"About a year ago, when I was packing to move to a new flat, I got rid of the only dress I owned. Before that, I hadn't realised I was down to just the one. I knew I rarely reached for dresses and skirts any more, either in shops or in my wardrobe. And I had already taken the step of binning the unloved tangle of tights in my sock drawer. But the move to wearing only trousers had been gradual."
"When I came out as gay in my late teens, it had a liberating effect on my fashion choices I no longer felt a need to look like a stereotypical straight woman but it also came with its own pressures. Comments like just because you're a lesbian it doesn't mean you have to look like a man scared me off presenting in a more androgynous way for a while."
I gradually stopped wearing dresses and eventually gave away my last black midi, keeping only trousers and discarding tights. I noticed I rarely reached for dresses in shops or my wardrobe and that the shift to trousers was incremental. I did not grow up especially girly and often resisted conventional feminine presentation, from being cast as Joseph in a nativity to dressing as a crow at a party. Coming out as gay freed my fashion choices but introduced pressures around lesbian stereotypes, which temporarily discouraged more androgynous presentation. I remain between butch and femme categories while slowly experimenting with my style.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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