Sometimes I get really bummed out that I’m not “curvy.”
That I don’t have breasts or hips and that to half of the Internet that makes me not a “real woman.”
With burlesque and pin up culture merging faster and more fluidly with the online lingerie community and spokespeople, performers and models from these spheres becoming the new ambassadors for items beyond the realm of corsetry and waist training, it’s made me really conscious of my body and what it doesn’t have.
In the past, my motto has always been that if you dress true to yourself and your own style, you’ll look ok. But to me dressing has become more than that, it’s become about dressing for my body type.
Now before anyone starts screaming about the patriarchal invention of body “types” and the dangers of pigeon holing women into them, I’d like to point out that this is MY way of viewing of my OWN body. I do not see women’s bodies as fruits or shapes or inverted right angled isosceles triangles or whatever, but I do know that there are women like me who go pretty much straight up n down and there are women who have lotsa bumps and curves and of course there is a whole wide range of in between.
Save for winning the lottery and being able to afford a boob job, I will never have a “curvy” figure. Mammaries have been stricken off the menu (and please don’t tell me to wait for pregnancy because that isn’t a possibility either.) At best I have a bit of booty in the rear but age, illness and hormonal changes seem to have sent that packing, so recently I’ve been seeing the way I dress a little differently. Yes, I love the wiggle dresses and high, cinched waistlines of all the 40’s and 50’s dresses I’ve collected, but none of them flatter me. Their cheerful colours, diamantes and swishing skirts are so lovely, but feel like a betrayal of my personality.
When I found this vintage romper I thought back to when I was a teenager and what it was that really inspired my love of vintage and days of clippered hair and 20’s tuxedo pants came rushing back to me. When I think of the changing silhouette throughout the last century, the one I would identify with most is that of the 1920’s. The “preferred” silhouette was delicate, a bit boyish and quite angular. Pretty much like mine.
Clothing was not made to enhance the hips or bust but rather skim over them. Bodies were draped to be linear and androgynous. Fashion aimed to make the body rectangular and was inspired by artists such as Braque, Leger and Picasso whose work was hard and geometric. I could go on…the style of the 20’s has long been a favourite of mine and due to the re-make of The Great Gatsby has seen quite a resurgence in recent years, I guess what this long and rambling post is really about is me realising that I don’t need to fit into today’s pigeon hole for the ideal female figure, if this was 1926, everything I tried on would fit me and dressing rooms wouldn’t be a nightmare so I’m going to just pretend that I’ve gone back in time and wear the things I want, starting with this romper once I’ve altered it (girls weren’t quite as tall a hundred years ago) and encourage anyone else who doesn’t fit in to 2016’s standards to take a look through the history books and do the same.
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