Saturday, August 4, 2012

My Love for Retro, My Understanding of History and My Style


As I envision myself as a Madmen Character.  With a Martini.  And a cat.
My love for retro started long before Madmen ever aired.  I would argue that it was something my mother instilled in me.  It was in her style, her perfumes, her collection of shapewear.  It was in the music she would play for us.  Instead of bluesy rock or singer/songwriter pop songs that was popular in the early 70's, she was listening to Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole.  She had books from the 50's and 60's.  It always looked so much prettier than the fashions of the time.

Officially, I didn't really get serious about retro fashions until I started working as an underpaid social servant in my late 20s.  If I wanted anything stylish on my meager salary, I had to buy it at the thrift store.  Retro fashions fit my curvaceous figure and my diminutive height better than anything that was contemporary, and at the time, there was plenty of it.  Later, I started to make a little bit more money, and my trained eye was able to find contemporary fashions with retro details such as cuts, shapes and tailored silhouettes.  

As I started looking for a style to call my own in the kink world, I ended up coming back to my love of retro fashions, partly to stand out from all the leather, but I also wanted to highlight where my dominance came from, from my femininity, from my sexual energy.  So, I'm once again starting to collect retro-inspired pieces, even so much as getting a bullet bra for my birthday.

And yet, this got me thinking about what this said about me as a person.  I wondered if I was conveying a message that I was a luddite of sorts.  On the contrary, I'm very aware that I am dressing up as a woman in a very interesting time in history that will never be duplicated, nor should it.  The 1950's was a time of great prosperity for this country, as well as having huge cultural changes at the time.  The urban sprawl started during this time period and don't forget the baby boom.  I am also aware of how tumultuous it was if you were a person of color, or a woman, or both.  Let's face it, the strict gender roles of the times didn't make it easy for men either.  Don't forget McCarthyism, the atomic bomb, the red scare.  And if you think I'm exaggerating, the 60's was a direct results of the 50's.  I realize that this isn't a very comprehensive history, but I am aware enough of the social/political flavor of the times to realize that I'm fucking happy to be born in the 70's.

I am a feminist.  I am a dominant.  I can be very independent and have had to forge my own path when I need to.  I also love pretty clothing that accentuates my figure and highlights my femininity.  A dress with a full skirt doesn't detract the fact that I am a strong woman. 

Besides, I love how people do a double take at a dungeon dressed like this, when they realize that I'm the dominant.  I also love dressing up so "girlish" while I have M on a St. Andrews cross as I flog his ass and tell him how much of a manwhore he is.  Now my dominance isn't tied  to what I'm wearing.  I do have a few corsets, domme boots, and other elements to make me look like a femdom on porn and I can look imposing with it on.  Then again, I've topped guys naked.  

I really don't care if what I'm wearing makes me less of a dominant or submissive or switch or whatever.  But I do have a style, and I like it and look good in it.

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