holy-cow.se : Training Pretty, Day Four

It’s Super Bowl Sun-Dee!

I had two things on the docket today, to visit the Art Institute and then catch my train home. Unfortunately, the weather in Chicago was mostly foul; rainy and windy. Fortunately, I had purchased a fold-up umbrella on Monday so I could walk the couple of blocks to the Art Institute.

The Art Institute opened at 10:30 and my train was leaving at 1:45, so not a lot of time to view the Art. I had originally planned to go to the AI on Monday, but the trip to the Old Orchard Nordstrom was more appealing. On the other hand, I now had a new dress to wear to the AI, and I had a ticket, so rain or no rain, I was going. I wore my new blue dress, another Maggy London to add to my collection.

I roamed the halls and if you like art, the AI has a large collection. There was a fair number of people, and I was still somewhat self-conscious. I did get a couple of “ma’ams”, which I assume is about politeness as opposed to misguessing my gender.

I left just before noon, and as I was getting ready to go outside and opening my umbrella, a lady next to me says “that’s a pretty dress” (it is). I thank her, tell her I just bought it and don’t get many opportunities to dress up. She repeated it was pretty. I guess that’s a win (I noticed most of the women were in casual clothes).

So I made it back to the hotel, changed quickly into my new top and skinny jeans for the train ride, and checked out. I had arranged payment earlier while in my guy workout clothes, but the clerk knew the guy me and the girl me were one and the same. Took a cab to the train station, and talked to the cabbie about the Cards and Cubs. Girl clothes and a guy voice didn’t seem to bother him.

Before I boarded the train, the TSA wanted to do a random bag inspection where they swipe your bag with a strip and test it in a machine. The TSA guy said “ma’am”; I passed. The train is a lot emptier, which means the seat next to me is open. I also figured out how to use the leg rest. D’oh! Makes the ride more comfortable.

I’m also more relaxed. I guess it’s a combo of having been out in public for four days and being dressed more casually.

One final thought. I saw a picture at the Art Institute and it resonated with me. I didn’t get a great picture, but I really didn’t want to be too conspicuous; a CD taking a picture of a woman in underwear. This was in the modern art section of the AI.

What also resonated with me was the description attached to the picture, and I suspect many of us can relate. The picture is called “Waiting Lady”, an acrylic done by Christina Ramberg in 1972. The following is the description. “I can remember sitting in my mother’s room watching her get dressed for public appearances”, Christina Ramberg once said. And I remember being stunned by how [her girdle] transformed her body, how it pushed up her breasts and slendered her waist….Watching my mother get dressed I used to think that this is what men want women to look like, she’s transforming herself into the kind of body men want. I thought it was fascinating…in some ways I thought it was awful.” Tightly cropped, with a graphic, almost cinematic quality, Waiting Lady’s corsets, darts, and push-up bra become abstracted forms that both conceal the figure and transform it into a segmented object, elegant but also contorted.”

As I said, the thoughts of the artist resonate with me. I don’t remember watching my mom dress, but I’ve had a fascination with wearing woman’s clothes for 50 years. Not only is it the image that men want to see, it’s the image we want to BE. We contort our body shape and paint our faces to match an image. That desire is a large part of us.