Buying female clothing dressed as male

[marleen]

Just once did I shop for female clothes as a man, and I hated it, because I felt out of place. After that, I decided I needed the confidence to shop as a woman, and so went out on my first expedition. After two hours in the car in the parking lot of the store I had picked for the experiment, I was still to scared to leave the car, so I drove off, but before reaching the end of the parking lot, I was so angry at myself for failing, that I turned the car around, parked again, got out, got into the shop, and noticed noone was looking at me. Then I felt very stupid :-)
Since then my confidence has only increased (and I don't pass well at all).
Go for it and you'll be very happy with yourself!
Love,
Marleen

[demoiselle65]

to all who were saying that you got looks while shopping or that salespeople 'knew': this can be embarrassing but if you learn to look at it in the right way it's actually kind of a rush or minor thrill. Like the other day in CVS I bought mascara, lipliner and eyelashes--just that. A kind of girlygirl salesgirl looked at me and started making a statement 'Your wife or girlfriend should like these..." but then looked at me again and said "Or..." but just left off, with "or," meaning she figured it out. That made me smile

[Constance]

I'm gaining a little more confidence in this regard. I grabbed a skirt suit at a local Goodwill and went straight to the men's dressing rooms with it. But, the damned thing didn't fit. I figured that would be the case when I measured the skirt (I keep a small tape measure with me when clothes shopping, especially at second hand stores where size tags are sometimes missing). The skirt was only 15 inches across while on the hanger, and I need things 18 inches (17 if I'm lucky) across while on the hanger.

[tekla]

Here is some Goodwill Fashion power for you.  Take the skirt and hold it up so it's flat, then take the waistband and try to put it around your neck.  If the two ends touch it should fit.

[Constance]

Here is some Goodwill Fashion power for you.  Take the skirt and hold it up so it's flat, then take the waistband and try to put it around your neck.  If the two ends touch it should fit.

That's brilliant! I've measured my neck before for buying men's dress shirts. I didn't make the connection, but my waist is double my neck!

[tekla]

DaVinci and that whole Golden Ratio related to Fibonacci sequence number deal.

[Alyssa M.]

I have always found that incredibly suspect. Not the relationship of \phi and f_{n+1}/f_{n} -- that's built-in to the standard definition of the sequence, and perhaps a little introductory real analysis. But how that relates to the physical world. Sure, you see it in spirals -- okay, that ratio probably tends to be more efficient or stable or whatever when you grow spiral things, be they seeds or shells or whatever. But in any bilaterally symmetric organisms, it doesn't really work any better than, say, the square root of two (about 1.41) or pi/2 (about 1.57). It strikes me just an idee fixe of DaVinci, kind of like Newton and the number seven, which led to the irritating and completely counter-intuitive introduction of "indigo."

[tekla]

Yeah, but it works in Goodwill.

[emlauren]

My mtf girlfriend and I always shop together, so whenever she's dressed as a man (which is most of the time this early in transition) she picks out the clothes and I try them on. We have the same body type so it's easier for her to see how it would look on her. This has been pretty successful so far. I think shopping with girl friends is helpful in terms of them helping you out to figure what looks good on you (heck, most cis gendered girls do this), and if they're your size it might be helpful for them to try on the clothes for you (you in the general sense) if you're not too comfortable with it.

[DeniseK]

I love shopping in thrift stores for my girlie clothes.  Same for my male stuff.  They're the only places I shop.  Only a few comments and sideways glances.  Yes, I believe the cashiers know what I'm doing.  One in particular always compliments what I've chosen and says she wishes she'd seen something first.  I do get the occasional glare from women who feel I've invaded their space, or are disgusted with the idea of what I'm doing, but screw them.  They're the same kind of people who were disgusted with me when I was a longhair hippie back in the old days, and I used to love it when they hated me. 

Although my daughter is now grown up, I raised her myself from infancy, and I was always shopping for her clothes, even when she was past the "children's section" sizes.  Yes, I got sideways glances back then, and I was legitimately shopping for my daughter.  Although it's never happened, if I was ever to run into someone I know, my plan is to say my daughter loves the hippie look and is always thrilled when I find some peasant blouses for her  (the hippie chick look is mostly what I look for)  Of course, this doesn't work if I find a pair of stripper heels or something else which doesn't exactly say "hippie", but who really cares anyway? 

I am addicted to thrift store girlie clothes shopping.  It's my favorite thing to do on my days off.   

[JessieMH]

They're the same kind of people who were disgusted with me when I was a longhair hippie back in the old days, and I used to love it when they hated me.

Might explain why my parents took it so well when I told them... Hippies are win