I guess the secret rebel dressed in preppy or conservative clothes feels comfortable that way. Whereas someone who thought they should wear a conservative work look but didn't feel right in it, can look or feel like an imposter.

Oh, prep is subversive. As The Preppy Handbook points out, we’re talking the original purveyors of androgyny. Begins in the nursery with gender neutral stuffed animals. The Preppy Handbook said it.

I didn't realize stuffed animals ever had a gender! I don't look at them that close....
I guess you're right. It did seem like the preppiest people I knew were not as innocent as they looked. Many were quite rotten!
And yep, its fun to be underestimated Should've seen the look on the security guard at works face when I said I was off to kickboxing class!

Julie that is so true. Some times a thing seems to have it all, but when you put it on...

Also, I frankly have a lot of things that are ‘me’... but only sometimes do they work. The stars have to align, right weather, right activity, right location.

Rachy, I agree that the whole "me" thing is very complicated. I'm only ever presenting a certain side of myself to any given audience, and each day I have to ask myself which side it's gonna be. So, I'd never wear a black beret to a poetry reading. Because -- eye roll --predictable is the worst. I always feel a little out of sorts when something "me" comes into vogue and suddenly I'm presenting as a trendy person without meaning to (every prep's worst nightmare!).

Oh gosh, that brings back a moment in college where I DID go to a friend’s poetry reading. Walked in, and everyone there was in Levi’s and little round granny glasses, including myself. Like a horror movie... what’s you can become anonymous...

I've read only a few of the responses so far, including Joy's with the My Little Pony and assorted regalia. OMG.

This question has made me think a little bit. In my case, I think that I dress in a certain way that's somewhat reactionary against ways that I *used* to dress. I am working on developing other personality traits in myself, and that naturally plays out in my dressing. So anything tomboy or preppy or sloppy is not my friend, because that's how I used to dress. So I'm trying to open up new avenues for myself, and experimenting with dressing in different ways helps with that. If I feel a particular emotion inside that I want to express, I might buy a piece of clothing that seems to resonate with that emotion, and that creates a kind of "this is me" feeling.

That’s really interesting, Gigi. Clothing as a channel gate. I have to meditate on this. I dress by interior feel to a great extent, and then simply live with the visual result...

To give you an example of what I'm talking about, I've been dealing with some unpleasant things in my life (creating anger and frustration), and as a result, I felt a bit like being a bada@@ and adding some "tough girl" to my style. So I bought a couple of tees that are a little different and read "tough girl" to me. So I do go by interior feeling; it's just that the interior feelings might change quite a bit, and I try to keep up.

This is a great thread Rachylou. Very good points by many above - I wish for this once there was a like button on each of them.
I don't really have much to add myself as I am still figuring out how to put my ideas in words. I guess there is an instinctive level to this - where you just know if you are comfortable being represented by what you are wearing or if you are not. Style does change over time for a person but I think many people still have a common thread that runs through their style over the course of time. I am not very much into labels (preppy, punk, boho, etc.) but I guess they can be helpful in conveying an idea. But I do agree with others above that that to judge a person by their style is not that helpful. People are full of surprises. It can however give an impression to the observer and we need to be ok with the impression we are giving, because whether we like it or not, it will probably happen.

An interesting thread and I agree with Fashintern that we have seem many stellar looks on the forum this week. When people dress in a way that reflects the inner person, it becomes so much more than just clothes.

@Gigi, I like your new tough girl tops.

Ah, FashIntern... another joke of mine... since I’m a hipster... What do you call a group of hipsters? ... An Embarrassment! Hahaha!

Rosee... I agree. The judgement thing is a tricky one. You will learn something about a person from their clothes. You maybe should consider what you’ve learned before you get in their car with them alone. But you maybe also should think twice about calling down scorn upon them. I’m reminded of a woman who once quit on me in the middle of a shift at the bakery. She’d complain to the big boss about coworkers who ‘talked to bums in the street.’ As we’re a bakery, well, this is something we do, give ‘bums on the street’ something to eat. And the irony is, she’d go to church and work the food pantry, and she’d give away bakery product designated for sale for free to cute guys. I don’t know, maybe try to at least be consistent and fair... mercy! She was a winner...

Whos,this a deep thread but very interesting.l agree that we send out messages by how we dress whether we intend to or not but I also think that people are so much more than the clothes they wear and it can be foolish to judge a person solely on this basis(not that any of us YLF er s would do that of course).l always dress like me as I can do no other however what I choose to wear on a particular day has many influences some profound,some mundane.To be judged solely on this basis is like judging someone on a photo graph,you can not know the whole person.

Cardiff girl, it’s like my boss once said to me, ‘You ride horses? You don’t look like you ride horses.’ Lol. However, I do look really stumpy in tweed. Lol.