Girls have a lot of choice when it comes to evening wear, unlike guys who really just need a shirt + pants + not-runners= OK. Girls can go anywhere between all-out/falling out to... teeshirt and jeans and still get into most places no problem, assuming you're not hideous, a junkie or pregnant. Although this gives girls alot of freedom it also makes things all the more difficult to choose what to wear. What will everyone else be wearing? Will I fit in? Will I look too frumpy? Too over the top? Too weird? Of course, I am generalising here, there are a sizeable number of boys who go through the same thing. But it is mostly women, and it is mostly the women who are scrutinised by what they're wearing.
Most people will have wandered into a social gathering and felt out of place, and a large proportion of those people would have felt as though what they were wearing was responsible for that feeling. Like that time I wore a clown suit to a funeral and a wedding dress to my friend's wedding. Seriously though, who hasn't spent ages in hair and make-up only to find everyone is wearing their hole-riddled jeans and bed hair? The other way is even worse, when you're wearing op-shop chic and everyone else is designer head-to-toe (see: last post). However if I can transport us now to a fairly neutral situation, a standard club with quite a bit of fashion variation.... Is that girl with the neckline reduced to a belly-line hot or not?
If you said she was more skanky than sexy was it because you were jealous of her? Maybe you were threatened by her? Maybe you just didn't enjoy copping such an eyeful after one sip into your first drink, after all if you wanted to see that much skin you'd be at a strip club.It's hard to tell what the intentions are of the woman who's wearing the controversial outfit, she obviously wants to look good, everyone does yet what kind of favourable attention is she looking for? Most people want to be liked, and the quickest way to do this is to look likeable, after all a club isn't the kind of place which favours good conversation over good looks. You need to look likeable under a strobe not on a discussion panel.
For me, I want to look sexy but I also don't want to alienate myself from other women. Some women are happy to alienate the competition and impress the boys but others don't even realise they're doing it at all. It all depends on the group you're with as well; in my circle of friends I would probably catch a few confused glances if I wore a micro mini and a plunging singlet, even some concerned words (eg: ummm....you're showing alot off tonight, etc.) However in other friendship circles, the skimpier the better. Almost everyone notices when a group of young women walk by on a Sat night, their mini's and sky-high heels all competing with each other for attention. "Babe, you look waaay hot!" (and you draw attention to our median hotness as a group, all the better)
I'm not immune from fleeting cases of "skanky fever" though, I've gone out wearing clothes specifically designed to make men look at me. In these cases, I go out, enjoy the make attention (after being dumped, hurt, annoyed by some other male) and then go home with my physical self esteem restored but my mental health conflicted. Nobody likes feeling really cheap and slutty, I guess thats where it all hits home for the girls opening the street press the following week and seeing themselves feeling up some other orange skinned, woman, their tongue in her mouth and their eyes droopy with drunkeness. "But I thought I looked awesome!"
Almost everyone has a what-was-I-wearing/doing? moment, don't be too harsh on the next belly-button dress girl you see. She might just be having hers.
