https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Sat, 11 Apr 2026 12:54:36 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500584 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:58:07 +0000 CocoLion 500584@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I haven't read all of the responses, but I would picture tomboy style like this: a young woman with a boyish (rectangular) type of figure and wearing un-frilly, sporty types of clothing. Skater, climber, showboarder type of vibe. Or, she might be wearing sports team apparel.</p> <p>Then I looked at the tomboy blog and I started to see a different definition of the term, as the blogger sees tomboy style through much more of a style-driven and indie lens. The blog is interesting -- her section on Tomboy Style in the 90s talks about X Girl and Extra Large the store in LA on Vermont Ave. As the store was started by one of my brother's art school buddies, I shopped there often. I do not nor did not think of myself as a tomboy or having tomboy style but the clean, hip, androgynous look of their clothes appealed to me. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500578 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 07:27:23 +0000 Sally 500578@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Interesting reading. Angie once called my style tomboyish but I'm not a tomboy at all. I prefer to be comfortable in my clothes and feel at odds in very girly clothes. I remember making myself a very pretty dress(it was floral and flared out from the bust) in my late teens because I thought it would be a good way to dress. Well on a day in town I felt so uncomfortable, I ditched the lot in favour of jeans and a t-shirt which i wore out of the store after I had bought them.. My friend couldn't believe I threw my dress in the bin but I just felt so unme! These days I would take it to an op-shop. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500561 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:23:59 +0000 Gaylene 500561@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>OK, I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that "tomboy style" has less to do with articles of clothing and more to do with the confidence and freedom exhibited by a woman when she does not seem to be overly conscious about how she appears to others. To an observer, "tomboy style" appears to be uncomplicated and artless way of dressing. Androgynous style, on the other hand, usually appears to the observer to be a deliberate fashion choice. </p> <p>When Angie wears oxfords and argyle, it seems to me to be more in line with androgynous style than tomboy because of the polished and deliberate way in which she incorporates these items into her outfit. But, a woman wearing a skirt with bare feet, minimal makeup, and tousled hair could, in my mind, have "tomboy style" because her clothing choices seem unpremeditated and secondary to whatever activity she was apparently engaged in doing. A calculated "tomboy" look is an oxymoron in my books! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500515 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 05:06:53 +0000 cheryl 500515@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>This has been an interesting read and i'm just jumping in to say i love the links you provided Rae. Too cute! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500465 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:06:54 +0000 rae 500465@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I just realized that my state of mind might not be all that tomboyish after all... my favorite thing to do is shop, after all. I do enjoy all those tomboy like things as well, but not as much as my clothes might suggest. Verrrrry interesting! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500464 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:05:19 +0000 Beth 500464@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I like Una's question of whether being a tomboy is "a rejection or also an embrace of all things fun, free and wild (typically allotted to boys)?"</p> <p>I like to think a tomboy might be both of these things. I personally think the best part of being a woman is having all the girly things I might be attracted to and also be able to do pretty much anything a man can. </p> <p>I'm certain YLF would never consider me a tomboy. My style is unquestionably feminine. Yet I've been a tomboy all my life. What you look like vs. what you DO, regardless of how you look is the dichotomy that's at the heart of it, right? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500450 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:52:40 +0000 Desmo April 500450@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I absolutely consider myself a tomboy, In fact, I've been know to describe myself as a girlie-tomboy.</p> <p>To me, tomboy is the opposite of ladylike. I tend to see ladylike as being restrictive and constrained as opposed to the freedom of tomboy. I tend to reject things that I see as ladylike or prim but still consider myself very feminine.</p> <p>In some ways, the style follows the lifestyle but isn't everything. Most of the things I spent my time doing and love are generally considered guy things--I ride motorcycles, I've autocrossed a car, even my very first broken bone was a skateboard mishap as a kid. </p> <p>Thinking about it now, I guess it does come down to--as Rae said--the ability to hang with the guys. At least for me, that is a big part of it. I've always been "one of the guys". </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500436 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:39:01 +0000 Mo 500436@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Wow, I think after reading this that I am a tomboy at heart but dress a bit more feminine. I am not, and do not wish to be, a mother or a wife. I love being physical. I'm the gal swimming across the lake, not sunning on the shore. I've never used my 'feminine wiles', so to speak, to get a tire changed or bigger tips at work or whatever. Hmmm, interesting stuff. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500409 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:16:52 +0000 Angie 500409@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My head is spinning too! SUCH BRILLIANT thoughts ladies, and we could debate the nuances of Tomboy until the cows come home. Thanks for the great read. </p> <p>First - you ALL made sense and I agree with everything said here. </p> <p>Ana, you were perfectly eloquent. </p> <p>Rae, your Tomboy analogy was especially interesting, which is what led me to believe that being a Tomboy and having a Tomboy style are not the same thing. The latter has more of a feminine element (which Ana explains), while the former does not (which you explain). The former is wrapped up in an attitude, while the latter is wrapped up in design elements. And Aida and Heather confirm this in converse ways. So great! And Elly and Vildy summarized my thoughts before I did :)</p> <p>I am not a Tomboy, but I have strong elements of feminine Tomboy style - which is perhaps more like what Jonesy suggests as "menswear inspired". It's not real menswear or boyswear, but inspired by mens and boys outfits. </p> <p>Ellen Degeneres has rocking KILLER style. I don't think it's butch. I'm not sure how to describe it but I love what she wears and thinks that she pulls it off with panache. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500314 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:10:09 +0000 judy 500314@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I'm not a tomboy but the style I dress in could be classified as such. </p> <p>Recently I saw a photo on a street fashion blog. A well dressed man in the foreground, in his jeans and jacket and flat oxfords, casually standing there, while a woman in the background was clearly struggling to keep her balance in towering heels at the same time holding her skirt down in the wind AND clutching her handbag. It made me realize more clearly why I dress the way I do...just like him! She looked so uncomfortable...and she had no pockets :)! </p> <p>I'm not unfeminine in my spirit but I feel no desire to dress in ways that are considered traditionally "feminine", like skirts, dresses, heels, ruffles. I do have a few simple silk shirts and that's about as fluffy as I'm going lately. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500302 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:51:06 +0000 Mellllls 500302@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>i think of tomboy more as an attitude than a style. for example, a baseball cap to me would be an aspect of a tomboy style. on some they look amazing, but on me, (NOT a tomboy!) i look like i am posing. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500296 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 01:41:34 +0000 Vicki 500296@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>OMG, Rae, you found not one, but three links!!! I love the first one best and it's got you written all over it. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500264 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:58:29 +0000 catgirl 500264@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Nicely put, Rae! Without having to deconstruct the gender issues inherent in the whole feminine/masculine signifier blah blah thing... which is important but really not what I think Angie meant to ask. : ) </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500260 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:54:11 +0000 rae 500260@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>hmmm.... </p> <p>If we keep this focused on style (mostly because I'm terrible at philosophy!), then you can of course be very womanly in thought, action, anatomy - a mother, a wife, etc - but simply dress in certain cultural markers that denote a "boy's" lifestlye. Conversely, you can also be very boyish in your lifestyle - gamer, gear head, etc - but dress in "feminine" cultural markers. So... "tomboy" is both a style *and* a lifestyle, and one does not necessitate the other? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500252 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:40:44 +0000 nicoleb 500252@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>my head is spinning. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500246 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:31:59 +0000 catgirl 500246@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Ooh, this is going to get interesting - because what IS "feminine"? I reject or have in the past rejected many things, mostly superficial, that are considered feminine by society (shaving my legs back in college), and I do not brush my hair, ever. Really. But I'm a wife and mother, which are in many ways the essence of the feminine. So while I agree tomboy style is an embrace of certain fashions, is being a tomboy a rejection or also an embrace of all things fun, free and wild (typically allotted to boys)? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys/page/2#post-500236 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:23:35 +0000 Vildy 500236@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I think, Angie, I'm with you. Difference between being a Tomboy - not in the least feminine and a rejection of the feminine - and Tomboy style. And I think it probably<br /> needs to be termed something else. You know, one is a rejection and the other an<br /> embrace. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-500235 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:23:04 +0000 rae 500235@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Lo and behold, such things actually exist!<br /> <a href="http://www.frontandcompany.ca/Slingshot-Necklace_p_149.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.frontandcompany.ca/.....p_149.html</a><br /> <a href="http://www.farfetch.com/shopping/women/vernissageproject-slingshot-necklace-item-10137279.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.farfetch.com/shoppi.....37279.aspx</a><br /> <a href="http://www.youreyeslie.com/24-slingshot.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.youreyeslie.com/24-slingshot.html</a></p> <p>Hm, I never thought of it as appropriating boys' clothes. I don't wear boy's clothes. Maybe it's about avoiding the "girly girl stereotype"? Pink, ruffled bloomers, bows, frills, sugar and spice... </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-500231 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:17:53 +0000 catgirl 500231@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I think certain heels are questionable - stiletto heels never say anything but FEMME to me, though I'm happy to be contradicted. Chunky high heels on boots or oxfords are different. Is tomboy style about girls wearing boy clothes as is, or girls appropriating boy clothes and girl-ing them up? I guess that's an underlying question. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-500223 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:14:23 +0000 rae 500223@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Heather, I love your non-tomboy style, and I also love that you challenge guys to footraces in heels!</p> <p>Speaking of heels, Aida and others also mentioned them. Are heels decidedly non-tomboy to everyone? I don't feel that way myself. I think they can put the "Tom" in "tomboy" - if there is zero femininity, then the style is just "boyish," yes? No "tom" needed. </p> <p>Una, you ARE youthful! But to answer your question, I don't think you need to be super young to have tomboy style. A bit of immaturity and an impish spirit probably help, though. </p> <p>Vicki, that would be a fun little thing to have on a pendant! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-500219 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:10:58 +0000 nicoleb 500219@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I ran across <a href="http://shop.nordstrom.com/s/ash-thelma-bootie/3233595?cm_ite=ash_'thelma'_bootie:501537&amp;cm_pla=shoes:women:boots&amp;cm_ven=Linkshare&amp;siteid=Hy3bqNL2jtQ-DukfZcL.X4WAx7q11Ek6rg&amp;url=http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/3233595?cm_cat=datafeed">these</a> today and it made me think back to this post. </p> <p>I didn't think i had tomboy style now i think i *kind* of do, i just like it mixed with pieces/elements that are the opposite of tomboy. </p> <p>And i'm totally with Heather! I love the, "not only can i do tomboy things i can accomplish them in a dress and heels" attitude. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-500082 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:35:23 +0000 Heather 500082@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I agree with Angie's second comment , and Elly's and Aida's comments: being a Tomboy and having Tomboy style is not an if, then equation.</p> <p>I feel perfectly confident and comfortable in shooting a three pointer in a skirt and heels or challenging some dude to a foot race in heels (yes, it has been done), but I don't think I rock a Tomboy style. </p> <p>Love this thread and everyone's opinions. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-500073 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 21:26:02 +0000 Vicki 500073@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Rae, I'm trying to picture a really feminine version of a slingshot for your back pocket (DtM-look). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-500036 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:48:22 +0000 Aida 500036@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Hmm Angie your second comment resonates with me: I'm a bit of a tomboy for sure, but I wouldn't call my style tomboy-ish (it's very not sporty). I agree with Rae that part of it is being ready to play with the boys, Ana's thoughts on exposing a little skin, and the comments that comfort is also important. Everyone's level of comfort is going to be different, right? Angie's comfortable in button-up shirts, many ladies here have said that they aren't. I had to chuckle at Rae's "pinball at the arcade" example because I've done that several times.. in heels, at a punky pinball bar, and felt perfectly comfortable. I'm comfortable running around in heels, tromp through fields, playing in the snow, but heels aren't generally considered "tomboy". So I do think you can be a tomboy and not dress in a particularly tomboy style. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-499990 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:57:04 +0000 catgirl 499990@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I have been mildly obsessed with this all morning. I feel a style catharsis coming on! I definitely feel like this is an undercurrent of the direction I'm wanting to follow, and one I've aspired to throughout my life. It is too late? Is youth a defining feature of this style? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-499987 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 19:53:38 +0000 Patty 499987@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Rae gives a good description.<br /> For me--utilitarian and doesn't give me the creeps.<br /> It's the state of mind too other than a fashion. There are many tomboys who get along great in skirts and other more feminine clothes-like my daughter.<br /> I need pockets and they are full of stuff from my kids to my own. I just started carrying a bag about 10 yrs ago, before that all money and id was in my pocket-like a guy I guess--I hate to carry a bag but do --don't know why. This bag must not look like a "purse"--I hate that and the word gives me the creeps!! But can enjoy it for others.<br /> I guess it's a little rebellion ( my girl peers never liked me-the guys were more fun anyway)-- I don't know because another thing I don't like to do is over think things--I just want to do and don't want my stuff to slow me down--like having to change or watch not to get dirty. Clothes are pretty no nonsense and easy to tend to--also good for a mother on the go. I also don't think about androgyny or unisex --never thought of that before reading about it here last year---it does make me wonder about my motivations but don't want to--I want to paint my front door like a Tardis.<br /> I have never had a 'tomboy' fashion roll model--still don't but wonder how certain women can do it and still look very fem when I don't--MUCH jealousy there LOL because I don't want to look like a guy.<br /> I do need to watch what I wear now tho because I do get mistaken for a guy (ugly face, tall and shapeless) and it bugs me more now than when I was way younger when I was an equal. So I wear no cardigans, not a fan of button shirts but am trying again (think I'm gonna stop) straighter leg, ts tops --no bows or ruffs (I think those could be worn in irony tho--I kinda like that thought), kinda simple hair cut, no real jewelery, warm coats and sensible shoes/boots. But THAT'S just me and even that's changing. Now I'm wear more fitted tops and pants and have my eye on some jewelery.<br /> Sorry for being all over on this --kinda out of practice in posting.</p> <p>Memory Moment:<br /> I can remember being upset by having to tuck my skirt into my thick stirrup ski pants to slide down the snow piles outside the Co-Op when I was a kid and thought this has to stop--so I stopped wearing skirts/dresses LOL. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-499951 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:43:17 +0000 Jonesy 499951@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Hmmm. Well, I think of androgynous style as a mixture or juxtaposition of elements identified as male with elements identified as female (andro + gyn). I tend to think of tomboy as applying only to girls under 18, but if pressed, I suppose I think of tomboy style in general as a subgenre of androgynous style: It involves the same sort of mix but is defined by its casual, rugged, utilitarian "I'm gonna climb this rock or throw this frisbee now" kind of vibe. To me, tomboy is a very casual, sporty, low-maintenance style that is quite RATE. Clothes that don't look weird with skinned knees or wind burn or the like :). </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-499947 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:35:21 +0000 Elly 499947@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I was waiting to jump in here, because I personally agree that there are potentially several different types of style (or offsets of the same style) being discussed here. </p> <p>Angie's "tomboy" blog post brings up images of prep rebels and schoolboys funking up their uniforms after school. </p> <p>Rae and Mo and others talk more about "being on of the boys"-- and adopting elements or all of the "hood rat" style from a particular time and place. </p> <p>I think the uniting element is the kind of youthful air-- inspired by youth and teens. The Peter Pan (boys who never grow up) influence. </p> <p>I was a "tomboy" growing up, but I am not sure I would consider myself to have "tomboy" style based on any of the current definitions-- I like the combo of feminine and masculine elements, but the "boyish" element is missing. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-499931 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:57:18 +0000 Angie 499931@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>AMAZING thoughts! Wow!</p> <p>I am out for the rest of the day, but will get back to this thread later. Don't mean to be rude.</p> <p>Here is something to chew on - perhaps being a Tomboy and having Tomboy Style are not the same thing. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/att-tomboys-and-want-to-be-tomboys#post-499922 Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:46:49 +0000 rae 499922@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Hm, Vicki, I guess I picture a cross between Huck Finn, Dennis the Menace, and young suburban hooligans from the 70s and 80s, lol. Distressed denim, graphic tees, long or baggy shorts, baseball caps, toboggan hats, sneakers or boots... this is all for me personally, not the end-all of all tomboy styles. </p> <p>Una, that site is very cool! A goldmine of inspiration for a tomboy with a preppy bent. </p>