Asperger's and Fashion

[Tom]

I think it was because I really wished I HAD to wear glasses for some reason. I just liked them. I thought I could hide behind them.
Now I DO have to wear glasses or contacts and wish I didn't [emoji14]

I have only started wearing reading ones myself for a few years but do feel a sense of being more insulated. I think people can't see my eyes so easily - what I am or am not looking at - Not quite completely hidden, but ducking a little maybe. It also seems to heighten the sense of being focused, when I am working on something.

Contacts though I could never do I think. I can't manage to even touch my own eye. I can't stand anyone else touching it either. Eyes aren't supposed to be touched. Once I got a tiny sliver of metal in one firing a rifle. The medic pulled the splinter but not before I managed to get a rust ring in the eye. Then a specialist told me to hold my eye open and head still so she could buff it out with a dentist type drill. I was like, 'wait aren't you gonna clamp my head in a vice or something?' They said 'No. You won't move.' I was like 'I.. don't know if that's strictly true!'

 

[Omega]

Jump suits can be really awkward when you go to the bathroom.

Maybe you can find a jump suit with a back door like the old "union suit" long johns, lol.

 

[tree]

Maybe you can find a jump suit with a back door like the old "union suit" long johns, lol.

When I was about 8, my aunt gave me all the pajamas like that---drop seat.
White with blue flowers or pink flowers.
Tied around the waist.
I don't know how it happened that all her 3 boys were wearing flowered-y pajamas, but they had
outgrown them, so I got stuck with them.

Well, come to think of it, they weren't all wearing pajamas.
The oldest cousin wore a nightshirt and a night cap.

She didn't give my mother any nightshirts for me.
You don't outgrow a big tent nightshirt as fast as pajamas, apparently.

Drop seat clothing has it's own issues.
A tie can flop into the toilet.
The pajama bottom 'trap door' itself can be a problem.

 

[AsheSkyler]

I've got a bit of an eye for fashion, problem is I find most high fashion to be pretty trashy and impractical or downright ugly. So there's my issue. I never did understand wearing a belt that was 10+ inches wide. Or why some chicks in hair magazines had a solid block of yellow makeup stretching from one temple to the other. Or who wants a purse handle made out of a hoola-hoop...

I dress comfortably. Tshirt, jeans. Classic and tomboy. Easier to look good, easier to wear.

 

[tree]

"High fashion" is art with a human body as the excuse.
It isn't intended to be practical.

 

[Tom]

I don't know why modern western civilization torments itself with ever changing fashion to begin with. In other places and even in our own past it wasn't so. You wore the tribal or regional dress, lederhosen or togas.

 

[Tom]

"High fashion" is art with a human body as the excuse.
It isn't intended to be practical.

I think that is part right. But there is also a vanity or status element with 'high fashion'.

 

[tree]

I think that is part right. But there is also a vanity or status element with 'high fashion'.

True.
And true in High Art, also.

"Who are you wearing"/fashion.
"Who is on your wall"/art

High fashion...'Oh look at me. I don't have to be able to move/walk/sit in my clothes.
I never really need to "do" anything. I can afford to be a display piece.'

Like the difference between having a pasture & a lawn.

 

[TSS]

I have always just liked to wear what is comfortable to me whether it looked good or appropriate for the occasion. When I got my most recent job, my sister-in-law took me shopping for the clothes to wear to fit the work I was going to be doing. I was going have to wear more professional clothing. I have been told that my idea of causal clothing is the type people wear around their homes. It feels good to me, I am not exposing anything, it is not at work and I feel better even if I am a grown up and look a lot younger than I really am. When I was growing up, my mom set a rule for me that I couldn't wear T-shirts to school anymore after elementary school. I had to wear shirts with buttons. I still was not up to style with my peers, but I was comfortable. I know I have very little fashion sense or might not know what is appropriate to wear to certain occasions. I ask my brother or sister-in-law and they try to help. I do appreciate their help. It is trying sometimes, but I know they are trying their best to look after me and help me.

 

[Grumpy Cat]

I love QVC!!! But I'm NT!!!

Was at work last night and noticed that I put on the wrong work shoes and I didn't match!
It upset me for hours! No one else could understand why I was so upset, but to make that kind of simple mistake meant I must have been extremely tired and not thinking straight (and I have to critically think at work).

I should have worn an all black pair of shoes because I was wearing a top with black, red and gray, but I had these shoes on -

PASTELS!!!!!!!!!! Ugh!!!!!!!!
These shoes are supposed to match my pastel aqua top and pastel pink top! Does anyone see any red or gray?

 

[wyverary]

I guess the question that must be asked is, Do you really need to dress fashionably? I'm sure I could look "hip" if I payed close attention and chose my wardrobe carefully, but I've never encountered a situation where it's necessary. My workplace has a very lax dress code (and even in places that don't, they usually supply uniforms anyway) and I go to school with a bunch of IT folks, who, let's just say...well, feeling comfortable is pretty important when you're hunched over a computer 8 hours a day and nobody really looks at you anyway. The extent of my fashion is cargo pants and t-shirts (some of which are admittedly nerdy and purchased on impulse, like this and this) and, if the need arises, either an open flannel shirt or a hoodie. I don't even own a friggin' necktie, for pete's sake! I go to a lot of shows and see a lot of "hipster" fashion, and I don't really care to look like everyone else.

 

[Shawn D]

When I was a model living in L.A., I needed to keep up with fashion trends and designers.
Now that I'm living in a small college town where people wear socks with sandals and regularly go out in public in their pajamas, I don't need to give a f*ck. it's quite liberating, actually.

 

[epath13]

Having "no fashion sense", or having no interest in clothing or what not, in my opinion, has nothing to do with Asperger's. Some people have a gift for matching stuff that looks good on them, some can simply learn it, and some have no interest in all that stuff regardless whether they are on the spectrum or not. To me fashion is a form of art, and I see people as art as well, that's why I'm interested in it. My kids have decent sense of what's matching what's not as well. And we are all on the spectrum.

 

[Naturalist]

That is a good point. I think that society does expect more fashionable dress for the ladies than is expected of men. I am lucky in that I never had to worry about work place attire. Back when I worked for someone else, I was supplied with uniforms to wear. Now I just need my clothes clean, pressed and comfortable. I not only dress plainly, but pretty much the same every day. This fashion thing has to be hard for Aspie ladies in the work place and socially.

I think it is actually one of the hardest things about being a female Aspie, because no one ever bothers my male friends about their clothing, but everyone I know has made comments about my clothing choices ever since I started wearing clothes. I wore long, full, homemade cotton prairie dresses through middle school because I liked the softness and weight, and my classmates bullied me over those dresses. Before high school my mother decided I needed to be done with those dresses, so she took me shopping for some more fashionable things. She had the shop ladies show me how to wear everything and took me to the makeup counter and had them teach me how to use makeup. I really tried hard to make it all work, because I knew my mom had invested a lot, but the clothes and makeup were so uncomfortable to me and I couldn't remember what combinations of things looked good together. For much of my adult life, I have tried to find things which are suitable for a professional setting but still meet my standards of comfort. At the moment I have thousands of dollars in clothes I can't bear to wear, in large boxes waiting to go to consignment.

Still, people make comments about my clothes: I wear black all the time, even when it isn't appropriate, so I got a few things that are ivory or taupe or navy, and now I am told I need "color". Not a little color, apparently but eye-popping color, something that says "look at me!" Sorry folks, I am awkward enough without calling more attention to myself! Why do other people care so much about what I wear? What does it matter to them that I can't conform to the ridiculous impracticalities of mainstream "feminine" fashion??

I suddenly had a Eureka moment recently: if I were a Buddhist monk, I could wear the same thing every day and no one would care, because it is a part of my identity to be plain. So why can't I adopt a similar ethic of simplicity and save myself some of the pain of having to conform? I am experimenting with two items for work, and two favorite (and very plain) linen dresses, one for home and another for special occasions.

 

[AsheSkyler]

Does anyone see any red or gray?

I see light red (pink) and dark grey (black). It's all in how you word it to those who criticize you.

Still, people make comments about my clothes: I wear black all the time, even when it isn't appropriate, so I got a few things that are ivory or taupe or navy, and now I am told I need "color". Not a little color, apparently but eye-popping color, something that says "look at me!" Sorry folks, I am awkward enough without calling more attention to myself! Why do other people care so much about what I wear? What does it matter to them that I can't conform to the ridiculous impracticalities of mainstream "feminine" fashion??

I feel ye. I just hate those "loud" patterns! It's like having little sirens going off on my chest in the edge of my vision all day long and it just gives me a headache. The only normal things you can find to wear are solid neutral or cool colors.

 

[On the Inside]

Having "no fashion sense", or having no interest in clothing or what not, in my opinion, has nothing to do with Asperger's. Some people have a gift for matching stuff that looks good on them, some can simply learn it, and some have no interest in all that stuff regardless whether they are on the spectrum or not. To me fashion is a form of art, and I see people as art as well, that's why I'm interested in it. My kids have decent sense of what's matching what's not as well. And we are all on the spectrum.

I agree, and I feel that I have a good sense of what looks good on me, even if it is limited to tan workpants and muted plain shirts, t-shirts and shorts. And people do say I look good, I'm just not dressy.

I've had enough training and exposure to art and design to know that fashion is an art, it's just not where I would put my energy. I do enjoy seeing a well dressed person.

It might all come down to the shoes, anyways, and I love shoes. I'll feel uncomfortable in shoes that are all wrong for my limited range of clothing. I'm fascinated by their construction and shape, and love a good fitting pair of shoes or boots. I wont wear shoes that are too beat up.

 

[Lealea]

I too do not understand fashion, I wear clothes that are comfortable for me, usually lose fitting jeans, joggers, vest tops and hoodies, I do not want to wear the same as everyone. The only trainers i will wear are skate ones I'm very fussy about them tho

 

[Limited_Moon]

Fashion is actually one of my special interests, so I tend now days to be quite fashionable, though I tend to dress like an Asos catalogue.........which where I live (New Zealand) is not normal, so I get stared at just as much as when I went through my goth dressing phase (though no one crosses the street to avoid me anymore......)

I was fairly hopeless in my childhood though, especially as my father was my primary care-giver, and was as clueless as me. I was the kid with unbrushed hair, frilly 90's dresses over track pants with holes in the knees, and no shoes (because laces were a puzzle I hadn't quite figured out yet and once shoes came off they stayed off)

I'm pretty good at putting outfits and colors together nowdays. It's fun. I also like mixing things up and collecting clothes. I also have pretty aspie systems involved and rotate everything for equal wear. I also enjoy the laundry because I can catalogue everything.

I hate malls, however and buy primarily online, from one site (Asos) because I like it and see no reason to have more sites.

I find though, that I can't match the outfit to the occasion or the group of people. The concept is rather foreign to me. It's kind of a case of 'one wardrobe fits all' with varying degrees of success. Oh and I hate high heels. They are obviously an invention of the devil and are torturous beyond belief. If I wanted to be gored that way, I'd jump in a briar patch......

 

[Joel I]

I really don't care about current trends in fashion, much to my sisters disgust. I do have a very strong sense of what I like to wear, mainly about colour (I refuse to wear light, bright blue or aqua). The style of the clothes I like to wear is generally not "in" and I fine getting new clothes very difficult and I don't like clothes shopping anyway. My younger sister has said a few times I always wear the same things because a lot of my clothes are my favourite colours so apparently look the same.

 

[Pappy]

I'm not very good at coordinating clothes. Its also hard finding clothes that fit my 'feel' test i.e. it has to be thin and feel soft, can't wear anything stiff, thick and warm as I get hot very quickly.