Which attitude do you have right now?
A. Hide me;
B. See me; or
C. Look at me.
I’ve been mentally composing this post ever since I saw a woman approaching me on the street a few weeks ago wearing a wide “underboob” belt. As I bemoaned my missed opportunity to take a curve cam pic of her, I passed another woman wearing a plain button-front that gaped slightly at the bust. I wanted to use Underboob Woman as an example of “what not to wear” and Plain Woman as an example of “almost right.”
Then it struck me how confident and attractive the woman in the belt looked compared to the plain woman. Even if I didn’t like the look, it said, “I respect and like myself.” I noticed her breasts first, but then I saw her great hair, makeup and accessories. Plain Woman’s look said, “I don’t want you to notice me. If I play it safe, maybe you won’t see me.” Other than the gap at her chest, nothing about her caught my attention. There was no hint of her personality in what she wore.
For a great example of what I’m talking about, see the underboob belt in this picture from ButterCup Rocks. Then contrast her look with the woman’s in the picture.
If you’re like me, you may have spent entire seasons of your life in Hide Me mode. Part of the reason is that it’s so easy for a large-breasted women to plunge from a nice “See Me” into an all-out “Look at Me” (a la Salma Hayek below) that we overcompensate in the conservative direction.
There’s a time and place for each type of dressing, and I enjoy exploring those times and places in this blog (here, for example). Sometimes our attitude toward what we wear is simply a matter of mood and energy level. Other times, there may be underlying attitudes and beliefs that it would be helpful for us to examine–something else I look forward to exploring on this blog.
This is such a great post. I'm a 32D, which while necessitates clothes with curves and a more specialized bra, is not something I want to hide. I'm proud of my boobs, definitely in the look at me or see me group. There are ways to highlight my assets tastefully. Sometimes I feel like this blog tends to err on the "I want to make my boobs as invisible as possible" side. I'm glad you were able to see the personality difference.
You're right–I definitely tend to err on the invisible side. Just getting to where I am now has been a process. I would love for you to share some of your "tasteful highlighting" tips. That's exactly my goal!
Used to be hide me, I still have a bunch of baggy sweaters and tops. Now it's see me, though I'm developing that dread menopot… Even though they're big (34DD or so), and I'm tall, they are overexposed in a lot of the low cut tops around these days. Working on getting some tasteful, svelte, but not trampy tops… I find one, wear it a lot, and it invariably gets too stained to wear anymore. Everything lands on the perch, you know?
I totally relate to "the perch". I like that term so much that I just checked to see if it was available as a domain name for my blog, but it isn't. During my last shopping trip at the mall, I decided that since so many of my tee shirts get stained within a few months (at the most), I might as well be adventurous and try trendy rather than classic shirts.