In Support of Dresses

I don't know if any of the readers of my blog remember the days when wearing dresses was the norm for women. My mother was not allowed to go to school in pants until her high school years, and then the wide-bell legs of the 1970s pants were almost like skirts. It's wonderful to wear jeans, and I'm so grateful for the suffragists and the women's rights activists throughout history that have made it possible for me to dress how I like. And yet, I have an enduring fondness for dresses. Even though I don't have to, I wear dresses and heels to work all the time. I have to remember to dress down sometimes, and force myself to shop for T-shirts when I'd rather be looking at sun-dresses. Invariably, someone asks me why I'm so dressed up, or if I've got a hot date after work. The boring truth is that I just like to dress up and and wear feminine things and put together interesting outfits. Its sort of a fun hobby--something I don't have to do, but choose to, and find pleasure in. So it was nice today to be complimented on my dress and told by an elderly lady that more women ought to wear dresses these days. I didn't tell her it was just a thrift-store find, because the advantage is that when no-one else is wearing a dress, yours will always look terrific.