At what point does a dress become a tunic, or a shirt?
Browsing through the local thrift store, found a nice wool wrap skirt that will work well, moved over to the dress rack to see if there was anything there, came across a "lady's short dress" Wouldn't normally have looked at it, but from the top the style looked possible, as it has a fairly high buttoned collar. After thinking about it, took it to the changing room. Grey, stretchy, broad collar, buttons stretching down to just below belt line on me. Problem is... the hem finishes about 6" below that. Very short on me, as a dress anyway. The price was right, so I took it, along with a pair of stretch pants, ( yoga pants essentially ) that I saw on the way to the register. When I got home put them on together, the dress is too small, by a fraction, the really abbreviated sleeves are slightly snug, so wearing it with the buttons done up makes it pull at the armpits. Top button undone is just about perfect, and doesn't make it look like I'm trying to display cleavage that isn't there. The cut at the hip is just a little roomier, so the whole thing wants to creep up a bit. I'm thinking about elasticising the hem, or possibly weighting it. With the stretch pants, which by some miracle are an almost perfect fit, ( snug, but the seams work for a male form ) it becomes acceptable from the point of view of public decency. I tried it on it's own, and it's fine, if startling, while standing up, sitting is possible, but requires great care, unless you're around very, close friends.
Personally, I like it on me. It's far enough outside the norms though, that it requires more courage than I have at the moment. The look though, is something I want to pursue, it reminds me of the Star Trek "skant" but looks better to my eyes. I think I want to have something made, slightly longer, in a similar style, very strong colour(s), to be worn with similar stretch pants ( heavy tights essentially ) under. The cut and fit of this one are just snug enough, at the wrong points, that it highlights the fact that I do not have a particularly good example of the classic inverted male triangle shape. I feel I have a bit more hip than is normally considered masculine. I have fairly broad shoulders so I'm not too unhappy, but exaggerating it the way this dress does, makes it looks like I'm trying to pass, as our crossdressing friends say.
I'll be taking some pictures over the next week, I may even post them once I've seen them. You have been warned!
When I do, would like opinions on it, and suggestions for changes and improvements.