I ain’t a ballerina…
…but in my dreams I dress like one. In my dreams I also carry myself like Audrey Hepburn. The way she glides down a staircase in Roman Holiday? That’s how I imagine I look. In reality I have WAY more linebacker in my presentation.
I salivate as I pass by windows featuring adorable little smock-like dresses. There was a shop just down the street that had a window full of clothing made for women with no boobs. I coveted everything in this shop.
This shop had precious clothing for A or B cup ballerina women who can wear something sans defined waist-lines without looking like they’re pregnant. A-line and over-dresses in wild patterns that are made for teenagers or twenty-somethings without my 36DD chest. In the 90s, I wore tonnes of clothing that wasn’t right for my body type. Long tunic sweaters that went down almost to my knees. It’s no wonder that people kept offering me their seats on public transit. With boobs my size, if I wear something waistless I’m going to look 5-6 months pregnant just from the shelf of my rack.
Basically whatever shape you are – you need to wear clothes which accentuate that shape. I am a generous version of the hour-glass. I have NEVER been that petite, dude-can-sweep-me-into-his arms, flat-chested girl. I am more of the emphasize-the-tits-and-ass kind of gal. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to be able to wear all the pretty ballerina-y dresses that my 12 year old daughter can wear. Of course Rissa actually IS a ballerina with little to no body fat on her.
I know, I know – women always want what they don’t have. If you have large boobs, you want perky boobs, if you have small boobs, you want large ones. Curly-haired redheads want to have straight raven black or blond hair. If you have long legs… okay really, who am I kidding, NOBODY wants short legs.
Once I knew that I had to wear things that fit my shape, life got easier. And then when Mad Men came on? I was pretty much in Nirvana!!! Curvaceous women celebrated on television?
1960s-inspired clothing actually IN stores? A freaking dream come true for girls like me. I embrace my curves. There are tonnes of women who don’t. Women who think they’re hiding what they consider figure-flaws by wearing baggy clothing and un-flattering undergarments. These women are wrong.
My Mum came downstairs one day wearing a forest green velour upscale tracksuit (just even typing those adjectives make me shudder) she had received from a family friend who was cleaning out her closet.
“Look what I got – it’s practically new!!”
“Mum it doesn’t FIT you. It’s too big in the shoulders, the bust – the hips – it’s too big EVERYWHERE.
“Oh… it’s fine.”
“Mum the pants are ginormous on you.”
And then Rissa walked into the room “Wow, Mor-Mor – that’s a LOT of crotch!” This observation held so much more weight than anything I could say. The tracksuit has been retired.