SEXY WEARS A LOT OF CLOTHES

My flare pants collection is reaching a high point. I’m not sure yet if this “trend” will be as die hard as the skinny pants but hopefully it will be. Why flares? Well, it makes me look taller, my legs look better and I feel crazy comfortable and on fleek when wearing them. Not like those skinny jeans I always feel like my but is falling out or like I’m putting my body up for grabs.

And here’s the “issue” I like to address. I’ve been a sucker for fashion as long as I can remember. I started experimenting with clothes mostly in high school (the obligatory uniform made me even more “rebellious”) and I made my first fashion statement with, yes it’s true, flares. No, these where not the fashionable flares we see today but mine where what they called “elephant legs”. Huge wide pants that looked like a maxi skirt or something, I probably could fit them twice. I can remember the proudness I felt wearing them but also the “what-the-hell-are-you-wearing”- looks around me so I kept my fashion-instinct in check. Later on the same things happened with skinny jeans, high waisted skirts, boat necks and so on. First the proudness, than the shame and eventually back to the same old.

When I started at University studying architecture, a whole new world appeared. Here, anything was appreciated (ok not anything but at least you had a 50/50 chance). I stopped thinking about what I liked and just went for it. My friends probably can give you a whole list of fashion mistakes I made the past six years but we mostly shared them and had a crazy lot of fun.

It’s only the past year I started thinking about fashion and femininity and what it meant to me. I realised that taking more serious steps in the architecture world implicitly involved some clothing restrictions while this website encouraged me to do the opposite. I started to divide my closet in school-wear and leisurewear and only 1 month before graduation I realised I had fallen down the same pattern as in high school. I was again scared to flaunt it all the way.

This is where sexiness (or just normal femininity actually) becomes the subject. The American Apparel easy jean became my favourite jeans; high waisted, very skinny and very sexy in my opinion. I wore it on a daily basis without even thinking but realised after a while that at school it didn’t give me the right confidence anymore. On the contrary, I felt on display and felt that it was not something to wear at presentations or jury’s. The dillemma appeared: should I really start wearing the typical (mostly COS) architects attire? I tried but it didn’t work for me, I felt like a sack of potatoes. But still I couldn’t go back to my old attire. Luckily the flares jumped in and solved the “what to wear on my final jury” problem. But still afterwards I felt weird about the fact I even thougth so much about this very first world issue when there was much more serious stuff to think about.

To come to the point, my opinion about dressing up/dressing sexy totally changed in a year. I felt obliged to leave the obvious pieces for what they are but now I’m finding my own way with a lot more fabric and a whole lot more of self confidence. Maybe this is part of growing up, maybe it’s society putting me back in a box. I’m not sure yet but I will figure it out. My challenge for now? Finding a balance that suits me.

What’s your opinion on this? Do you dress differently depending on the environment? I’m curious to hear your thoughts!