Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Ladies, read this and try to tell me that you don't agree.

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-7-most-baffling-things-about-womens-clothes/ (http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-7-most-baffling-things-about-womens-clothes/)

The sizes take a bit of getting used to, but if you stick with the same manufacturer's it's actually easier than men's. For men's, I need to know my waist size for pants, then almost everything else is in S/M/L type sizes and they all differ. I've found that with women's clothing almost everything I buy is a size 16. Sure the shoes and undergarments are different sizes, but shirts, dresses, skirts, pants, jeans, etc. All size 16.

Try on EVERYTHING.

Carefully note the limit on clothing items in the changing rooms...take that many, and bring a friend...tag team the changing rooms.

When in doubt...go one size larger.

I'm so bored right now I'm going to try & pick apart each point, my points may not make much sense cause I've got 2 sleeping tablets in me & instead of making me tired they're just spacing me out.

7. too thin

Whats wrong with layering? It looks good to me (i haven't quite got the hang of it myself but ill get there)
Layering also means I can tailor an outfut to match the temp, if its cold then ill wear more layers, this also helps with my skin problems as getting hot is one of the wort st things for it.

6. No pockets

that answer is so obvious even I can work it out in my addled state of mind, HANDBAGS!!!
If you have pockets then whats the excuse for carrying a handbag?.....no brainer

5. too cold

ever heard of coats? how about jumpers?
Also see 7, I hate being hot
the moaning about low necklines is pointless for me but maybe not others as mens t-shirt necklines bug me,they always rub against my skin, since wearing women's low neckline tops I've st oped getting sores on my neck from the friction, this counter only really counts for me & my messee up skin

4. clothing sizes

while wearing jeans i went from 30 - 34 inch waist depending on style.
Women's sizing is easy for me once i knew the numbers, size 12 unless it looks like it will shrink then i go to 14
the writer moans about sizes being made up just to flatter women, well what woman doest enjoy a bit of flattery?

3. no such thing as regular tshirt

Women's clothes are normally designed to flatter figure, i know plenty of women who don't want their figure flattered & wear mens shirts.
Also, shop around I've got several tops from retailers that are very close to regular shirts so there is such a thing

2. clothes that need instructions

that just means theyare fun clothes to experiment with, something to pull out on a girls night n & ask advice.
O.K. I'll admit i do have one top that I've Had for 2 years & still can't work out how to wear it, so the writer may have a slight point one that but I haven't had a girl night in with a bottle of schnapps or red wine yet, you can bet that when I do I'll be pulling it out, either someone will know how to wear it or we'll all have a good laugh, either way that means fun for me

1. no such thing as regular clothes

My fir4st response to that was a single word to describe both lying & manure at the same time but it's not very polite.
I have regular jeans, in fact the choice has increased since buying women's clothes only.
I also have several nice long sleeved t shirts, if I had the money I could get lots more regular clothes from both high street shops & online.

sorry about the spelling mistakes, I'm on one of those mini laptops & can't adjust to the small key layout right now.
I cant be bother to battle with spellchecker tonight either

EDIT: now that i'm back on my proper pc with a big tv screen i've fixed the terrible spelling

7. Layering means you have to buy, and thus wear, more stuff.
6. What if you don't want to carry a bag for those times when you only need some cash, ID, and a wallet?
5. A lot of women's clothing is thin and revealing, making it cold. The lack of coats isn't a problem.
4. Just use actual measurements so I don't have to do conversions when buying clothing of different companies of different nations.
3. Regular t-shirts are sparse for women nowadays. Believe me, I've tried to find one. All I got were rags.
2. Too complicated!
1. I can concede on this one.

I did dsya the points may not make much sense, I should have added that they will provably be easy to pick apart.
i didnt put much thoug into my points as it's taking all of my ocncentration to use this damn small keyboard & see the screen thats nsmaller then a stamp

I know. I was bored, too.  :P

I went into this thinking I'm going to disagree but I really can't :(

Quote from: DianaP on February 22, 2013, 11:20:02 PM
I know. I was bored, too.  :P

i'm so bored that i'm counting how many pieces of glitter are in my nail varnish, at least i've worked out how to use this tiny keyboard, use one finger only & go very slowly  ::)

Cant say i dissagree really. im just starting to find this out, Makes shopping more fun though. :angel:

Women shouldn't have to buy and wear more stuff just to have one outfit made of a bunch of dysfunctional clothing put together. And is it that hard to make pockets?!  >:(

Not to mention that it's not fair that men get good clothing for a low price, while women have to pay more than $20 for decent. Not great, but decent.

Also, there is no way I am paying for a cardigan. More than $10 for the most ineffective article of clothing since the mini-skirt? No.  :P

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 10:06:43 AM

Not to mention that it's not fair that men get good clothing for a low price, while women have to pay more than $20 for decent. Not great, but decent.

Its not fair but just look at a men's section in a store it only makes up about 10% of the store. And you only have a choice of 3 colors. At least with women's clothes you have choices! But I'm still trying to figure out who needs a sleeveless sweater and why half the shirts are transparent :eusa_think:

I like the options, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't help when most of the options suck.

For Pete's sake, this is NOT a shirt! It's a rag.

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jeanscart.com%2Fmedia%2Fcatalog%2Fcategory%2F23_Womens_Blouses_.jpg&hash=dc75e3fbb54c0938cd8cafe967ca8b6872a485bb)

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 10:26:53 AM
I like the options, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't help when most of the options suck.

For Pete's sake, this is NOT a shirt! It's a rag.

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jeanscart.com%2Fmedia%2Fcatalog%2Fcategory%2F23_Womens_Blouses_.jpg&hash=dc75e3fbb54c0938cd8cafe967ca8b6872a485bb)

Very true but i like it. Dont think i could get away with it with my shoulders though. :angel:

Actually, I take that back. It's not good enough to be a rag. Too many holes!  :laugh:

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 10:26:53 AM
I like the options, don't get me wrong. It just doesn't help when most of the options suck.

For Pete's sake, this is NOT a shirt! It's a rag.

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jeanscart.com%2Fmedia%2Fcatalog%2Fcategory%2F23_Womens_Blouses_.jpg&hash=dc75e3fbb54c0938cd8cafe967ca8b6872a485bb)

Yeah but its a cute rag! Now you got me thinking I want one. :D

I guess I'm just old-fashioned in the sense that I enjoy having clothing that actually does what clothing needs to do:

1. Cover me!
2. Keep me warm.

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 11:09:13 AM
I guess I'm just old-fashioned in the sense that I enjoy having clothing that actually does what clothing needs to do:

1. Cover me!
2. Keep me warm.

I got to admit I don't really have the body to wear that! But if I did I could see myself wearing that. I see clothing as something more than covering myself up its more like a refection of my attitude! And that shirt is just the outer layer it doesn't have to cover you up. As for your second point I live in the south and the summer is just around the corner. :eusa_dance:

Quote from: girl you look fierce on February 23, 2013, 11:22:10 AM
You could always just buy men's clothes.... functional, drab and boring  ::) most women actually like fashion, that's why there are all those options.

You can still have some very fashionable clothing without having overpriced rags.  :)

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 11:31:31 AM
You can still have some very fashionable clothing without having overpriced rags.  :)

Yeah but the over priced rags look good! :)

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 10:06:43 AM

Not to mention that it's not fair that men get good clothing for a low price, while women have to pay more than $20 for decent. Not great, but decent.

The answer to that issue is sales, 2 weeks ago I picked up 6 - 7 items for £30 in a local select store, every piece is good quality.

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 11:09:13 AM
I guess I'm just old-fashioned in the sense that I enjoy having clothing that actually does what clothing needs to do:

1. Cover me!
2. Keep me warm.

I'm a nudist at heart so i'm not bothered about coverage just modesty when in public & as i've stated, I despise heat.

we get more choice in colours & styles, we get softer material that doesn't chaff the skin, with mens clothing you just chuck it on. . . . boring! with womens clothes you have the fun of experimenting.

It just comes down to personal preference, I can see the point you're making about wanting warmth, i live in the south of England but if I lived any further north than the midlands then i'd possibly agree with you.
I got some really nice plain long sleeved tops cheaply from La Redoute last year & they are still going strong after being used at work in a very physical job, not all womens clothes are flimsy

I acknowledge that not all female clothes are flimsy, but I'd still prefer to have fashionable selections from a few years ago, before rags = fashionable.

I don't have anything against fashion. I just want the option to have something with simple function, too. Seriously, are pockets too much to ask for?

Here's my idea of fashion. Once again, I like fashion, but I just really want fashion to go back to the way it was before this silly modern style came out: elegant and NOT TRASHY!

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdressestutor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F11%2Ferez.jpg&hash=07cbc05017c0bad5c32632a3acd410b38bbef764)

I know that no one is forcing me to buy anything. It's just that I have shopped around, and I have found that only in thrift stores have I actually found a majority supply of decent clothing.

If you like it, that's fine. Nonetheless, I take nothing back when calling lace clothing rags. Dangling and made of sparse fabric, that's the best comparison.

The tastes of people like me are disregarded in stores, considering that a strong majority of the selections consists of things that go against them. If anyone needs to consider the opinions of those that disagree with them, it's clothing manufacturers.  :P

Quote from: Heather on February 23, 2013, 11:04:37 AM
Yeah but its a cute rag! Now you got me thinking I want one. :D

LOL, that was pretty much my first thought too. :D:D:D It's cute, I'd wear it.

 Thrift stores like Goodwill are where I find nearly all of my clothes. There are some great treasures to be found if you're patient and willing to search for them. I found three of the most adorable skirts by complete accident yesterday.

Yeah, I love thrift stores. I went to a few (was too nervous to buy something), and the selections are so cute!  :laugh:

Quote from: girl you look fierce on February 23, 2013, 11:22:10 AM
You could always just buy men's clothes.... functional, drab and boring  ::) most women actually like fashion, that's why there are all those options.

Quote from: Jayne on February 23, 2013, 11:39:28 AM
we get more choice in colours & styles, we get softer material that doesn't chaff the skin, with mens clothing you just chuck it on. . . . boring! with womens clothes you have the fun of experimenting.

This actually isn't really true. Just because most guys seem to dress themselves by "chucking it on" doesn't mean menswear can't be attractive. I look rather dapper in my slim-fit Calvin Klein's black button-up if I do say so myself. And I love men's jewelry. It's so understated and sexy. Helps that silver and black go perfectly with my corpse-white skin.

I think you get out of clothing the effort that you put in. I purchase maybe 1/20 of the items I try on, if that. You want to look nice...

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 11:49:01 AM


Here's my idea of fashion. Once again, I like fashion, but I just really want fashion to go back to the way it was before this silly modern style came out: elegant and NOT TRASHY!

TRASHY??? The example you showed earlier was not trashy! ???

Quote from: Heather on February 23, 2013, 01:30:18 PM
TRASHY??? The example you showed earlier was not trashy! ???

I wasn't referring to that example (even though it was a bit too racy for my tastes), but to modern style in general. Have you seen the way teenage girls are dressing these days? Maybe my standards of decency are too high...  ???

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 02:46:18 PM
I wasn't referring to that example (even though it was a bit too racy for my tastes), but to modern style in general. Have you seen the way teenage girls are dressing these days? Maybe my standards of decency are too high...  ???

But that's what teenage girls do its part of growing up. When I was in high school the clothes where just as racy. Besides its up to the parents to police what their kids are wearing! :police:

Quote from: Heather on February 23, 2013, 03:24:44 PM
Besides its up to the parents to police what their kids are wearing! :police:

Precisely! Nonetheless, it seems like quite a few women haven't done enough growing up wardrobe-wise.  ::)

Quote from: Sarah7 on February 23, 2013, 01:27:31 PM
This actually isn't really true. Just because most guys seem to dress themselves by "chucking it on" doesn't mean menswear can't be attractive.

I think you get out of clothing the effort that you put in. I purchase maybe 1/20 of the items I try on, if that. You want to look nice...

I must admit that my statement of "chuck it on" is based on both myself & the majority of men I used to hang with, I was in engineering & the jobs ruined our clothes, even when wearing overalls so no-one (except a few managers with a broom up their.....) bothered with anything but boring clothes.
Alot of the friends I had at the time were bikers, the only clothing they cared about or spent decent money on were their leathers, when out of leathers it was always, tatty jeans & heavy metal band t-shirt.

Basicly, I didn't hang around the office types who were always preening themselves, the were lower-upper class, I was working class & never the twain shall meet. I've only spent 2 yrs out of 22 yrs working in offices, the other 20 yrs was manual labor,  engineering & FLT driving. Had it been the other way around then i'd most likely have the opposite view.

Unfortunately Women's fashion has always been more complex than practical.  It could be a lot worse.

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/victorian%20fashion (http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/victorian%20fashion)
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2F24.media.tumblr.com%2F3bc9d2d4c0a2507fb2843cc759f34ad1%2Ftumblr_mgxtlaDSN61rs218bo1_1280.jpg&hash=f7d42c08d3e00b6042c1b0d91824441e8f570f00)

And really, as much as we complain, we shouldn't forget. Its part and parcel of being a woman. We can either put on our big girl panties and deal with it like every other woman. Or we can slob it down and take a page out of the guys book. Girls can get away with wearing men's clothes remember? ( Something my Mother-in-law used to do for the same reason this thread was made). And as much as I love those Victorian style dresses, I'm glad our fashion has evolved. Plus with layering you can mix things up depending on occasion, mood, etc.

Besides, sometimes it can be a good thing. For instance, I'm wearing some nice slacks that have a button on the inside of the waistband and 2 hook-type fasteners on the front of the pants with abelt. and a forest green sweater with a white camisole underneath. Add to that bra and panties and anyone, from your boyfriend/ girlfriend, etc. to a rapist will have to work for it. :P
The downside: If you've got to pee, it's like trying to break into a bank with a gun to your head. If you've gotta go you gotta go.

I can deal with it, but that doesn't mean I can't make some valid complaints. I'm willing to pay the price of practicality to look pretty; nonetheless, I've asked it once and I'll ask it again: Are pockets too much to ask for?!  :P

YES! YES it is!! Do you know how much work goes into pockets? more material would be used up but that could lead to less wasted fabric. Pockets on men's pants are there for 2 things: 1. to stick a cell phone or keys in and 2. to give a man a secret (to him anyway) and discreet (HA!) way to scratch himself. :P

Women have keys, too! Plus, we also need a "secret" and "discrete" way to scratch ourselves.

Quote from: DianaP on February 23, 2013, 11:49:01 AM
I acknowledge that not all female clothes are flimsy, but I'd still prefer to have fashionable selections from a few years ago, before rags = fashionable.

I don't have anything against fashion. I just want the option to have something with simple function, too. Seriously, are pockets too much to ask for?

Here's my idea of fashion. Once again, I like fashion, but I just really want fashion to go back to the way it was before this silly modern style came out: elegant and NOT TRASHY!

(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fdressestutor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2009%2F11%2Ferez.jpg&hash=07cbc05017c0bad5c32632a3acd410b38bbef764)

I want that dress nice shrug with it would go lovely. :angel:

I found that article very entertaining. It expresses a lot of women's frustrations, though about nothing that's going to change.

I've always thought the layering trend was a marketing conspiracy to get you to buy twice as many clothes. I only do it if it's cold out.

I've always thought it was rather ironic that while women tend to be colder than men due to their biology, they feel the need to wear chilly sleeveless and low cut garments. I'm sure this will never change, but it's an interesting phenom.

I've always been stricken by the absurdity of women's clothing sized. People vary in size both directions, but you just get the one number. And that number isn't even reliable because it's constantly being readjusted according the whims of manufacturers and to flatter their every fattening customer base. If you think you know your size number you haven't tried enough clothes on yet.

~ Lyric ~

Quote from: Shannon1979 on February 28, 2013, 08:28:52 AM
I want that dress nice shrug with it would go lovely. :angel:

I want it too.  ;D

Quote from: Lyric on February 28, 2013, 10:19:32 AM
I found that article very entertaining. It expresses a lot of women's frustrations, though about nothing that's going to change.

I've always thought it was rather ironic that while women tend to be colder than men due to their biology, they feel the need to wear chilly sleeveless and low cut garments. I'm sure this will never change, but it's an interesting phenom.

Yeah, but I still love the stuff. Ain't I silly?!  :P

My thoughts are not limited to fabric.

But where fabric is concerned, it is clear, women are expected to dress in a fashion suitable to generating erections in males.

The clothing isn't for you it's for him.

I extend this to shoes. You wear high heels and if you say you disagree with 'it isn't important what happens to your feet, just as long as it makes your ass look good', then you are lying to yourself and lack understanding of the history of the article.

Plus shoes are too small, and they confine your feet too much. I am not looking forward to the footwear portion of crafting an outfit that involves a dress or a skirt because eventually it will involve my not tiny feet that while not big are also wide and not designed to sit in a tiny v shaped front. My feet are 10.5 inches front to back and 5 inches wide at the front. They will NOT fit in any high heels I have seen in 50 years of looking. People will not be looking at my legs, they won't be able to fail to notice the odd looking shoes I'd need to be wearing.

Cost doesn't bother me so much. But when you consider what I spend on what I want...... I own a Nexus 7 AND a 10 inch Android tablet mainly because one is larger purse size and one is smaller purse sized eh.

I don't mind no pockets in female clothing, that's what a purse is for. I have taken to carrying a purse (and I correct people, not it isn't a bag, certainly not a man bag, and no I didn't want a back pack I wanted a purse). I have curbed myself of the male pattern capacity to cram things into my pockets and disregard the visual result. I now carry maybe keys (and not a massive  key ring either) in right pocket (and only if going to mom's as they are keys to her place) in right side, and my usual 2.26 in coin (3 coins) for my hot chocolate in my left pocket. I no longer put things in my pockets as training for the day when I am wearing something best left with no need for pockets. I don't mind it actually.

I do wish the clothing was in numerical ranges that made sense, In Sears, they call a spade a spade in men's wear. Regular progresses to 'BIG' fit. In ladies wear regular is followed by 'Image' fit. What, are women unable to accept they are not sticks I suppose? Granted, I have realized that men's regular 'large' is unlikely to fit past a 14 year old teen.

I have pretty much concluded, that when it comes to fitting, something is seeing is believing. If I like the colour and the design of the cut, then you try it on, because until then, you have no reason to know if it will. I like that ordering from Sears is simple. You order, and if it fits at home, wear you can try it on at your leisure, you keep it, if it doesn't fit it goes in the bag and they get it back and you try a new size. Not as fast and all, but, what the heck, I like being able to try on clothes at home where I am not required to worry about opinions of people possibly critiquing my choices.
There is a current catalogue out of articles, and I like the design of a T shirt in ladies wear, I like the colour selection and they are all mono colour as I require. I'm going to order a test item, and if it fits, I intend to order one of each 7 colours. I will have the pleasure of wearing ladies clothing, and knowing it is ladies clothing, and it won't be so radical a difference from my usual polo shirts other than they might fit with less excessive material, because I find men's clothing is never nearly as form fitting. Sometimes you WANT the clothing to show your shape eh.

I am not so sure some women mind being visible under their clothes. I walked past a young lady once, main street, middle of the day, typical summery weather, slight gust of wind, and I knew precisely what shade of panties she had on. The thing is she was not wearing panties. And that skirt was definitely too short.
I sure know some women couldn't care less what they looked like in general in their clothing. Pants all chewed up with holes in them, that can' be accidental any more than boys walking around unable to keep their pants up even though they have a belt on the pants.

I think the average cross dressing person whether just a cross dresser male, or a MTF dressing enfemme is likely to be more interested in looking good than most cis females. Maybe most cis females don't care, don't think they need to care, because they get to state they are female and have no need to worry any might disagree. After all, if a person demands a cis female prove she is one, it's not like she can't. And she can just claim it's her prerogative to dress as she sees fit.

Me on the other hand, I have no breasts to make a female top look right, it won't sit right, it won't have the expected shape provided, and if I don't wear a bra I can't conceal artificial means of faking a bust. So I will be wearing a bra, even if it looks like a cis female would have elected to not do so. And the gear below, well it will play hell with a variety of fashion choices.

And then there's the wig, to replace the hair I have lost on my head in a so typical male fashion.
It annoys me that so many women walk out of the house with their hair screaming out, I did almost nothing with me hair.
So if I walk into Tim Horton's with a killer great looking outfit and to die for hair, I'm going to look weird even if I look female.
But they don't make wigs to look anything other than perfect. Well from what I have seen.
I want long hair, I want to be able to wear a wig that suggests I have hair down to middle of back, and yet I want to be able to wear it as if I just got up and threw it into a quick pony tail on my way to work. I don't want to always look elegant and perfect and the way it would look as if I had just did it up to wow my date. I mean, I would like to wear it with ribbons and other nice enhancement some times, but mostly I want to look 'ordinary'.

Until I have the head of hair, I think the clothing is all moot.

If someone told me a great outfit was going to cost me 300 bucks, or I could pay 100 bucks for an adequate male based outfit, I am not going to freak out. To me that's like either buying the economical model online from the cheaper company in China, or going deluxe and getting something maxed out from Japan likely Tamiya with some killer aftermarket add on super detailing sets.
You need to pay for what you want some times.

If only I could get caught in a downpour in a white shirt and be thinking 'oh crap they will see my tits'.
If only I had to take extra effort to do up my shoes in a skirt because I couldn't just bend over to do them.