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
needs to be termed something else. You know, one is a rejection and the other an
embrace.

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)?

my head is spinning.

hmmm....

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?

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. : )

OMG, Rae, you found not one, but three links!!! I love the first one best and it's got you written all over it.

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.

I'm not a tomboy but the style I dress in could be classified as such.

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 :)!

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.

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.

First - you ALL made sense and I agree with everything said here.

Ana, you were perfectly eloquent.

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

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.

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.

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.

I absolutely consider myself a tomboy, In fact, I've been know to describe myself as a girlie-tomboy.

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.

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.

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".

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)?"

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.

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?

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!

This has been an interesting read and i'm just jumping in to say i love the links you provided Rae. Too cute!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.