Power Dressing

That evening she suggested his new underwear, deep tan pantyhose and a beige wool crepe dress, with short capped sleeves and a sweetheart neckline, a skimmer bodice and a short flippy skirt. Across the front of the dress was a lighting flash in black. The shoes were perfect with it.

He did his own hair and makeup, the hair in the tucked-in bob he had worn when Chris did it for him. With simple gold jewelry he looked very feminine and pretty. He sat quietly and did his nails while Christine replaced her work tunic dress with a fuchsia pink shift and went down to the corner Thai take-out to pick up the evening meals and some wine.

Nails completed, he stood before the mirror to check his appearance and his heart fluttered at the image of the girl in the mirror. But then, it always did. He figured, without conscious conceit, that the reflection showed a girl pretty enough to cause any young, red-blooded male heart to flutter. Except perhaps that his breasts were small, just his own inadequate pecs in a push-up bra,. His early reticence had been replaced by a genuine pride in his appearance. He really liked what he saw. The first couple of times he had dressed this way he had felt nauseous with a combination of excitement, fear and the certain knowledge that he was doing something forbidden. But it wasn"t forbidden after all. His sister praised and encouraged him, urging him along this very strange path. His excursions into public places had proved he could get away with it. The fear subsided. The excitement remained along with the thrill of the clothes and the process of the conversion of a rather ordinary, if pretty boy. into a undeniably attractive young woman.

The notion of becoming one of those wonderful creatures and. more so, of being seen and accepted as one was overpowering.

He adored women and womanhood. His mother, his sister, all those beauteous models he doted on, young lovelies in the street, at school. He had begun to realize what he felt most was privileged. He had been given a face and a body which, in the right clothes and makeup, made it possible for him to join with them. He felt he was on a pathway to an, as yet, unknown destination.

He left the room and went through to the dining room and began to set the table.

Sylvia arrived at seven forty. He assumed it was an act for his benefit but she cheek-kissed both of them, raved about how they looked, about his dress, and thereafter seemed to take it for granted she was in the company of two other women. In short, she made no special references. Christine likewise. During the meal he was surprised how often Sylvia brought sex into the conversation. He had not realized that girls talked so openly on this subject.

He brought the subject back to clothes - and sex - when he asked:

"Do you dress to please yourself, Sylvia, or men?"

"Oh, both undeniably. I don"t mean I get up in the morning and think what can I wear today to get the guys looking at me, but it's there. I tend to find if I dress in clothes I like, guys tend to like them too."

"We were talking about this last week," Chris said. "I"ve been thinking about it since. I don"t think I dress to please men. I dress to please me. If men like what I wear it's a bonus."

"Short skirts? Low necklines?"

"I like my legs," Christine said. "I wear stockings and heels and short skirts for my own pleasure. I like my body."

"Yeah me too," Sylvia said. She grinned. "What about you Stevie?"

He had an answer and it was the simple truth.

"I certainly dress to please myself. I know it sounds a bit stuck up but I like what I look like."

"And if boys look at you?" Christine asked the question.

"That's really interesting because it's only just happened to me but I liked that too. It means to me that I looked good."

"I'm not nearly as well endowed in the looks department as you girls are," Sylvia said. "But I know what to do with makeup and hair and I have a pretty good bod, I think."

"Stevie said she thinks you are sexy?"

"Really?"

"And I meant it," Stevie said., not self-consciously. "You have great legs and you use makeup really well. Tell me something else. How old were you when you first thought boys were looking at you? I mean when were you first aware of your sexual attraction?"

Sylvia shook her head. "Boy's didn"t look at me I can assure you. When I was thirteen and fourteen and all this should have been happening, I was more overweight than I am now and not a pretty sight at all. But later, about sixteen, I started wearing high heels and short skirts and things started to look up. What about you Chris?"

"I was telling Stevie about this the other day. Yesterday. I went from child to woman in about three seconds flat. When I was thirteen or so. My mother was furious but I was into tits, and short skirts and heels and makeup in a big way. And I knew what they were for. I loved having the guys look at me. Mind you it took me a little while to realize what they wanted and that came as a shock once I found out. But once I"d started trying to look sexy I found that thinking about it and what I was doing could turn me on. I could turn myself on sexually by what I was wearing and makeup and stuff. Sort of an association of ideas."

"I don't think that's so rare," Sylvia said. "I do that too. I get wet in my pants sometimes just from putting on certain clothes. That's how I discovered masturbation."

"Me too," Christine shrilled.

Stevie wanted to say him too but he held his tongue.

"But not from the clothes themselves is what I"m saying. From the association of ideas."

"Yeah we got that Chris," Sylvia laughed.

"We were talking about power dressing the other day and I was just thinking there's as much power in a sexy outfit as there is in a practical one," Stevie said.

"It's different power though," Chris said. "One is a seductive power," she laughed, "the sort they say brings men to their knees. The other is a qualitative power. Supposedly to give credibility and strength. I"m not sure that it works."

"I think it works but it also alienates," Sylvia said. "You might get equal time in the boardroom but you get no time at all in the bedroom."

"But dressing sexy is power dressing too isn"t it?" Stevie asked. "I mean, look at the super models - Elle, Naomi, Claudia, - you see them in photographs taken at social functions. They"re not working but they look sexy as hell. Really short skirts, lots of tit, bare midriffs. legs, long hair, exotic makeup?"

"Sure that's power," Sylvia said.

"But you have be a super girl to get way with it."

"Do you?" Stevie asked. "I agree that most sexy girls are nice looking and most nice looking girls are sexy but you don't have to be perfect. I saw a girl the other day who was not at all beautiful in the classical sense. But she was stopping traffic. She was wearing all black, black knee-high boots, black pantyhose, a black skirt, knee length and semi-fitted but with a split in front of the left leg cut up to high on her thigh. Black sweater or T shirt, I couldn't tell which and a black swing coat the same length as the skirt. Almost black hair below her shoulders, hanging loose, dark eye makeup, creamy skin and full brown-red lips. As she walked and the coat swung she revealed glimpses of this perfect thigh. Guys were falling about and she knew it."

"And I bet she was wet in her panties," Sylvia said.

Stevie looked at her quizzically.

"Sure she would have known she was sexy," she explained. "And the fact that she was being eye-fucked would have been a turn-on. She's probably the sort of girl for whom, on the right day, getting dressed would be an erotic experience because she would have been thinking about the effect she was going to have. There's no doubt girls are more vain than boys. Just watch a girl getting dressed some time. She"ll check herself out at every stage, moving this way and that,. standing on tippy toes."

Stevie smiled. "I have. My dear sister looks like she's having sex with herself when she's dressing up."

Chris leaned forward and smacked him on the arm. "Stevie! That's not nice."

"Probably true though," Sylvia grinned. "I never feel like using my vibrator when I"m wearing jeans and a scruffy sweater. So, Stevie, does it turn you on to wear pretty clothes?"

He sighed. "Yes."
"I"d have been surprised if you"d said no."

She pushed her chair slightly back from the table and took a pack of cigarettes from her handbag and proffered them. Both Chris and Stevie took one.

"Great food Chris. Where from?"

"The Thai place on the corner. We"re very lucky. It's within walking distance."

"What are you doing Stevie? For a job, I mean?"

"I"m packing groceries. I hate it but I don"t know what else to do. Actually I"ve been thinking I"d really like to work in the fashion industry. I"m not a designer so in marketing or sales or something."

"You could work in our industry too. You don"t have to be a qualified beautician. You could be a receptionist."

Stevie looked at his sister. Did Sylvia realize what she was suggesting?

"I can"t do that."

"Why not? Reggie can?"

"Oh God. I forgot all about Reggie," Chris squealed. "What happened?"

"Reggie was very, very cute. The staff loved her, her clients loved her. I think she's here to stay."

"How did she look?"

"How do you think? Great. That slinky little Asian body. All it needed was a dress even if was only a tunic. And she's an expert with makeup, of course. Look, I don"t really know anything. I haven"t talked with her because I had to rush home and change for tonight. But I"m planning to. I suspect she's always been a transsexual and covered it up or belittled it. What I do know is this. She didn"t look like no drag queen today."

Stevie leaned forward on the table. "I assume you"re saying that Reggie went to work today in a dress?"

"Oh yes!" Chris leapt in. "I"m sorry. I forgot to tell you."

"And everyone just said Oh fine, Reggie's a girl now?"

Sylvia nodded. "Sure. Mind you she's pretty much been a girl in boy's clothing up to now. I reckon half the people barely noticed."

"In what way has she been a girl in boy's clothing?"

Sylvia shrugged. "Hair, makeup, jewelry." She hesitated, staring at Stevie. "So you see. You could do it."

He sat for a moment looking from Sylvia to his sister and back again. Then he stood up.

"Coffee?" he asked.

The three of them went into the kitchen and stood around in the confined space while Stevie made coffee. Every action, every movement, reminded him. His bare arms, terminating in slim hands with painted finger nails and be-ringed fingers. The gentle swish of the short skirt around stockinged thighs. The high heels. The brush of his hair around his neck and cheeks.

"Tell me about hair," he said.

"What about hair?" Chris said.

"You asked me the other day why I wore my hair long. I want to ask you the same thing."

"And you said because you liked it that way. I could say the same thing."

They took their coffee back into the living room.

"I know. But I hadn"t thought about it then. I think I wear my hair long because I"m making a statement of some sort. It is rather feminine after all."

"So short hair is less feminine?" Sylvia said, sipping the coffee.

"Hmmm, I don"t think so, necessarily," Chris said. "There are plenty of girls who wear their hair short who are not unfeminine."

"So what about people like Michael Bolton who is as famous for his long hair as he is for his singing. What's he saying? And what about that over muscled creep on Gladiators? Vulcan."

"Yes it's interesting isn"t it?" Chris said. "I think they see it as being pretty. That it enhances their looks. Girls seem to love it."

"Vulcan couldn"t put on a dress and makeup and get away with being a girl though," Sylvia said.

"I don"t think that's got anything to do with anything," Stevie said. "But I"ll tell you what I think. It challenges the established idea of male and female. Blurs the differences. How many times do you see a boy in unisex clothes with long hair and you have to look twice? He's not necessarily trying to look like a girl but he doesn"t really care if he's mistaken for one. It's as much a backlash against girls wearing boy-type clothes as anything else. God, some young girls never wear anything but unisex clothes and scruffy ones at that. Are they denying their gender?"

"Good question," Sylvia responded. "I think they are protecting themselves from male perving. As you say, blending into the scenery."

"So then I suppose we could say I"m doing the opposite. Standing out from the scenery?"

"Do you want to be a girl?"

It was the first time the implications of what he was doing had come up, the first admission that he was NOT a girl.

"No. I love female clothes and what they look like. Female beauty.

And I feel privileged now that I am able to wear them. But I don"t want to BE a girl if that means sacrificing my essential maleness if you know what I mean."

"Losing your dick you mean?" Sylvia said.

"Precisely."

"So you want the best of both worlds?" Chris asked.

"I guess so. If you put it that way. I mean, if you see what I have and what I"m doing as the best."

"I don"t," Sylvia said. "I don"t suffer from penis envy."

"Would you have tits if you could?" Chris asked.

Stevie blushed wildly.

"Ah ha! So you would?"

"I don"t think so. It has crossed my mind fleetingly but it was as much a moment of envy when I put on a bra."

"Now that really would be something wouldn"t it?" Sylvia said. "Tits and a dick. As pretty as you are, Stevie, you could have anyone you wanted - either gender." She put down her empty coffee cup and stood. "Listen I have to go." She picked up her purse and moved towards the door. "It's been the most fun I"ve had with my clothes on for a long time." She put her arm around Stevie who was accompanying her. "You"re beautiful Stevie. Being a girl suits you. You should stay that way." She turned to Chris and kissed her on the cheek. "Look after her, hon. She's a treasure."

When she left Stevie turned to Chris.

"She's really nice."

"Sure she is. She's my friend. But so"re you. Wanna help me clean up?"

To be continued...