Catnip made this comment on my floral tee thread:

You look more attractive in this photo than any other I've seen of you. Before you return this gorgeous, flattering tee, please ask yourself why you don't want to look pretty.

Well, that gave me some food for thought, because it NEVER occurs to me when I am dressing or getting ready for my day to ask myself if I look pretty. Mostly for my work day I need to look professional and authoritative. After work I want to dress in a way I enjoy – functional, comfortable, edgy/UWP. It is really flattering to be called pretty, of course, but it’s just not a goal for me. It doesn't feel "authentic" to use an overused (by me, anyway) term.

At the same time, I don’t go out of my way to fight pretty – it’s just not what I find interesting or challenging, after years of striving toward an unattainable standard of beauty. If I want to look pretty in my mind, I wear my Indian clothes which feel authentic to me in that way.

As a corollary question: The tee is definitely pretty. Does wearing a pretty item make the wearer pretty?

"Attractive” is a little different. Do I want to be attractive – and to whom? Certainly, I want to be attractive to my husband, and I like dressing up now and then. But isn’t attractive in the eye of the beholder in the end? My friends and I had endless silly debates over which guy in “Lord of the Rings” was most attractive, and my very neat, proper friend commented that she much preferred Legolas over Aragorn (my fave, of course!) because his nails were always clean.

Anyway, I’m curious to hear from forum members. What do you strive for in the realm of pretty/beautiful/attractive? Or do you focus on other aspects of presenting yourself to the world?