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AIBU?

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Original poster

Most people look better in clothes than naked

51 replies

Itstruetoday · 08/09/2020 09:40

My whole life I've never been happy with my naked body, never ever thought it looks great,from my slimmest to my heaviest I've always found fault with it.loose skin,cellulite, bumps in places no exercise will shift. However fully clothed I like my appearance and wear clothes well(at least I think!) I'm currently at my slimmest after a long hard effort at weight loss and my body looks crap!I do like how it looks in clothes though.i look at people like Abby Clancy and Vouge Williams ,numerous kids later and they look smooth and fantastic in their bikinis, I'd never dare to bare!my friends say I have a great figure but I'd never let them see my legs or stomach.id like to love and embrace my body,its done alot but I cant help but feel dissatisfied and disappointed in it.i work out and eat pretty healthy most of the time.

OP posts:
Whenwillow · 08/09/2020 10:46

@Itstruetoday I think I'd take the smiley face comment from your son as a compliment. He loves you. Bodies are bodies, we weren't born to look like fashion dictates.
Mine ain't all that, based on SM stereotypes, but it's mine and it's worked hard for me, DH bless him thinks it's gorgeous, particularly naked. And tbh I'm quite pleased with it, as it doesn't generally let me down if I treat it right.
I wouldn't wear a bikini though. Because I like to decorate it a little more than that --and add an air of mystery--.

SinisterBumFacedCat · 08/09/2020 10:47

Look at some 1980smusic videos. Full of what we’re then considered really hot women. Hair with frizz, visible pores, thin women were flat chested, big boobed women had big thighs. Teeth didn’t blind you, noses hadn’t been broken and reset with odd looking nostrils. Lips hadn’t suffered some extreme reaction to a sting.

God yes. Thin lips in the 80’s was totally acceptable. No contouring make up that makes you look like a member of the cats cast. Normal eyebrows and eyelashes. God I miss those days.

I think people look better naked than they think. I find it very hard to find clothes to fit my pear shaped body and end up drowning my slim bits in baggy clothes. When I see myself naked I can see my actual silhouette.

damnthatanxiety · 08/09/2020 10:52

Try google images 'celebrity bodies without photoshop'. That is all that needs to be said here.

DisappearingGirl · 08/09/2020 11:00

I think pretty much all of us have an unrealistic view of what the naked human body actually looks like! Especially the naked human body over the age of about 25!!

If we all walked around naked, despite this being a horrific prospect, we would probably all realise that we actually just look normal.

UnaCorda · 08/09/2020 11:51

I think a bikini is my worst garment for highlighting the least favourite parts of my body.

As it's the garment that shows the most flesh this is hardly surprising!

I saw quite a few young women wearing thong bikinis this summer, and even on those in their twenties who were reasonably slim it was a pretty unflattering look.

Bendybarbarabee · 08/09/2020 12:07

SinisterBumFacedCat?

Genuine lol what a user name GrinWine

feelingverylazytoday · 08/09/2020 12:16

Very few people have perfect bodies, OP. Personally I think we sbould shift the emphasis to health instead of appearance
My body doesn't look great, but it is reasonably healthy. I accept the way it looks , so I feel quite healthy mentally as well.

hastingsmua1 · 08/09/2020 12:20

I disagree. I’m a slim pear shape but also short, so generally clothes can hide my waist or make my legs look stumpy. Without clothes my figure looks completely different and miles better! I have boobs that are small but a good shape too, again you wouldn’t know whilst I’m wearing clothes.

IDontMindMarmite · 08/09/2020 12:24

@Haworthia

The secret is to spend more time wearing clothes than being naked - win win!

I think I dress nicely as a general rule, but without clothes I’m a car crash.

I know you didn't quite mean it in this way haworthia, but I must say that my experience has been that when I spent more time naked, I stopped being so hyper-aware of my body. It was like before, I used to make sure I was never naked - like wearing a dressing gown before/after the shower, pyjamas in bed etc. I dunno, when I was naked it was because I was looking full frontal and I was more self-conscious and critical. When I was naked a bit more often, I stopped being so focused on my appearance and was noticeably more accepting of myself.
Lifeisgenerallyfun · 08/09/2020 12:27

@LunaNorth I think a lot of it has to do with the idolatry of youth in the face of a rising aging population. But what youth is supposed to look like has become so cloaked in myth and largely male satisfaction focused aesthetic that even the youth are hard pressed to live up to the expectation without serious intervention.

What has gone wrong is that women have brought into the myth, literally risking life and limb to comply. We value looks of women over their intellect and wisdom, the media push Forward women whose bra size is Apparently far in excess of their IQ-although I highly suspect some of these women are a lot more intelligent than they make out. Yet someone like Mary Beard has had to endure multiple commEnts about her natural appearance despite her amazing intellect. But women aren’t supposed to be intelligent are they?

Quite frankly the in look of false everything isn’t too dissimilar to that of drag queens and matches the false everything on trans women -it makes me wonder whether the pushing of a certain look by the media isn’t linked in some way to creating an acceptability of false boobs, lashes etc, a surgically created female aesthetic which could look very similar on a Biologically male and female body.

CarrieFour · 08/09/2020 12:34

Agreed.

But also (hasn't happened this summer of course) I always feel much better about myself after our annual trip to Majorca.

The beach we go to there is full of Spanish and Germans.

All of whom really don't seem to have these British hang ups on body shapes and don't go in for big cover all swimming costumes.

It's so refreshing to see all sort of body shapes enjoying the beach with their families.

When I'm at our pool (timeshare so all brits) I feel all British and body conscious. Once I'm at the beach I feel really great about my lived in body.

Your body is yours. And it's great. Enjoy it. X

GladAllOver · 08/09/2020 13:48

If we all walked around naked, despite this being a horrific prospect, we would probably all realise that we actually just look normal.

Why horrific? It really is our natural state.

CuntyMcBollocks · 08/09/2020 14:08

I think its confidence that makes you look better - with or without clothes. When I'm naked I think I look like a melted flump.

LunaNorth · 08/09/2020 14:11

@Lifeisgenerallyfun interesting post. But also very depressing.

TorgosPizza · 08/09/2020 14:42

I wouldn't compare myself to celebrities for all the reasons mentioned. (They're usually photoshopped, many of them are famous precisely because they won the genetics lottery, they have the time and money to hire the best trainers/eat very well/have "work" done. It's not a fair comparison, at all!)

I agree that most people look better in clothes. Even fit, attractive people look odd without clothes, in my opinion. Maybe it's simply because we're conditioned to think clothes look "right", since we see people clothed 99.9% of the time.

I prefer the feeling of being clothed (I like the support and protection clothing offers) and haven't felt the need to go swimming for well over a decade, so it's not a big deal for me to stay clothed.

IndiaMay · 08/09/2020 16:49

I actually way prefer how I look naked. I have a very exaggerated hourglass figure. 28GG boobs, a tiny tiny waist and then a big round bum and wide hips, slim legs. You might think this sounds great but in reality no one makes clothes for this shape and everything looks like a baggy shapeless square on me. I have to buy tshirts to fit my boobs but then my waist and flat stomach isn't seen. Bottoms need to get over my hips and bum but then they gape at the waist and flap on the legs. At least I have a shape when I'm naked. I'm a size 10 but have been on holiday before with friends when seeing me in a bikini have exclaimed I've lost weight. I've not lost weight I just dont look frumpy and shapeless in my clothes for once.

NotExactlyHappyToHelp · 08/09/2020 16:58

YABU I’m a right stunner in the buff Wink

LittleGwyneth · 08/09/2020 17:03

That's their job! They spend time and effort and money making sure that their skin quality and good and their hair removal is even. You would probably look similar if you'd put the amount of time and money in that they have over the years.

sHREDDIES19 · 08/09/2020 17:17

Can we not try to raise people up by knocking others down? Actually some people (including celebrities) do probably look good naked, whether that be down to genes, diet, lifestyle, exercise regime etc. I’ve had two kids and I’m pretty good naked not that I’m the type of strip off and flaunt it! The secret is confidence in who we are.

flirtygirl · 08/09/2020 17:30

I'm not. Small. But I look okay naked as then you see the full effect of firm large 38 30 jk breasts. I think I'm a sight to behold.

I wouldn't want to look like many of the celebrities like Abbie Clancy, as they are too thin and I can't see the appeal.

The shapes I like are healthy and curvy.

I also am in a minority on here who find men's shape very nice including genitalia, even men with normal bods are attractive. I think it's a disservice to call them dad bods. On the right guy, a firm but not flat stomach is very Sexy.

flirtygirl · 08/09/2020 17:31

That should say 38 40 J or K breasts.

nosswith · 08/09/2020 17:32

Perhaps if we had a healthy approach to nudity in suitable times and places there would be less of an issue here. Germans and the Dutch seem to have a better approach.

littlepeas · 08/09/2020 17:35

I probably look better naked. I really struggle to find clothes that suit my body shape.

Youcunnyfunt · 08/09/2020 17:46

Most people look better naked. A lot of clothes just aren't tailored and don't suit/flatter the majority of figures.

I can also confirm this, as someone who draws and paints life drawings of a lot of different people of all ages and sizes, that most people definitely look better without clothes, despite what you think about your lumps and bumps and scars and wrinkles and skinny bits and fatty bits - it's all beautiful to an artist. I have never seen anyone and thought they looked ugly. Every body is different, and I kinda like that. Who wants to look identi-kit?

flirtygirl · 08/09/2020 19:32

Who wants to look identi-kit?

It would seem like the younger generations are almost more identikit. They choose a group and then that group seems to be quite homogenous.

I'm only just over 40 but we went between groups more and were not so quick to labels ourselves and adhere to an identity. Whatever that identity may be.

But yep people are attractive naked, especially the shapes and sizes that are not standard in the media. There's a beauty in the human body but people generally like to think that beauty is a more narrow viewpoint. There's beauty in so much more than what is commonly seen in the mainstream.