[clothing] "formal"

[wispfox]

Something about this past weekend caused me to consciously notice something about me and my reactions to clothing.

Typical formal clothing really doesn't do much for me, except make me think people look uncomfortable. Because of this, I used to think that clothing didn't really do much for me.

But that's not really true. I just don't have much reaction to normal clothing. Is probably why I took so damn long to start developing an idea of what clothing I _liked_.

I like clothing with words, because I like _words_, and quotes, and sayings. But this isn't about the clothing itself, but about the words. This is more common, so I knew this a long while ago.

I like clothing which feels good (velvets, silks, furs, etc), because, well, it feels good! I adore deep and/or vibrant colors, especially the less bright ones (blues, purples, reds, black). This covers both other people and myself, mind. The texture-based and color-based stuff mentioned in this paragraph is pretty much certain to catch my attention, regardless of the type of clothing.

Things which use ties to make clothing more form fitting also pleases me, although I have no idea why. This can mean actual ties on the clothing, but can also refer to belts which go over a longer shirt (ok, technically, I think I just like belts. Again, no idea why).

Women's clothing seems to be fairly consistent - clothing that I would like to wear, I will notice and enjoy on other women. There are sometimes clothing that I would _not_ want to wear that I like, but much more rarely. The kinds of women's clothing that I notice and enjoy (and note that I don't _care_ if it's on a woman or a man, as far as appreciation) includes broomstick skirts, s'rongs, saris (even though I don't own any and would have no idea how to wear them), flowy clothing in general (if it makes me want to bat or poke at it, it's probably good), chainmail (preferably delicate chainmail - I tend to prefer small links in both chainmail and rings), wrap and/or skirts, halter tops... probably more, but you probably get the idea.

Men's clothing tends to not reflect what I would wear, since I don't tend to wear men's clothing. If I did, however, I suspect that this is the kind of clothing I would most enjoy. It certainly includes kilts. I'm not sure what else. Yes, I'm oblivious to clothing I'm unlikely to wear. But, it's also true that there's far more gender-specific women's clothing than men's clothing. I'm strangely pleased by pirate clothing (and I was _before_ Pirates of the Caribbean, thankyouverymuch!), probably because it's both fairly flowy and form-fitting (due to the fact that there are tying pieces to it, too).

Fairly non-gender-specific clothing that I like includes shirts with lace-up fronts (pretty much anything in this category pleases me, for some reason - poet/peasant/pirate shirts, jerkins, etc), and cloaks. I'm also very fond of layering where I can see multiple layers. Perhaps _that's_ what I need to do about my general dislike of winter clothing?

I hate lace. Hate, hate, hate lace. Probably because it feels nasty to me. So does fabric made from animal hair - wool, angora, etc.