My boyfriend is always forcing his opinion on me about the way I dress. Every time I wear a pair of hot pants, he gives me the eye roll. I feel I have a good figure and can carry short clothes gracefully. I don’t want to discard clothes that I love wearing. What should I do?

Keep the hot pants and discard the unnecessary. In case you plan to do the opposite, kindly courier your hot pants to my address. But if you discard the other stuff, do not courier him.

I like to wear button-up, close fitting shirts to my workplace as they look professional. But sometimes I find these shirts gaping at the bust. This makes me very self-conscious and uncomfortable. I do not want my shirt to ventilate!

I keep pulling at the placket seams to close the embarrassing gaps.

People stare at me. How can I make my shirts wearable?

Well, I like my clothes to ventilate. I don’t mind tearing holes into them strategically. Holes in clothes are fashionable anyway, if you think about it, from the beginning of history, which began long before shredded jeans. But yes, ventilation between buttonholes can be disconcerting. There is a one-word, if mundane, solution for you: stole. Wear an attractive stole. You could also try sticky tapes or a safety pin. But I would only risk needle pricks or chest waxing for my job if I was being given a really sharp raise.

I am an 18-year-old scrawny boy. No matter how much I eat, I fail to bulk up. I have also been working out at a gym for the last three months. But nothing is working. I don’t like the way people look at me. Are chiselled abs and bulging biceps for real? If so, how do I get them?

A: They are real but certainly not available at a supermarket. Fitness experts say it takes a minimum of six months for an average man to bulk up. His genetic make-up is important too. So I can’t tell you exactly how long you will take. By the time you achieve your goal, bulging abs and chiselled biceps may have become history and curves may be in for men. Then what will you do with your abs? You can’t delete them.

And if people are looking at you, tell them you love them right back.

The columnist provides a permanent solution to all your fashion problems. Write to her at bloody.mary.answers@gmail.com