By Anne Brugts, Story Terrace
My interest in women’s clothing started at an early age. While I was growing up I regularly searched my sister’s wardrobe for pieces to try on. My mum’s clothes suffered from my hobby, too. If she and my sister weren’t at home, I held my own costume party.
It stayed that way for a long time. Only alone and in the security of my home did I feel confident to experiment with feminine looks. I was frightened by the idea of going public. I did have an increasing urge to possess my own lady’s clothes, though. And so, a few years after the first experiments, I started ordering from mail-order firms.
I started with women’s suits. To me, suits represented the most direct translation of femininity into clothing. The moment I first went outside to buy women’s clothes was the immediate result of a practical problem. None of my mail-order clothes fitted perfectly. I was looking for clothes that were tight-fitting, but with enough width for my shoulders. So I decided to take a big step: to go shopping in real shops.
One of the first items I bought was a red leather jacket. This piece represented a breakthrough for me: it highlighted major progress in finding my own style. The jacket was so beautiful that I dared to step outside wearing it. I thought: ‘I’ve always adjusted to the expectations of people around me. Now it’s time for them to adjust to me.’ From the moment I bought the jacket, I started wearing women’s clothes outside in the open. Now I even run my own blog with weekly updates about my new outfits.
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About us: Story Terrace helps customers to capture personal stories in short books alongside professional writers. Our writers have a range of backgrounds and interests, sharing one passion: portraying individuals through well-crafted anecdotes and connected stories.
For Amsterdam Stories, Anne Brugts roams the streets of the Dutch capital to portray one citizen at a time.
