the other day I was browsing through a new VS catalog remarking how I wish that I had the body for a sleek sweaterdress or two and told my wife that I have always loved their warm, cozy look and feel but can't{think SHREK!]wear them as they accent my big shoulders. My wife replied,"I wish you had told me about all of you back when I met you". So,I thought about all the recent threads..At what age did you start? where? SO acceptance,Telling when dating,family and friend's acceptance,and most importantly, patterns to the on and off of dressing[different ages,on and off,etc] In my case,I met my wife while commercial fishing in South America.I couldn't be out while doing that[think Discovery channel shows],so I got by with underdressing enough to stay on tilt.I wanted to be fully dressed, but couldn't, so it didn't show strongly during the dating between fishing trips.My wife only got to accept that I wore girly underwear. When I returned to the States and could dress again,it went on the front burner.Because it could and it had to as I am of the age where I want to do as I want..time goes by too quickly to do otherwise. CDing is something that doesn't alway have to be"in their faces".I have worked in dresser's boutiques in the Boston area and there are so many closeted or secretive cding want to's out there,it is astounding. My question to those with SO's approving or not,was your dressing on the "back burner" when your romance was on the front burner? I suspect that for many of us,it was. Is that one of the reasons that you forgot to tell them of you feminine side?