When Tight is too Tight

NICE SHIRT. A good fit is necessary to looking good.

The question is, when tight is too tight when it comes to wearing clothes?  Supposedly, gay guys ought to know – except that a trip to Bed Bar on a Saturday night, or The Government on a Friday night, or even Greenbelt 3 on whatever night of the week clearly shows that, no, people, no matter their gender, do not always know how to tell apart sexy tight from disgusting tight.

This is, of course, both a fashion faux pas (we’ll get to that later), and a health hazard.

HEALTH HAZARD

For her, the wrong size of tops (bras included, if not particularly) can cause backaches, among others – and, when the restriction is even more emphasized (e.g. push-up, pump-up or gel-padded bras), the underwear (not just tops) can prevent drainage from lymph glands, so that the body cannot properly eliminate wastes.  Already, Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer in Dressed to Kill: the Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras claimed that the correlation between breast cancer and bras is four times greater than between smoking and lung cancer.  In fact, evidence suggests that “women who wear tight-fitting bras 24 hours a day are 125 times more likely to have breast cancer than women who don’t wear bras at all,” they said.  And then there’s the persistent vulvo-vaginal rashes (e.g. atopic vulval dermatitis, chronic candiasis, and psoriasis) also caused by (among others) tight, occlusive or synthetic clothes (according to Dr. Jennifer Bradford in myDr.com.au).

For him, there’s jock itch (when a variety of fungi called tinea causes the rash to occur – not just among men, of course, though more common among them), which is also partly induced and/or aggravated by wearing tight clothes (particularly athletic supporters, thus the term).

And for both him and her, wearing too-tight clothes can further trigger the development of uncomfortable wheals in people with physical urticaria (according to Dr. Sandra M. Gawchick’s report to the International Society on Immunorehabilitation), and heartburn (which has nothing to do with the heart, but actually refers to the symptoms felt when the acids in the stomach flow back into the esophagus), among others.

FASHION NO-NO

But let’s pretend nobody could care less about the bad effects on the health of wearing ill-fitting clothes.  Pretend that all that matters is looking good (albeit temporarily, since no sickly person really look good, after all).  See, nonetheless, that clothes that are way too tight still doesn’t, and will never hack it – fashionably-wise, of course. 

For one, people spilling over their clothes will never ever be a good sight.  Secondly, when the curves emphasized are more than the usual number of curves (e.g. three pairs of breasts, thanks to the bilbil; or tummies bigger than breasts; or indistinguishable chin and breasts – or, in reverse, indistinguishable neck and torso a la stick), then something is definitely not right.  Thirdly, when the shirt, among others, you are wearing need to be constantly (even if un- or subconsciously) pulled down to cover some part/s of the body, then it definitely shouldn’t have been worn in the first place (it gets annoying to whoever is seeing you continuously pulling your outfit to cover fleshy parts of your body that get exposed – which should have been the very idea why the clothes were worn in the first place).  And there are other reasons, of course – too numerous, in fact, that focusing on what can be done to deal with (if not actually remedy) the situation may be more beneficial.

DEAL WITH IT

Firstly, get measured properly.  And this doesn’t only mean grabbing the tape measure and wrapping it around your body to check how tight is tight, et cetera – this actually also means measuring oneself in one’s head REALISTICALY.  Just because you fitted a size “S” before doesn’t mean that will forever be your size (just look at Twiggy and Bo Derek now), nor will you be always an “XXL” just because you were that in some distant past.  The necessary step to take, though, is admit that the body changed, so the outfit has to change too, to give the perfect look (not to mention the ever-important comfy, too).

Secondly, find the perfect fit, e.g. if sitting down can’t be done in a pair of jeans, then it isn’t the right fit; if the flabs bubble over the waistline, then it is too tight; if the hands can’t be raised while using a really cute shirt, then it is way too small; if the pants keep falling off your butt (hip-hop fashion is so un-gay – and that’s being nice, instead of saying amazingly ugly!), then find a better fit; et cetera.  Again, some sense of realism is needed here, thus honesty to oneself is needed – meaning, if, when you look at your silhouette, you see lumps, then dumpt that shirt (or whatever), since the silhouette should be smooth.

Thirdly, pay attention to the body’s reactions – if, more often than not, you catch yourself holding your breath, then, sad to say, that shirt is way too tight for you; and if, after every meal, you cross your arms over your tummy (not even the chest or bosom) when talking to people, then you should have worn a baggier top.  Don’t wait for a button to pop, or a zipper to part like Moses dipped his staff in it before you realize the truth about your body.

Fourthly, remember one word: alter.  This means knowing a good tailor who will be able to fix your clothes to fit you just right.  This means, too, that even when you happen to buy a bigger shirt, it may still be fixed to fit you right – as opposed to buying something small, which, obviously, will be another reminder not of the body type you want to have, but of how big a failure you are at the moment as far as your body size is concerned (if it doesn’t fit your idea of a good body, that is).

Fifthly, ask for help when you have to – and pay attention to whatever “help” others give.  Be sure to remind whoever it is you are asking to be honest, however – and be accepting, for that matter.  No matter how hurtful some of what you will be getting may seem to be, they are, in the end, there to spare you the bigger pain of getting the same flak from people you may not know (or at least are close to), as well as in more compromising situations (like a big date, or a job interview, or something).