. Thing is, I don't particularly want to go down the dapper suit route. It's a great look... on other people. It feels a bit too masculine/ androgynous for me, though.

It's funny, I think what I'm trying to find is a bit more of a uniform. Trying to find a bit of an identity and then bloody well project it, y'know? Being a social chameleon is a useful skill, but it's easy to get lost.

Those boots sound very cool, btw.

[miss_adventure]

If I didn't need suits for lawyerly stuff, I wouldn't own any. (Or maybe one for those occasions when I need to prove that I am in fact an educated and responsible adult.) Nice wool off-the-rack suits are pricey in North America as well, plus tailoring and dry cleaning and on and on... I agree that they are a great look on other people, and they flatter me when tailored properly, but...not my personal style. Too formal and high-maintenance; I'm a wash-and-wear kind of grrrl and scheduling trips to the dry cleaner is a bit odd.

What you said in your post about silhouettes makes sense (and it sounds like we're built similarly). Maybe find the ones you like and that work for you and build a wardrobe around it?

My "uniform" was purely accidental. It's an easy outfit to put together, most everything in my wardrobe matches everything else which is wonderful on those rushed mornings, and I can dress it up or down with relatively minor adjustments. There are many looks I love but just wouldn't fit my lifestyle or self-image, so a lot of it is knowing what I'll actually wear and get a lot of use out of versus what will languish in my closet or make me feel I have on a costume.

Those boots are now my favourite footwear.