What does Marriage Have to do with Getting Dressed?

  Angel likes it when I wear white. I like it when I wear fuchsia, blue, purple, turquoise, red, or black. Angel likes it when I wear a dress with no tights. I like to wear tights with crazy colors and patterns. Angel thinks that floor length skirts are not pretty. I feel like a Victorian lady when I wear floor length skirts.  

Typically, I dress however I want to. I'm not much of a rule-follower and I'm not terribly fashion conscious. I'll never, never tell someone that they shouldn't wear something just because it's not in style or the color isn't a trendy one. I always say, if you like it, wear it.

But at the same time, there are guidelines set around what I wear. When I lived with my parents, the general standard for how all of us girls were allowed to dress was no skirts or shorts that showed our knees, no sleeveless shirts, and no bikinis. I have no problem with those guidelines at all. The way I express my personal style has always been much more through bright colors and pairing unexpected articles of  clothing together than through showing skin. I used to regularly wear jeans or floor-length skirts in 90 degree weather and think nothing of it.

Then, I got married. After marriage, my parents don't get a say in determining what I wear, rather, my husband does. Shortly before our wedding, Angel told me that he would appreciate it if I would dress a little more "sexy" when we were married. Now here's the problem, I've never really been known as a "sexy" dresser. A sparkly one? Yes. A colorful one? Yes. Similar to a five-year-old who just puts on all the clothes she loves the most and calls it good? Yes. Sexy? No. Since our first acquaintance, apparently, the outfits that I so enjoy wearing have been making Angel roll his eyes at my weirdness. However, since he is my husband now, I have tried to listen to his request and incorporate some articles of clothing that HE likes into my wardrobe, such as skirts that hit above my knee, white blouses, and a pair or two of shorts. When it's warmer outside, I'll wear dresses without my beloved tights, because Angel prefers a normal-legged wife to a blue, pink, purple, or polka-dot-legged wife. During the winter, however, Angel's kind of out of luck.

In all honesty, there's really not a whole lot we wholeheartedly agree on when it comes to my clothing, except shoes (we both appreciate pretty shoes).  But when I tried on this Shabby Apple dress as soon as it arrived in the mail, the first thing Angel said was: "This is my favorite dress out of all of your dresses!"

This dress was almost a shoe-in for Angel's approval, because it's white. But I'm not going to lie, I think it's the fitted cut of the dress that he likes most. I tend to gravitate toward dresses with a flared skirt, but I'm glad I picked this one out with the $50 giftcard that I won on Rachel Sayumi's blog (see, entering blog giveaways can pay off!). I'm sure Angel would have liked it better without the turquoise tights, but it was below freezing. I try to keep my husband's tastes in mind when I get dressed, however, the outfits he likes are much more appropriate during the summer!

Do your husband's preferences influence the way you dress?