Three weeks before the wedding I attended this summer, I began shopping for clothes. My girlfriend had purchased her dress and I had an idea of the outfit I was looking for. I wanted to pick up the colours of her dress (pink and brown) in my tie and shirt and go neutral for the suit. The wedding had...

Wedding season is once again upon us and invitations to the joyous occasions are flooding the postal system. I used to dread weddings. I liked the party and seeing family or friends. I enjoyed the food, the drinks, the dancing and generally sharing in the couple’s joy. Heck, I even surprised myself...

I am butch. I guess. Butch by default? Butch because I am not femme. Definitely not femme. So. Not. Femme. Why is it easier for me to say what I am not? What’s wrong with butch? There are so many other labels out there: andro, boi, AG, stud… all degrees of the same side of the gender divide,...

I was a tomboy. (Quite a confession, I know. I’ll just wait for the shock waves to subside.) I was a rough-and-tumble, dirty-kneed, baseball-playing, plaid-shirt-wearing tomboy growing up. I haven’t changed much. My earliest playmates were boys and we dressed alike. It was the 70s so we were all...

Ho-ho-holy crap I’m glad that’s over! I am still dealing with what I like to call “the ghost of the Xmas present.” And as it becomes the ghost of Xmas past, I’d like to figure out how to keep this spectre from haunting me in future. For many reasons, it was not a great holiday this year....

Recently I taught my dad how to tie a bow tie. It was his birthday. Mine too, actually. His 70th, my 41st. I wore a bow tie to the party with a snazzy vest, and as a gift I gave him a bow tie and taught him how to tie it. Here’s why this was a big deal. I was aware that my mother would not like my...

I am finally coming out of the closet. Not that one. I’ve been out of that one since I was eighteen. I’m talking about my clothes closet. My wardrobe. Interesting word “wardrobe,” meaning both a piece of furniture that holds clothing and the outfits themselves. Well mine feels like a prison and...