Lorna
09-23-2006, 09:03 AM
Recently there were some accounts of doing housework while dressed. It reminded me of three consecutive Wednesday afternoons last year when I had the house to myself for a couple of hours. We have an attic, quite big and light, carpeted and even usable as a spare bedroom if needed. It is about the only place in the house where there is no possibility of anyone seeing what I'm doing (and wearing!). We store lots of things in the attic and its adjacent spaces and it had reached the point where some clearing out and tidying was needed - nothing heavy, just checking what was in various boxes and cupboards and doing a bit of rearranging.
I decided to dress in female attire to see what it would be like to do such jobs in women's clothes. The jobs were similar to what might need to be done in a busy office or business and with only a very small selection of clothes to choose from I decided on typical office wear - black skirt, blouse and shoes with a chunky, medium (under three inches) heel and a strap over the instep.
The first week I decided to be a more mature (40-something, perhaps?) woman. and dress in 1960s style. I wore a basic bra, my high-waist zip-side Berlei open girdle and black 20 denier stockings. The stockings were modern ones with some lycra because I didn't want to risk laddering one of my precious vintage stockings. The skirt was a straight, quite narrow black one with some stretch in it and reaching just to the knee. I didn't have a suitable slim slip to wear under it, so went without. I was quite pleased with the overall appearance. The girdle gave me at least a bit of waist, a smooth bottom and flat tummy. The outfit was reasonably comfortable to wear but I quickly found that climbing over boxes, getting things out of low cupboards and bending down were much harder than doing the same things in my male clothes. At one point I tried to step over one of the boxes only to find that the skirt would not allow quite that much stretch and having to move around the box instead. I also found, while sorting through papers contained in one box that it was more diffficult to get a comfortable position sitting on the floor - everything felt a bit tight. Crouching down was also not good but I could kneel in a fairly upright position quite comfortably. Despite these constraints, it felt very good to be experiencing what many working women of that period must have felt and realising that they did such tasks thus dressed all day and every day.
The next week I changed three things: I wore a shorter skirt (about 3 ins above the knee) with slightly more room and no stretch, a suspender belt and stockings, this time with a narrower welt because a deeper welt would be more likely to show with the short skirt. I suppose I was trying to simulate a younger office worker from the mid-60s. I continued with similar jobs and found this outfit to be much lighter and more flexible to wear; indeed, it felt slightly flimsy. The stocking tops did not show, provided I was careful how I moved, especially when getting up off the floor or bending to reach into a cupboard. In fact, I probably felt as free or more free in these clothes than in my male ones. The suspender bumps were less noticeable than the previous week partly because the skirt was not as close-fitting, partly because it was made of a thicker, more woolly material, partly because the belt had smaller suspender clips and partly because I could angle the front suspenders slightly towards the inside of my thighs. Because I could not feel the belt and suspenders anything like as strongly as the girdle I felt slightly insecure and, part way through the afternoon I shortened the front suspenders a little to pull my stockings tighter when I stood up. It has to be said, though, that my figure was anything but smooth and feminine.
For the third and final week tidying the attic I wore the same outer garments as in week two but decided to bring myself a little more up to date - the late 70s, say - by wearing tights (20 denier black) and a firm control pantie girdle (brief but with a slightly high, lightly boned waist). At once, all the anxiety I had felt with the suspender belt and stockings was gone. This third outfit felt entirely secure and I did not have to worry at all about the short skirt as I moved around. My figure was much better than with the suspender belt but not as slim-waisted as with the open girdle. Nevertheless, I had a neatly rounded, firm behind and a reasonably flat tummy. A visit to the toilet was very much more difficult than with either of the previous outfits. I could just manage to pull down the girdle, then roll the tights and panties down. The tights and panties went back up again fairly easily but the waist of the girdle needed to go above the waist of the skirt and there was no alternative but to pull my skirt down, then get the girdle back into place before pulling my skirt up again and tucking the blouse in - quite a performance.
All in all, I enjoyed the three brief experiments with different "work" clothes, learning quite a lot about the variety of feelings they produced, their advantages and disadvantages. I also learned the extent to which a woman would need to be conscious of what she was wearing and learn to "manage" her clothes. Of course, when the opportunity arises, I would like to see how a wider, easier skirt or dress feels. On all three occasions I was also aware of the heels, even though not very high, and how they affected balance and movement. Certainly, flat shoes, for me, would have made the work easier. Which outfit did I prefer? They all had their merits. The easiest, least demanding (apart from worrying about stocking tops showing) was the shorter skirt and suspender belt. I felt much more contained and somewhat squeezed by the tights and pantie girdle - and the toilet complications were a minor annoyance - while the first outfit was the most demanding because of the strong girdle, longer, tighter skirt and taut suspenders. However, for appearance - if I really was those women going to the office for the day - the first outfit worked best (a narrow slip to help disguise the suspender bumps would have made it even better), the tights and pantie girdle came a close second and the suspender belt was a long way behind. So, I have to admit that my "job" would have been easier in male mode but I have a real appreciation of what women have (or had?) to deal with.
I decided to dress in female attire to see what it would be like to do such jobs in women's clothes. The jobs were similar to what might need to be done in a busy office or business and with only a very small selection of clothes to choose from I decided on typical office wear - black skirt, blouse and shoes with a chunky, medium (under three inches) heel and a strap over the instep.
The first week I decided to be a more mature (40-something, perhaps?) woman. and dress in 1960s style. I wore a basic bra, my high-waist zip-side Berlei open girdle and black 20 denier stockings. The stockings were modern ones with some lycra because I didn't want to risk laddering one of my precious vintage stockings. The skirt was a straight, quite narrow black one with some stretch in it and reaching just to the knee. I didn't have a suitable slim slip to wear under it, so went without. I was quite pleased with the overall appearance. The girdle gave me at least a bit of waist, a smooth bottom and flat tummy. The outfit was reasonably comfortable to wear but I quickly found that climbing over boxes, getting things out of low cupboards and bending down were much harder than doing the same things in my male clothes. At one point I tried to step over one of the boxes only to find that the skirt would not allow quite that much stretch and having to move around the box instead. I also found, while sorting through papers contained in one box that it was more diffficult to get a comfortable position sitting on the floor - everything felt a bit tight. Crouching down was also not good but I could kneel in a fairly upright position quite comfortably. Despite these constraints, it felt very good to be experiencing what many working women of that period must have felt and realising that they did such tasks thus dressed all day and every day.
The next week I changed three things: I wore a shorter skirt (about 3 ins above the knee) with slightly more room and no stretch, a suspender belt and stockings, this time with a narrower welt because a deeper welt would be more likely to show with the short skirt. I suppose I was trying to simulate a younger office worker from the mid-60s. I continued with similar jobs and found this outfit to be much lighter and more flexible to wear; indeed, it felt slightly flimsy. The stocking tops did not show, provided I was careful how I moved, especially when getting up off the floor or bending to reach into a cupboard. In fact, I probably felt as free or more free in these clothes than in my male ones. The suspender bumps were less noticeable than the previous week partly because the skirt was not as close-fitting, partly because it was made of a thicker, more woolly material, partly because the belt had smaller suspender clips and partly because I could angle the front suspenders slightly towards the inside of my thighs. Because I could not feel the belt and suspenders anything like as strongly as the girdle I felt slightly insecure and, part way through the afternoon I shortened the front suspenders a little to pull my stockings tighter when I stood up. It has to be said, though, that my figure was anything but smooth and feminine.
For the third and final week tidying the attic I wore the same outer garments as in week two but decided to bring myself a little more up to date - the late 70s, say - by wearing tights (20 denier black) and a firm control pantie girdle (brief but with a slightly high, lightly boned waist). At once, all the anxiety I had felt with the suspender belt and stockings was gone. This third outfit felt entirely secure and I did not have to worry at all about the short skirt as I moved around. My figure was much better than with the suspender belt but not as slim-waisted as with the open girdle. Nevertheless, I had a neatly rounded, firm behind and a reasonably flat tummy. A visit to the toilet was very much more difficult than with either of the previous outfits. I could just manage to pull down the girdle, then roll the tights and panties down. The tights and panties went back up again fairly easily but the waist of the girdle needed to go above the waist of the skirt and there was no alternative but to pull my skirt down, then get the girdle back into place before pulling my skirt up again and tucking the blouse in - quite a performance.
All in all, I enjoyed the three brief experiments with different "work" clothes, learning quite a lot about the variety of feelings they produced, their advantages and disadvantages. I also learned the extent to which a woman would need to be conscious of what she was wearing and learn to "manage" her clothes. Of course, when the opportunity arises, I would like to see how a wider, easier skirt or dress feels. On all three occasions I was also aware of the heels, even though not very high, and how they affected balance and movement. Certainly, flat shoes, for me, would have made the work easier. Which outfit did I prefer? They all had their merits. The easiest, least demanding (apart from worrying about stocking tops showing) was the shorter skirt and suspender belt. I felt much more contained and somewhat squeezed by the tights and pantie girdle - and the toilet complications were a minor annoyance - while the first outfit was the most demanding because of the strong girdle, longer, tighter skirt and taut suspenders. However, for appearance - if I really was those women going to the office for the day - the first outfit worked best (a narrow slip to help disguise the suspender bumps would have made it even better), the tights and pantie girdle came a close second and the suspender belt was a long way behind. So, I have to admit that my "job" would have been easier in male mode but I have a real appreciation of what women have (or had?) to deal with.