How to make a gentleman

I am busy preparing for eight days of Pinewoods Camp, where I will be from the 12th to the 20th of July. This amounts to six days worth of dance classes, eight evening balls (two of them formal!), and who knows how much pick-up dances in the evenings to a twenty piece jam band.

I'm very much looking forward to it, but am a little intimidated in two regards. Firstly, this is the longest stretch of time I will spend on Scottish to date --it's not gentle dancing, and eight days is going to be ridiculous. I am quite looking forward to it.

The second intimidation is a little more usual for me, and a little less solvable. Namely, how do I arrange myself such to feel comfortable at the evening balls, without causing Undue Consternation amongst the more conservative dancers, nor making myself feel small and wrong.

Well...easy, actually. I get the right clothes. For I own a real kilt now, a _true_ kilt, and it fits me exquisite well. Add to that a sporran, and a shirt and vest (all no problem) and perhaps a ludicrous uniform jacket or the jacket of my suit, and I will be primo. It is so much easier to hold my head high as a gentleman when I look the part.

But when I want to be a lady? Oh, that's easy too. I buy a dress that makes me feel like a fairytale princess, and I hold my head high, because barefoot and unshaven can be just as beautiful as the made-up beauties deemed more typically attractive. And part of that is that for the first time, I had an article of clothing tailored to me --just a little bit, sure, to make the strapless dress small enough that it won't fall down around my waist. But the difference is amazing.

The clothes make the person, and I've known this for so long. But finally, it feels like I'm reaching the point where I can find (afford?) things that make me into the sort of person I want to represent. I really like this fact.