Do you spend more or less on clothes prior to transitioning

[stephaniec]

I planning going on a buying binge but lately I've been spending the same as I did before deciding to transition.

[sarah1972]

I planning going on a buying binge but lately I've been spending the same as I did before deciding to transition.

This is an interesting question I have actually been thinking off for the past few days.

Somehow I have to swap my entire wardrobe. And female clothing is more expensive and I do need a broader selection (e.g. in the past I could go on a work trip with one suit and two shirts, now it needs to be a different outfit for each day. And I went from 5 pair shoes to almost 30 (well that is by choice).

Before transitioning, I did not really buy any male cloths for years. Replaced a few necessities. Maybe I knew something was up. For parts I did still wear cloths I bought in college 20+ Years ago. I did spend some money on female clothing even before admitting I am trans...

So yes, Since I am still in the process of replacing my wardrobe it is quite a bit more than prior. Hope once I have done that, that it'll slow down again.

[ToriJo]

I basically have enough women's clothes for my day to day life, but nothing for anything fancy (I'm one of those transwomen that don't own a dress or even a skirt!).

I've spent a lot, but less than I spent when I wore suits and sports coats every day at work years ago.  I've been trying to stay on the low cost side of clothes, so I don't have much that is high quality, because I know my body continues to change and I really don't know my style yet.  I've also done a lot of thrift store shopping, and I have a few items I've gotten there that I really like (the higher quality stuff I own is all from thrift stores).

But I will say that there is nothing cheap about transitioning.  Everything costs money. 

[FinallyMichelle]

I do, oh my god yes I do.
Twenty years as a male I absolutely guarantee I did not spend $500. Not in more than twenty years. Maybe the girls here could understand the hatred that I had for male clothes but no one else could.

Funny thing, I never crossed dressed. I wanted to, I needed to, but I never did. Well, summer camp when I was seven doesn't count does it? I wasn't dressing so much as trying to be with children that I understood. Seriously, seven year old boys are not human. I don't know what species they are but I know they are not human. Do you know where they come from?

[FinallyMichelle]

Um, the poll is misleading. More after, definitely.

[natalie.ashlyne]

Alot more now before nothing matched I used to wear running shoe with dress pants now every thing has to match shirt pants bra panties socks choker shoes all have to match ya I am OCD on it 

[stephaniec]

I want to buy a lot of clothes but I have a weight problem. Its a major conundrum .

[Donna]

I have old guy pants that I've worn for a couple years. Now I have 15 complete outfits and need more i need more shoes unlike the year old ones I always wore.
It crazy making as I'm loosing weight as well and have dropped from 22 to 18 slacks already and down from 18 to 16 on tops. Bras down from 46 to 40 band and measured at 39 today.
So not only do I need more cloths I now have to get cloths altered.

[warlockmaker]

Was best dressed man in my city so the trend continues as a female. Its much more than just clothes. I love living in big cities where people dress up and dont get looks of envy, where its natural for a female to look beautifully feminine, bangkok is not a city of unisex clothing, the females want to look feminine . Undergarments, partially showing, play a big part in the latest fashion, so the purchases start there then clothing and accessories, shoes are a favourite. I have a very large walk in clothing room to accommidate my various looks. Jewellery can enhance the day or evening look. And makeup, hair and nails. All what I dreamed a female life should be. Love it.

[kanad3]

I used to HATE buying clothes when I was younger. It was the worst. When I realized that I was trans I started enjoying clothes a lot more and thus has spent a lot more money on it.

[zirconia]

Mostly less, I think.

I hated anything that was ill fitting and boring, so I mostly got runway samples and ordered bespoke whenever I had any leeway. Looking back I do think it was worth it, though, as at least it helped me function day to day without feeling completely dull and stupid.

[KathyLauren]

I do like nice clothes. 

Prior to transitioning, having to buy men's clothes was one of my most dysphoric experiences.  I absolutely hated buying them.  "Which shade of gray would you like?"  Ugh!

Now, my entire wardrobe is women's clothes.  I kept one pair of my old jeans for doing messy work, but everything else went to charity or in the garbage.  Almost all of my new wardrobe is second-hand.  I have very few items that I paid full-price for.  I found a couple of high-end second hand stores that have lovely, interesting clothes it ridiculously reasonable prices.

My "look" is anything from dressy casual to elegant. 

[Amie June]

As a male I basically wore a uniform: jeans, hiking boots and secondhand shirts. I just didn't care. No more. I'm now obsessed with shopping at consignment stores and higher-end secondhand stores. I can no longer put male clothing on my body and have only one jacket that I continue to wear only because I haven't found a replacement. The entire process has been both agonizing and exciting!

Lindy

[allisonsteph]

About the same. I have always spent a ridiculous amount of money on clothes and shoes. Prior to transitioning I had close to 30 pairs of men's shoes. I now have around 20 pairs of women"s shoes.

[EllenJ2003]

Definitely more on clothes - especially when I was transitioning.  Not as much nowadays.  Due to my lifestyle - I'm not exactly the club goer at age 54, and when the weekend comes, my clothing choices are of the very casual type. 

I'm also kind of limited in what I can wear for work.  I'd love to be able to wear skirts, but that's a definite No Go for me, since despite being considered office personnel (as a Quality Engineer, I'm a salaried employee), my work area is out in the production area, so I can only wear pants (unfortunately, I can only wear jeans on casual Fridays ), and dressy slacks are a little too wimpy to hold up in a work environment (it is a tertiary job function of mine, but when QA is short handed, I have to help out with any needed inspection work, that can on occasion, get a little dirty), so it's khakis, and dark colored jeans that look non-blue jeanish enough for me to get away with wearing them (Gloria Vanderbilt makes pants like this).  Unfortunately, due to some of the supervisors on the production floor complaining a few years ago to their boss (who harped about it at meetings my boss was at), that it was unfair that as salaried employees on the shop floor, they had to wear uniform shirts, while I didn't have to, I have to wear a uniform shirt at work .  Ugh!!!

Oh, I forgot to mention, I have a bit of a shoe addiction, that can get kind of expensive (I spent a couple of hundred dollars alone on new boots this past Christmas season).  I do love my shoes (which was not at all the case in the Before Time).  Also, as silly as it may seem to some - call it philosophically based, but I always buy Women's steel toe shoes for work, despite the fact that they're more available (and probably at a lower price) in men's sizes (my female coworker has occasionally bought men's steel toe work shoes, when she can't find what she wants locally in a lady's steel toe).  I can usually find what I want online (I just bought a new pair of lady's athletic style Reebok steel toes on sale from Shoes.com - they look and fit great).

I forgot to mention jewelry - ah luvs me a good pair of earrings!

[Lyric]

That's an easy question. Seeing as the prices of clothing, as well as just about everything else, has gone up over the last decades, I'd spend more no matter what I was wearing. When I first started buying clothes as an adult I would never consider paying more than $10-$15 for a pair of jeans. Now I have to skip past the $200-$300 jeans to the budget $40-$50 stuff.

While I have an eye for fashion, I've long since realized the absurdity of shopping brand labels. The best way to choose clothes is to first study a great current look on a celeb or in a high fashion ad, then go bargain shopping for off-label items that closely match. Fashion design isn't copyrighted, so low priced alternatives to designer things are almost always available.

[TicTac]

I do not spend money on cloths at all, but I would very much like to. The main problem is that my parent thinks I dress to provocative or sexual, which is quite annoying. I feel like I am restricted in what I can wear at fricking 23 years old ugh. Another reason why I do not buy cloths is that the money I have accumulated is for my eCommerce business attempts, but I must say that I am tempted everyday to buy something.

I have been wanting to buy some combat boots, Darth maul eye contacts, white foundation, and a bunch of dresses I found on KILLSTAR. Maybe someday...

[jill610]

I think I spend about the same on an outfit, but right now I feel like I'm spending a ton on clothes because I don't have a wardrobe. I donated nearly 100 men's dress shirts and pants, all Jos A Banks or similar brands, so nothing super cheap but mostly outlet purchases. I am the queen on outlet and bargain shopping for middle of the road brands. I love kohls and their stacking coupons and live right near a high end outlet mall which is nice.

I figure an average outfit, male or female is around $100 for a work outfit.

All that said, it is WAY more expensive to be a female. Makeup, accessories, purses, SHOES. As a guy I have three pairs of work shoes - Black, brown and a pair of boots. Maybe $150 each. As a woman I have black, brown, tan, white, flat, heel, wedge, list goes on and on holy moly!!

And as a trans woman still working on beard removal still have razor blades, and probably $100 worth of MAC makeup every 60 days for foundation, concealer and corrector, though that's starting to get less as time goes on. Plus all the normal stuff. The pink tax is real!

[stephaniec]

I was homeless for awhile and lost all my dresses . I'm back in an apartment an need to rebuild

[Jessica]

I've more than tripled the amount! Two pairs of blue jeans and a few t-shirts, underwear, socks and I was good.  Not now!  I've got choices.