I think this thread shows just how much we are all individuals with different attitudes, feelings and experiences and I think much of that depends on when, and where you were born, and where you did your growing up. 

I also think there need be no worries about wearing a skirt. Many women all over the world do it

I love wearing skirts/dresses

I wear a skirt almost daily, but as part of my uniform at work I wear a pencil skirt.  I don't really like wearing pants, so this suits me fine.

I love wearing really short mini skirts on hot summers days..

I had an unnecessary knee replacement surgery, which gave me the staph infection MRSA. It was so virulent that when antibiotics couldn't kill it, they physically dug it out and the scar tissue made it impossible to completely straighten out my knee. Wearing pants exacerbates that look, so I always wear dresses and skirts, which I love wearing anyway. I have pretty nice legs and the Southern California weather is great, so I haven't worn pants in more than nine months.

I'm not full time yet, I have tentative plans by the summer. Right now I go to my coffee house in a sweater that can be seen as male  or female. I'm pretty lucky to have very noticeable breasts. I some times wear make up I feel pretty feminine with out wearing a dress. I love dresses though .I use to go shopping and running around in a dress. For some reason it never phased me whether I looked like a man in a women's dress or not because I felt a terrible need to get out. Jeans are definitely more particle though. A nice blouse and jeans looks great.

Quote from: Victoria Mitchell on December 03, 2013, 05:52:35 PM
On another note, in terms of passability, most chicks don't wear skirts and dresses all the time. Most girls I know/play sports with/am friends with wear skirts/dresses maaaaybe about 10% of the time, if that. The only women that I know who wear dresses and skirts more than that are either: a) very, very strongly feminine in appearance (South American chicks, southern black women, very old school old white ladies), b) Wear them for religious reasons (modesty, faith based dress code), or c) hippy chicks (though they wear them only about 30% of the time as opposed to 10%).

Honestly, dressing overly feminine is pretty stereotypically an early transition thing to do. I mean, if that's your style, cool, but do try to consider what 'you' want to wear as opposed to what you think is the most appropriate for a 'girl'. Do *you* want to be hyper feminine all the time? Will that work with where you're at in transition/with your features? What do you want your style to say about you?

Really cuz there are about 15-30 women at my church who wear nothing but skirts or dresses along with all of there daughters.
I guess it pays sometimes to be a Conservative.

Quote from: Victoria Mitchell on December 03, 2013, 05:52:35 PM
Yick. I mean, I love dresses and skirts on occasion but, in terms of practicality, they're a hassle. Car doors, cleaning and maintenance, and then there's the ever present problem of having to deal with chafing between the thighs. Most of the time, I wear jeans, exercise pants, slacks, etc.

On another note, in terms of passability, most chicks don't wear skirts and dresses all the time. Most girls I know/play sports with/am friends with wear skirts/dresses maaaaybe about 10% of the time, if that. The only women that I know who wear dresses and skirts more than that are either: a) very, very strongly feminine in appearance (South American chicks, southern black women, very old school old white ladies), b) Wear them for religious reasons (modesty, faith based dress code), or c) hippy chicks (though they wear them only about 30% of the time as opposed to 10%).

Honestly, dressing overly feminine is pretty stereotypically an early transition thing to do. I mean, if that's your style, cool, but do try to consider what 'you' want to wear as opposed to what you think is the most appropriate for a 'girl'. Do *you* want to be hyper feminine all the time? Will that work with where you're at in transition/with your features? What do you want your style to say about you?

Really consider all this before trying to slant your fashion one way or the other. Otherwise, you'll stick out in ways that will make you far less comfortable than wearing not-pants will make up for.

I absolutely love love love skirts and dresses, pants are off putting, and I'll never wear skinny jeans *shudders* some girls love dresses, some don't, I'm one those that will bite your hand if you try to take mine away (joking, but i might depending on who), i can't wait to be a pretty girl (or just girl) in a stunning crimson dress!

I wear them occasionally. And I mean on like... occasions. Like my avatar is on Pride day in New Orleans, so I wanted to be a little more visible and wore a slutty thing. But that's RARELY my thing. You can almost always find me wearing jeans. At work, the uniform shirts they give us wouldn't look good with a skirt, so I stick to slacks.

It's not that I don't like skirts / dresses, but I like to show off my butt and jeans are much more in than dresses and skirts. I get away with dresses and skirts just fine ... in fact I tend to get more male attention with them on. But it's just more me to wear jeans.

Besides, finding a dress that looks good on me is kinda difficult... it has to hit in just the right spot and going through every store to find that right fit is too much work.

Quote from: Alainaluvsu on December 04, 2013, 06:07:12 PM
Besides, finding a dress that looks good on me is kinda difficult... it has to hit in just the right spot and going through every store to find that right fit is too much work.

Spend a little extra on a good, high quality skirt or dress and have them tailored....trust me a good tailor can take a bed sheet and make it hug all of the right places.

My two cents - skirts and dresses doesn't have to be feminine. There are quite some styles with rather brutal look, or at least neutral. Speaking of neutral, I like knitted dresses, it can be fine knit or more pronounced, so it creates different look, and I  like to put strong looking accessories, something in punk style... Accessories can dramatically enhance the appearance. I like simple streamlined looks, without any flowers or what not, it doesn't matter if it is a dress or jeans, I will always find a way to express my not so feminine self.

Quote from: kariann330 on December 04, 2013, 03:51:18 PM
Really cuz there are about 15-30 women at my church who wear nothing but skirts or dresses along with all of there daughters.
I guess it pays sometimes to be a Conservative.

I think the point we're trying to make is that you should wear them because they're fun, not because they're feminine

Quote from: Anna++ on December 05, 2013, 10:23:25 AM
I think the point we're trying to make is that you should wear them because they're fun, not because they're feminine

Very fun! *twirls for 20 minutes straight* very very fun! I'm such a giggly lil girl.

Quote from: Victoria Mitchell on December 03, 2013, 05:52:35 PM
Yick. I mean, I love dresses and skirts on occasion but, in terms of practicality, they're a hassle. Car doors, cleaning and maintenance, and then there's the ever present problem of having to deal with chafing between the thighs. Most of the time, I wear jeans, exercise pants, slacks, etc.

On another note, in terms of passability, most chicks don't wear skirts and dresses all the time. Most girls I know/play sports with/am friends with wear skirts/dresses maaaaybe about 10% of the time, if that. The only women that I know who wear dresses and skirts more than that are either: a) very, very strongly feminine in appearance (South American chicks, southern black women, very old school old white ladies), b) Wear them for religious reasons (modesty, faith based dress code), or c) hippy chicks (though they wear them only about 30% of the time as opposed to 10%).

Honestly, dressing overly feminine is pretty stereotypically an early transition thing to do. I mean, if that's your style, cool, but do try to consider what 'you' want to wear as opposed to what you think is the most appropriate for a 'girl'. Do *you* want to be hyper feminine all the time? Will that work with where you're at in transition/with your features? What do you want your style to say about you?

Really consider all this before trying to slant your fashion one way or the other. Otherwise, you'll stick out in ways that will make you far less comfortable than wearing not-pants will make up for.

I couldn't agree more that is one of the first things I learned when I started transitioning. When people think trans they think guy in a dress they don't really picture someone dressed like a everyday woman and for most women a dress is not something worn on a daily basis. You hear the word passing thrown around a lot but the word that should be thrown around a lot is blending and wearing a dress is anything but blending it's about standing out and saying look at me.

Quote from: eerie on December 05, 2013, 10:21:36 AM
My two cents - skirts and dresses doesn't have to be feminine.

You mean like this?



LOL - I had the ankle long version of that. It was looking a lot better though. And I actually wore it some of the times - maybe even more than any of the other skirts I ever owned

Quote from: anjaq on December 05, 2013, 11:13:38 AM
LOL - I had the ankle long version of that. It was looking a lot better though. And I actually wore it some of the times - maybe even more than any of the other skirts I ever owned

The ankle one is very cute!

Quote from: anjaq on December 05, 2013, 11:13:38 AM
You mean like this?

LOL, indeed.  Yeah, why not, though that is not that I had on my mind. Denim mini is OK, that I can wear, but not a fan of denim overalls and that kind of stuff.
I had something like this on my mind

vs


with the second one you simply can't wear something like

which I have...
oh, and that is one of dresses I have

It is certainly not some hipster style, but it doesn't look overly feminine either, especially if paired with bulky boots with low or no heels at all.
And this I use to cover my fake cleavage 

Quote from: Nicolette on December 05, 2013, 11:27:25 AM

Uh. I love that one!

Dammit - I am now to bit to fit into that one. I hat having gained 20 kilos over the years. That is one of the reasons I disliks feminine clothing now - i am just too fat

Quote from: Victoria Mitchell on December 03, 2013, 05:52:35 PMthen there's the ever present problem of having to deal with chafing between the thighs.

I'd suggest compression shorts. The kind some athletes wear. I just got a pair today, they're wonderful and make walking so much better.

I exclusively wear skirts and dresses to work where I teach. When I'm not at work, I almost always wear jeans. But I'm not allowed to wear jeans to work. I worry sometimes about fulfilling a stereotype, but I just don't think that the dress pants I own or have tried on (but not bought) look feminine enough. They box me in rather than accentuate my feminine form. I've noticed they tend to do the same to cisgender women, but cisgender women rarely have to worry about being taken for men, even when their clothes deemphasize their curves.

I truthfully have no idea what most people say about my habit of wearing dresses, but I think having a good sense of style, and wearing clothes that are age appropriate and flattering goes a long way toward combatting whispering about inexpertness.

Quote"then there's the ever present problem of having to deal with chafing between the thighs."

This - its also one of the reasons I dont wear skirts a lot. Plus the legs are always cold unless it is really a warm day in midsummer (in which case the chafing is even worse).

Are there really jobs that require of you to wear skirts or dresses? Thats awful. I guess many actually like that of course (sort of like you cannot escape now that people recognize you are a woman) but to tell people what to wear is kind of bad. I think I would be very uncomfortabe in such a job.