Clothing Optional             by: Fenella Philips

 

Part One

They call them the dog days of summer; those few days when the heat and humidity slow people down to the point of vegetating; those days when it's too hot to even think about doing anything exciting, and yet it was in the dog days of summer when Elspeth found herself. She found herself, all right ... she found the woman who had remained dormant inside the body of Michael for his 35 years.

It happened as much by accident as design. Michael loved to see his wife in scant but very feminine underwear and clothes, but Laura had other ideas. She was a practical one. Cross her heart bras, high neck shirts like turtle necks and mock turtles, moderate length skirts and dresses in shapes that weren't ugly, but did nothing to flatter her shapeliness. Jeans or trousers and walking shoes. Sure Laura had a couple more dressy outfits, but Michael couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her wear any of them, even when going out for an evening together.

So, Michael, from time to time, attempted to supplement Laura's wardrobe with some undies that would help show off her beautiful body and some blouses where for example, the buttons might stop short of her bustline, and some dresses and skirts that while not clingy still showed her assets as a smart looking woman in a classy sort of way.

Laura would wear the undies for sex ... once ... and then they'd be neatly folded away into a drawer. She'd wear the other clothes once to model them for Michael, and agree they were lovely and neatly fold them into a drawer, or put them onto hangers with care and hang them into her slowly filling closet. Meanwhile she'd go and put back on her practical clothes and order more as the old ones wore out.

Michael was getting so tired of his "practically dressed" wife. He talked with her many times about trying to dress with a little more style; a little more class. She agreed she liked to dress that way, but the answer was "Not just now Michael". It was as if she was saying "I've got a headache". Michael's choices for Laura's wardrobe were generally tasteful and nothing that would make her look like anything but his stylishly dressed beautiful wife.

It was one dog day afternoon at the end of July; one hundred and six degrees in the shade. It had been over one hundred for the last week and there was no relief in site, apart from the odd afternoon thunderstorm that brought the temperature down to what should have been a manageable ninety, but sent the humidity soaring for the rest of the evening as the temperature returned to over the century. The coolness of the storm never lasted into the night.

Looking in his closet for yet another shirt to try to cool off, Michael looked over at Laura's wardrobe with an air of longing, to put on one of those light silky blouses, one that he had bought her, that felt so cool by comparison with his poly-cotton short sleave shirts. Meanwhile, he remembered Laura down in the kitchen with a long sleeve blouse, buttoned to the neck. "Why the hell does she always dress like that ?" he pondered. She hadn't always ... before they were married, she often wore things that were more alluring, more comfortable looking, and remembering the heat, definitely cooler. "What had changed her ?" he mused. It was as if a something in her mind toggled when she got married.

"One more effort," thought Michael. He thought he'd take down one of those light silky blouses, one that was really thin and nearly see through, and one of the very light but supportive pastel blue bras he had bought for her to suggest she might want to change into something a little cooler. "Sweet," Michael started, "I've brought these down for you to change into, because you look so desparately hot in that top"

Laura's reaction made the opressively hot afternoon even hotter. For five minutes she ranted and raved at him. "Why the fuck do you think I'd be more comfortable in other things?" "I'm not a bimbo!" "I am not a sex object!" "These aren't the kind of clothes I wear" "I like these things, but not on me! Why the hell can't you understand that?" And so it was that Laura went on and on ... She paused a couple moments and then finished with "I don't know why the fuck you buy these things ... I'm not going to wear them ... You might as well wear them for all the use they'll get! I'm serious! YOU GO PUT THEM ON! NOW!"

Michael patiently listened to his protesting wife. He was now totally convinced that he needed to make an appointment with a counsellor for both of them. This wasn't an issue of the clothes but rather an issue of Laura's self image. After listening to this tirade, Michael tried absorbing it all piece by piece to see if there were any clues at all into what was going on in her mind. Finally he heard the last of her protestations several moments after she'd made her order to him. His mind shouted "Wait a minute! What did she say?" Michael stammered "Pardon?"

Laura repeated the order in a stacatto voice ... "Michael, it's too hot for me to repeat this again but just so you get the message ... I don't know why the fuck you buy these things ... I'm not going to wear them ... You might as well wear them for all the use they'll get! I'm serious! YOU GO PUT THEM ON! NOW!"

 

Michael went off to the spare bedroom on that floor and did as he was told, hoping to pacify Laura's anger. As a child he'd been one of those kids who could hide behind telegraph poles when playing hide and seek, and his adult form was not a lot different. At five foot ten, he was only an inch taller than Laura and like her, had a thirty six inch chest. Of course, he was lacking the filling for Laura's C cup bra though. He pulled off his top and fought to reach the hooks around the back, but after a few minutes fumbling he did it, and then slipped on the blouse. The combination felt really quite nice. Looking in the mirror, the delicate blue bra could just be seen through the white blouse. The blouse felt so cool, and it's plunge neck allowed lots of air down his all too flat chest. He couldn't understand Laura's reticence to wear these. They felt so good. They looked so good!

Off he went back to the living room.

Laura looked at him, quizzically. "I didn't think you'd do it," she commented. "I thought you'd sneak out the back door. That said, you look good in them. You look REALLY good in them!" Her anger seemed strangely dissipated without warning. "Of course, you are missing a few important parts, but that doesn't matter." "Yes," Laura mused, "You look REALLY GOOD in them." Let's see about completing this half started job." Thinking she only meant to stuff the bra out a bit, Michael followed.

Laura went to an old box in her wardrobe and pulled out a small box. She said, "I wasn't always a C cup you know. I've had some help, but before that I used these" and out came a pair of breast forms that would certainly fill a C cup! Michael stammered ... "You had im im im im implants ?" "Yes dear, before I knew you, I had these fucking implants put into me" as she pulled off her blouse and cupped her breasts. "I thought my new tits were beautiful. I worked so hard to save for these!" She dropped her breasts as if in absolute disgust.

Michael couldn't understand the anger, but when Laura plopped the forms into the bra he was wearing her temper again subsided. The forms didn't quite fill the bra, but Laura had a stash of shoulder pads that she routinely took out of clothes, and completed the padding. The weight of the breast forms in the bra actually felt quite good. Michael now actually had a cleavage. The forms were good, for they melded well with the skin on his chest and without knowing, it would be hard to tell that they weren't Michael's own breasts.

"OK, that will do for those," said Laura. Off she went to that box again. This time, out came a wig, but not a cheap wig. This wig was blonde like Laura and of real hair, not some synthetic fibres, and LONG! Why it went about halfway down Laura's back! In the blink of an eye, it went halfway down Michael's back! A bit of fixing and back to the mirror he went. Without makeup, Michael still made a very good looking woman.

Next, Laura found one of the shorter but full skirts he had bought for her and had him put that on too. His male waist made it a little tight and his male genitals showed just a little, but she didn't seem concerned at this stage.

Laura looked at him and again commented on his stunning appearance.

"That will do," said Laura. Michael was relieved. He was beginning to think he was destined for the makeup tray, but remembered that even before they were married, Laura wore very little makeup. "You'll stay like that for the rest of the evening, won't you?" asked Laura in an almost begging voice.

To avoid any more flareups, he agreed. He wandered into the kitchen barefoot feeling a little strange, but curiously wonderful in the clothes and the hair. Standing in front of the fridge to get a cola, he tossed his hair back and suddenly he had the most incredible flashback.

He was 15 again and there he was standing in front of the fridge in the family home. He'd just tossed back the hair of his big sister's wig as he reached into the fridge for a cola. He was clad in his sister's sexiest clothes: a leather tight fitting dress over a long corset, tall stilleto heels, and made up to kill. He remembered not only how good he looked and felt, but he then remembered how bad he felt as his sister walked in and asked "Who the hell are you and why are you wearing my clothes?" He remembered the look on Helen's face when the realization came over her that this rather remarkably beautiful apparition was in fact her own brother.

Helen commented, "You look absolutely stunning in that Mike ... absolutely stunning ... and I mean it". Mike stood there, cola in hand, like a tree for several minutes and long enough for Helen to dash out and grab an instant camera and take a picture of her sexy sister or was that brother.

When she came back, she simply said "I know it's something teen boys do. I know that sometimes it's because you feel better as a woman. I don't know and I don't care. I won't tell mom and dad, if you don't do it again with my stuff". Faced with photographic evidence to use against him, Michael never did cross dress again until this day.

A light turned on in Michael's head. Laura and Helen had been great friends from the time of Michael and Laura's wedding. Although younger than Helen, he had married Laura a few months before Helen tied the knot. Helen had been Laura's bridesmaid and Laura had been Helen's maid of honour. Had they maybe shared something else ? Some secret from Michael's past ? Helen wouldn't do that. Or would she ? The thoughts became obsessive in Michael's head.

Michael wandered back into the living room with his cola and one for Laura. The heat made it hard to think straight. As he walked in Laura looked at him carefully and said "No, you can't look like that and walk like a goof. You need to put some sway into your stride. Switch your hips as you walk. Watch me" Michael obeyed. "That's better!" she commented. Michael flopped down into a chair. "Oh no Michael. If you're going to wear the clothes, you've got to *wear* them, not flop about in them, even in the heat." Michael stood and sat down in a refined lady like manner, legs together. Again, Laura commented "That's better!"

She looked at him across the room, eyeing every inch of his frame. Then she spoke, almost silently, like a thought that crept out of her mouth as if by mistake, "That picture was you, and Helen was so right, you make a gorgeous woman. God I'm so envious of you." Pain exuded from Michael's face as he took in what he heard. Laura realized that she'd verbalized her thoughts and then again verbalized a quiet "Oh My God!"

They sat there looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity. It certainly was a long time. The clock slipped around two hours. The late afternoon thunderstorm rolled in and rolled out, and yet they still sat there looking at each other, breaking their gaze only long enough to blink. Michael looking dumbfounded at his beautiful wife, and Laura looking longingly at her beautiful husband.

Eventually they both broke down and started crying. Michael blubbed "When did Helen tell you? When did she show you the picture?" Laura blubbed "At the hen party before her wedding. We were both drunk. We were both complementing each other, and Helen pulls out this picture, saying "You think I'm beautiful, look at this ... It's Mike!""

Laura's emotion poured forth "I couldn't compete with your natural beauty. I just felt so ugly beside you. I couldn't dress up and compete with you. I know you bought me those gorgeous clothes, but I couldn't wear them, because I could never look as beautiful as the girl in that picture, as beautiful as you. And I half thought that you might have bought them for yourself, although I've never seen you in them."

Mike picked up the emotion. "I didn't know that you knew that secret my love. I thought it was safe with Helen when she promised not to tell. I'd forgotten all about it, because I've never dressed as a woman until today, although there are times when I've really wished I could. But I'm not beautiful, I'm just a guy dressed as a woman. You're beautiful, and you've got to believe it."

They went back upstairs, only this time, the attention was for Laura. They dressed her in some of the sexiest clothes Michael had bought her. She was an absoulute knock out in Michael's eyes, and she even had to admit it to herself. "Look, this is not a competition. I'm not setting out to be a beauty. I still see myself very much as Michael in female clothes. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Your body is wonderful, breasts and all."

After a few minutes of tears, Laura mopped her eyes, and looked at Michael and suggested that they made a beautiful pair of girls who should go out on the town if he was comfortable. Michael consented nervously. A shave (in more places than the face) and some subtle makeup on Michael and some subtle makeup on Laura, and a couple pairs of four inch stilletos later and they were off on the town.

Michael kept her own name, since it is occasionally used for a female, and would cause no problems in the event of a slip. First a nice restaurant, not too open, but not too intimate either, for them to get used to the looks they were drawing from other male patrons, and then a singles club, where they did a little dancing, very little in Michael's case as he got used to the heels. They did attract some male attention, but neither was ready to be the focus of a lot of attention. There was too much emotion to be gone through.

The trip home was silent, although Michael and Laura sat there each with a contented smile on their face. They undressed, which took Michael just a little longer to do than usual, and washed the make up from their faces and fell into bed both in the buff as they always did. No sooner did their heads hit the pillow and they were out like lights.

As the morning sun poked through the bedroom curtains, Laura woke and walked to her chest and pulled out some of the sexiest undies she had and put them on quietly, and found some sexy items for Elspeth, that included a bustier with garters and stockings. She decided that Elspeth was a good name for the female Michael, and tossed these sexy things at him, calling "Elspeth, we need to fuck. We need to make the most beautiful fucking love". Elspeth woke with a smile on her face and made Laura's desires come true, satisfying each other totally.

When they finished their lovemaking, Laura got up, and showered, leaving Elspeth in bed. When she'd finished, she selected some of the clothes Michael had bought for her and tossed them Elspeth's way. "I want to live whenever possible with Elspeth. Is that OK with you?" begged Laura. Mike in level one shock looked her way, and in a wonderful sense of relief, agreed and then realized he was looking at Laura in a turtle neck and jeans. "Oh No!", he thought. She again turned to the closet, and much to Elspeth's surprise, and peeled the turtle neck off and the jeans to reveal some really lovely undies and pulled out some deliciously beautiful clothes he'd never seen before. Laura looked ravishing ...

The beginning.

 

 

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© 2001 by Fenella Philips. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.