After Tom and Gareth’s comments on my last post I want to get your opinions on something – the union, in particular, how people dress and act in the union.
I have trouble trying to explain to my friends back home what it’s like here and giving excuses as they appear shocked from seeing new pictures appearing online…75% to do with my outfits and 25% to do with poses. ok…making this sound really dodgy but as Holloweigens you should know what I mean!
Going to a normal club about town you know what music you’re getting, you know what sort of people will be there and you know how to dress. Anything too outrageous and you can expect abuse, stares and feeling awkward. However, I feel that we’re free from these sorts of restrictions at uni – please tell me everyone agrees with me! :-s Our uni is small, incestuous and you tend to half recognise most people on a night out even if you don’t know them. In one way that’s quite depressing, but in another way, it gives a community feel and you can have more of a laugh because it’s almost like you’re surrounded by friends. I don’t know if I’m epxressing this well enough. Hmm..
Generally I feel that for dress up nights, which are usually once a fortnight get people excited a bit more and just as guys like the excuse to wear girls’ short skirts and little tops, the girls have to take it a step further. You can be a bit more extravagent, random, risquee…whatever you feel like and it isn’t a big deal because it’s ‘only the union’ and the social codes are different between it and other clubs.
But the question is…have we taken it too far? Tom and Gareth both say they’re repulsed (i’m putting words in your mouths, but that’s the suggestion you were giving) by bigger girls wearing hardly any clothes. Is this an issue for our union? Are we lowering the tone by girls leaving nothing to the imagination and looking easy? Do some people think people go too far with their outfits?…on moulin rouge night I saw girls wearing babydolls with stockings…is that a lot worse than corsets and ruffle skirts?? And if weight’s an issue – should we be saying that some – slimmer girls are allowed to dress scantly clad but there should be a limit (weight, size, measurements) so we don’t disgust people??
I’ve never thought too much about this before because I always thought you could dress a bit crazy at the union and it was only a laugh and did no harm. I don’t find the way I dress makes people look at me differently (unless maybe everyone’s just used to it by now..) and although there’s always the odd drunken sleaze, I find that if you’re dancing with your friends then people know you’re not on the look out and leave you be. One of my friends, who is usually on the prowl when we’re out, moves away from our group when dancing so guys see that she’s interested. I’d love to be some sort of wildlife documentary presenter about different types of people at the union…maybe my next post!
But please – I’d love to hear your opinions on this one!
I agree with your remark about uni being a sort of safe area where you can be a lot more extravagant and get away with more than if you’re at a normal club, which inevitably draws the very dregs of society, as well as everybody else.
In response to fat people in small clothes, I think it’s more a matter of taste. It’s not so much about how little you have on, I think, but more about if it emphasises your better features. Obviously if you are just hanging fat flabs out of a tiny dress, it is not flattering for you and a complete eyesore for everyone who can see you – it makes me seriously doubt the self-respect some of these people have. You can be skinny and look an absolute state as well in absolutely awful outfits. On the other hand, as you so adeptly show everytime I see you my dear Emma, you can dress scantily and still look fab!
People who generally show too much flesh make me feel uncomfortable, probably because it gets a bit difficult for me as a guy to think of women as human beings when they leave little to the imagination. In essence it’s more my mind I find more distasteful than the clothes themselves. As a result, I’m not a fan of outfits that show too much cleavage or leg.
As confessandbehanged says, I don’t think weight should be a factor necessarily. All people should try to dress in a way that is easy on everyone else.
Isn’t it interesting that i can get away with commenting on what other people look like at the union when every night i go there i inevitably spend pressed up against the bar downing snakebites and hurling abuse, or making a prat of myself on the dancefloor. i don’t give a fuck what any one wears, which is why i’ll be sporting a slutty little number tomorrow.
and i counter Luke’s argument, there’s nothing like a bit of cleavage and leg. Unless it’s mine, obviously.
Well gentlemen – Rocky Horror night on the 31st January – I expect you all to step up to the mark and be wearing stockings and suspender belts!
Don’t encourage them, Emma! I do love my (vintage, seamed) stockings and suspender belts, but to see them on a man would seriously affect my love affair with them.
I think everyone’s entitled to wear what the hell they want. Ultimately, I’m not really interested. Live and let live.
Wearing beautiful underwear under plain clothes is a fun way to feel secretively goddess-like, without anyone knowing why you’re so damn sure of yourself. Oops…
ahhh…I think I’ve sussed out my problem then! Instead of secretly feeling sexy in good underwear I have a bad habit of just randomly stripping in public! It’s getting quite bad now, tesco weren’t impressed and there’s only so many cautions I’ll get from campus security before they hand me over to the police for indecent exposure…wouldn’t look good when going into teaching me thinks….