A Paean to the Skirt

This early evening when I was coming out of the hoagie place, a couple came out after me.  The male half of the couple said to me, in a nice pleasant tone not a salacious one, "That's a pretty skirt."  "Thank you!" I said in a surprised voice.  In fact, I don't much care for the skirt I was wearing, which is an old one that I made maybe four years ago when I was hefty (as opposed to pudgy, which is what I'm starting to become now - something I adamantly don't want to have happen before I go to England, so I need to become stern about food again: the hoagie was a vegetarian one, by the way).  It has a strange waist that, although cut in such a way that it should be slimming, in fact makes me look lumpy.  HOWEVER, his comment got me thinking about how much I love skirts generally.

Okay, a big part of my love of skirts has practical roots:  I could never get the hang of making trousers.  This always seemed odd to me, since trousers are essentially a two-seam deal, but the sister of an ex-boyfriend once told me that, in fact, they are quite tricky.  So that's my excuse:  trousers are trickier than they appear.  As a result of my inability, I've been forced to make only skirts, dresses, and blouses, and as a result I wear a lot of skirts (and dresses).  

I must admit, though, that my affection for the skirt surpasses this practical consideration. Frankly, I am not a big fan of clothing.  Okay, it's necessary when it's cold, and these days I wear a bra even when I'm wearing nothing else, because I'm paranoid about my breasts sagging, but aside from that (and even the bra thing I would give up if I could) I just don't care for wearing clothes.  I just like being able to move and stretch my limbs in an unimpeded manner.  And, well, a skirt is quite a lot like being naked.  It swirls, and when you sit down it makes a big circle, under which you are wearing nearly nothing (or nothing, if that floats your boat).  When you wear trousers you can't feel your legs next to each other, and if you try to wrap yourself around yourself (my favorite way of sitting) wrinkles dig into you or prevent you from being comfortable.  Whereas with a skirt you can bend yourself about, or cross your legs, and it's as comfy as if you weren't wearing anything at all.

Plus, I have a terrible waist to hip ratio (quite small waist relative to my hips), and skirts hide that better.

Well, at the moment I'm making a bright green straight tunic, so I'd better get back to that.