Now that is an interesting comment, Catnip. And thank you for the compliment.
It isn't that I don't want to look "pretty" (although I don't aim for it, I don't go out of my way to avoid it) - it's that I want to look attractive TO ME. I spent so many years beating myself up for being so far from an acceptable standard of beauty - tall, thin, blonde - that the pursuit of conventional attractiveness no longer interests me.
Part of it is that I want to celebrate being different and happy about it at last. After all, I am nearly 50, married to a man who has known for 20 years that if he gives me money to buy something cute, I will probably come back with boyfriend jeans. It has never been in me to be girly or feminine or graceful. I'm small and Asian, two descriptors people already associate with those qualities, and I enjoy challenging their assumptions. And I admire those graces in others, much as I can admire other forum members' styles without feeling that my own different choices are therefore inadequate or unfab.
One thing this forum has taught me is that there are so many ways to be beautiful and stylish. I look at Jimmy Choos and see nothing. But someone here will transform those shoes into a look I can adore. Anna has often stated that she has chosen to be "interesting" in her style, and I Iove that about her, although having met her, I can vouch that she is lovely and could sport a more conventional beauty and style if she chose.
Wow, who knew a tee could invoke so much contemplation and navel-gazing!
