Monday, February 1, 2010

My Year In Feminine Dress

It started with the Sense and Sensibility Forums. Every season, the ladies over there have a Week In Feminine Dress, where members wear dresses and skirts (and, due to the religious convictions of many members, dress modestly) for a week, posting pictures each day, with a description of what we wore and did that day. It's about proving that just about anything can be done while still looking feminine, and about providing each other with style inspiration. My first WIFD was while we were still travelling. It was challenging in many ways, having only 2 skirts and hiking boots, but having a lack of choices made it easier too. Still, I kept it up, and have taken part in every WIFD since.

Then, about this time last year, there was another one. No big deal, especially since I realised that I'd already been wearing skirts for a few weeks, due to the heat.
WHich got me wondering how long I could keep it up. First I challenged myself to last through February. That was easy, so I thought I'd just keep going for as long as I could. Pretty soon, I decided to see if I could last a whole year.
It wasn't always easy. Winter got challenging...
...so I resorted to long socks, which I now have a bit of a reputation for (I've been call both Pippi Long Stocking and the Wicked Witch!)
I've dressed casually.

I've had job interviews.
And I've been to parties.

It's been a great year. My style has developed a lot, and ultimately, I think I'll stick mostly to skirts, but it will be nice to be able to throw a pair of jeans on to go horse riding, or shorts for rock climbing.

3 comments:

Diane Shiffer said...

Well, kudos to you! I love the stripey socks, I love the pink skirt- and I especially love your facial expression in the pink skirt photo;)

You look lovely in all the pictures, my dear. May I ask how your friends and family reacted to all this skirt wearin'?

Unknown said...

The reactions varied. For about the first 6 months, Mum thought I was a bit crazy, but now she's the one who can't see me going back to pants, and admires me for developing my own style. My best friend understands, but a couple of other friends don't (of course, they don't really wear skirts at all). Towards the end, my fiancé commented that he missed jeans, but he likes the skirts too. Everyone else either didn't notice or figured it was normal enough for me!

Erin said...

Wow, that's so cool - I don't know if I could have lasted for a whole year!
Good on you for sticking with it. I guess it would make you think a little harder about what you wear which is always a good thing (something I should do more rather than getting lazy sometimes)