Some of the same shops that supply to the steampunk movement also have gorge' clothes of the modesty movement. Sometimes I am tempted by modest clothing that has less austerity about it, but generally am aware that the modest clothing movement is more about preserving one's not inconsiderable assets for the general purview of people you like and trust. In other words, if you really like someone, you reveal more layers of yourself. Colleen McCullough once noted in her famed book, the Thornbirds, that people become more revelatory- that is, they talk more about themselves and reveal more of their inner thoughts, faces and figures, as they age. Her character, Fee, once said she was rather like an onion. I'd like to be like an onion, too- tightly encased in totally embracing layer upon layer upon layer.

Anyway, I really like steampunks! What fun, to dress up in Victorian clothing and add a built structure to one's bodies and inner selves. They have a convention based in different places every year. In 2006, the NYT did a huge article about this subgenre.

In our society, the temptation to be sexualized is a huge one. To be pretty, glimmery glammery, to be gorge'. I'm not saying that women should deny this basic urge, but I wonder how many women, like me, have deliberately dressed frumpy? Sometimes the attention is overwhelming and becomes too much. Sometimes you just want to accomplish something other than being eye candy.

In Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne novels, Anne has a roommate, Philippa, that is very rich. She says to Anne, nine nights out of ten, you are like a brown moth that hardly anyone notices, next to my vaunted charms. No one thinks that you are beautiful- people look right past you. On the tenth night, you choose to flame out and outshine me completely. That's what I seek to be like. When I want to dazzle, I want to be compared to all those times when I was just ordinary. I like everyday ordinariness, the lack of pressure, the building of inner character. And I like to one day surprise the right people with something that is totally rare. And of course I enjoy contributing to society and making it a better place. I guess what you can take from this, though, is that you'll never see me as the type of girl that does makeup and heels every single day. But you will see it just often enough, and for the right audiences, for it to be truly special.