Out and About -- In the World at Large

[moonshadow]

I have the same thing. They can repair it if they catch it quickly. If your vision deteriorates like a curtain descending, go straight to the ER. They will have an eye surgeon on call. It's scary but manageable.

Oh yes, I've been vigilant to any changes. I check my peripheral vision often.

Funny thing, aside from the floaters and cloudiness, my actual vision is near perfect.

[Fred in Skirts]

I do visit my eye doctor at least once a year, As I am diabetic I more or less have to. I have him check out the floaters and check for cataracts each time. I have a few floaters and am starting to get cataracts but neither are at an operable stage yet.

Fred

[JeffB1959]

Vision problems are no joke, especially as you grow older. I visit my eye doctor at least once a year, and so far, I'm doing okay.

Meanwhile, even though I live for wearing solid color skirts, I pushed the envelope a little by wearing a printed skirt on an outing yesterday. While chilling out in a downtown park, I had one lady my age compliment me on the skirt, then, minutes later, a twentysomething girl said she liked my shoes. I agree that if you act normal, like being a guy in women's clothes and shoes is no big deal, then people will accept you for your presentation.

[Charlie]

Mrs C and I spent the week before last at http://halswaymanor.org.uk/ dancing contras and squares.

I took four colourful ankle-length gypsy skirts to wear for the four evening dances. For the rest of the time, I wore Union kilts.

The first evening I wore a purple gypsy skirt. The morning after, a lady said she really liked the purple skirt, and what was I going to wear to the dance this evening. I told her a green one, which is my favourite; its a bit heavier than the others and flares out nicely when I twirl.

She went on the tell me that her brother, who lives in Boston USA (she is American but has lived in the UK for many years and is now retired) likes to wear knee-length denim skirts and sarongs, and would love to wear the sort of kilt I happened to be wearing now, which was a green Union kilt; I mentioned about Utilikilts in Seattle, hoping it would get back to him. She was of the opinion that you should wear what you like if it makes you feel good.

It occurred to me afterwards that there are some cafe members who live in or near Boston; any of you guys across the pond have a sister in the UK?
Charlie

[RPF]

Hi everyone, I am new to this site. My only post so far is in the introduction. Maybe it is time to put in something here too. It isn’t something extraordinary, but I have always loved to read others everyday stories so this is mine from today.

This morning I had some errands to take care of and do some shopping between all the days off in the Easter holiday. My girlfriend and I have an agreement that I don’t go out dressed from our house, so I decided to put on a dress, tights, heels and a cardigan in the car. I went to a mall 30 minutes from where I live, and walked around in different stores as a man in a dress. There were no reactions at all, only nice smiles from the SA’s that treated me like everyone else. One SA recognized me from before, and told me welcome and told me that I always dressed so nice. Of course there are some double looks from others passing by, but that I can live with.

I have gone around like this for several years but I still get a rush out of it. I don’t sit a long period in the car nervous like I did in the past before I go out. When I arrive I just get out of the car, and I don’t care if it is crowdie or not. It can even be a little bit boring at times because I am actually not looking for anything special. It is only an excuse to get out and about. Today I had a long list to do buy some food and I went to the grocery store in the mall. I like it so much better when I have something constructive to take care of when I dress. It was a lot of people around me all the time, and I paid and left. One thing was missing so I had to enter another store. I stopped by a store only ten minutes from where I live. I am not open to everyone, but I have decided that if someone sees me that doesn’t know, I will just keep on with my head held high. In this store a lady in her 40’s stopped me and told me “you look great, and you make me happy, because I see you can walk naturally around being yourself and nobody cares how you are dressed”. I thanked her very much. Comments like that are seldom but really makes me smile for a long period. Then I went home again.

I will try to attach a picture of what I wore today.

Robert,
What you're doing and wearing is my goal. At first, I thought I would just wear 3" pumps or maybe just a skirt. With the warm weather, would you wear the tights or opt for pantyhose? Good for you. You're a role model.
RPF

[RPF]

I so do enjoy wearing denim pencil skirts which look great on me, and this is one of my favorites. By the by, for anyone who's never seen me wearing pantyhose, here you are. Pretty snazzy, eh? I wore this outfit yesterday, including a visit to a multiplex to see Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. While the lobby was packed with people, next to no one gave me the time of day, as for the movie, it was okay, nothing spectacular, but that's just my opinion.

Jeff,
Great outfit. I also have a denim ponte skirt as well as a denim skort. You look great in the pantyhose and pumps. I'd like to wear my denim skirt with either 3" clogs or 3" wedges and women's black v-neck t-shirt. Don't have the courage yet, but getting there with you out in front as a trailblazer. I admire your confidence.
RPF

[JeffB1959]

I so do enjoy wearing denim pencil skirts which look great on me, and this is one of my favorites. By the by, for anyone who's never seen me wearing pantyhose, here you are. Pretty snazzy, eh? I wore this outfit yesterday, including a visit to a multiplex to see Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. While the lobby was packed with people, next to no one gave me the time of day, as for the movie, it was okay, nothing spectacular, but that's just my opinion.

Jeff,
Great outfit. I also have a denim ponte skirt as well as a denim skort. You look great in the pantyhose and pumps. I'd like to wear my denim skirt with either 3" clogs or 3" wedges and women's black v-neck t-shirt. Don't have the courage yet, but getting there with you out in front as a trailblazer. I admire your confidence.
RPF

Thanks for the kind words, RPF. I simply do as best I can. I'm glad others like you look to me as an inspiration.

[pelmut]

I spent yesterday at a conference in Birmingham (UK) wearing a below-the-knee 'A'-line denim skirt, black pullover and brown boots. Nobody at the conference appeared to notice and a colleague afterwards reported that he hadn't heard anyone commenting on my appearance.

Later we went out into the main shopping centre to follow the newly-installed tram rails and see if we could spot one of the trams. There seemed to be a lot of groups of youths hanging about, but they weren't paying any attention to passers-by. Only one comment was overhead by my colleague, a woman behind me said to her daughter: "Those boots don't go with that skirt". I'm inclined to agree with her, but I don't have more suitable footwear at the moment. It was interesting that this was the only thing which worried her about my appearance.

[Kilty]

I spent yesterday at a conference in Birmingham (UK) wearing a below-the-knee 'A'-line denim skirt, black pullover and brown boots. Nobody at the conference appeared to notice and a colleague afterwards reported that he hadn't heard anyone commenting on my appearance.

Later we went out into the main shopping centre to follow the newly-installed tram rails and see if we could spot one of the trams. There seemed to be a lot of groups of youths hanging about, but they weren't paying any attention to passers-by. Only one comment was overhead by my colleague, a woman behind me said to her daughter: "Those boots don't go with that skirt". I'm inclined to agree with her, but I don't have more suitable footwear at the moment. It was interesting that this was the only thing which worried her about my appearance.

Without pictures, it never happened Show us a pic of your ensemble please

[Fred in Skirts]

I spent yesterday at a conference in Birmingham (UK) wearing a below-the-knee 'A'-line denim skirt, black pullover and brown boots. Nobody at the conference appeared to notice and a colleague afterwards reported that he hadn't heard anyone commenting on my appearance. Only one comment was overhead by my colleague, a woman behind me said to her daughter: "Those boots don't go with that skirt". I'm inclined to agree with her, but I don't have more suitable footwear at the moment. It was interesting that this was the only thing which worried her about my appearance.

When you say denim do you mean blue denim?? If that's the color then brown boots do not go with the skirt. I have several colors of denim skirts from acid washed to black and indigo. I would never wear brown boots with the dark blue, black or indigo shirts. I think the only color for those should be a shiny black boot. If I were wearing my acid washed or the stone washed skirts. Then I could wear light brown or black boots. However I don't wear boots for two reasons, the first I can't find any in mt size and second I don't like boots they are too hot. I wear boat moccasins or flip flops.
And do show us a picture of your outfit.

Fred

[dillon]

I spent yesterday at a conference in Birmingham (UK) wearing a below-the-knee 'A'-line denim skirt, black pullover and brown boots. Nobody at the conference appeared to notice and a colleague afterwards reported that he hadn't heard anyone commenting on my appearance. Only one comment was overhead by my colleague, a woman behind me said to her daughter: "Those boots don't go with that skirt". I'm inclined to agree with her, but I don't have more suitable footwear at the moment. It was interesting that this was the only thing which worried her about my appearance.

When you say denim do you mean blue denim?? If that's the color then brown boots do not go with the skirt. I have several colors of denim skirts from acid washed to black and indigo. I would never wear brown boots with the dark blue, black or indigo shirts. I think the only color for those should be a shiny black boot. If I were wearing my acid washed or the stone washed skirts. Then I could wear light brown or black boots. However I don't wear boots for two reasons, the first I can't find any in mt size and second I don't like boots they are too hot. I wear boat moccasins or flip flops.
And do show us a picture of your outfit.

Fred

I must disagree...I don't think there is a shoe color that isn't compatible with blue denim.

[Bikerkilt]

Maybe it was the boots and not the color of the boots

[Sinned]

In the olden days, that is the late Victorian through to the mid 1950's, brown shoes would never be worn with blue or black clothing. This is illustrated in a Stanley Holloway monologue called "Brahn Boots" in which someone committed a major social faux pas and was ostracised for wearing brown boots at a funeral until they find out why he was wearing brown boots and only then was it acceptable, just. I would never wear brown shoes with blue denim, but then that's a product of the environment I was brought up in.

[Kilted_John]

Interesting... Never realized it was a bad thing. My old go-to outfit between 1993 and 2001 was a pair of Levi's jeans in the usual indigo blue with a pair of leather hiking boots. Either that, or a pair of dark brown leather sandals. I almost completely stopped wearing athletic shoes. In fact, it wasn't until I started wearing skirts that I started wearing those shoes again. I still wore brown hiking boots until about 2011, when I got my most recent pair, which are charcoal gray Asolo backpacking boots.

Anyway, a day or so ago, I finally kinda outed myself. Wore a dress with an open jacket at one of the local stores. Even though it was plainly obvious that I wasn't wearing my normal stuff, the woman who rang me up didn't notice at all. Just treated me the same as she would've if I'd been in a t-shirt/skirt combo. A bit different than the time I showed up at a sub shop earlier this year.

-J

[dillon]

In the olden days, that is the late Victorian through to the mid 1950's, brown shoes would never be worn with blue or black clothing. This is illustrated in a Stanley Holloway monologue called "Brahn Boots" in which someone committed a major social faux pas and was ostracised for wearing brown boots at a funeral until they find out why he was wearing brown boots and only then was it acceptable, just. I would never wear brown shoes with blue denim, but then that's a product of the environment I was brought up in.

In the US, where it originated, BLUE DENIM was long regarded as the clothing of cowboys, loggers, workmen, and farmers. They typically wore brown shoes / work boots, aside from auto mechanics, whose anti-slip boots were usually black. Then in the 1950s blue jeans became common for schoolchildren (boys only at first), who typically had on black and white Keds or maybe canvas Converse sneakers. Then when sixties/seventies "hippie fashion" adopted it, and blue denim skirts began to appear, basically any color shoe was appropriate. Note that we differentiate between the material as much as the color over here on the left side of the puddle; I am aware that blue is associated with royalty over there, but not here, and blue denim as a fabric would, at least until the era of designer jeans, imply anything but upper-crust dressing. It was anti-establishment by the 1970s. Shoe color "rules" for blue denim would be a joke over here.

There are some blue denim garments, however that are sewn (assembled) with black thread in the stitching; in that case, black shoes may look better, since it gives more color harmony. But the traditional Levis, Red Camel, Carrhartt, and Osh Kosh brands had white and gold stitching, which created a respectable harmony with brown shoes, and most other colors; also the waist tags were brown leather, and fabric tags, usually on rear pockets, or on the bibs, in the case of overalls, were often red with black, white and/or gold.