Hi,

This newbie simply isn't ready yet to go to a store and try on clothes until I find something that actually fits me.  I've tried to make sense of women's clothing sizings but they are still a mystery to me.  I tried to find a net resource that would convert women's sizes to men's and vice versa.  No such luck.  Would anyone care to guide a new girl who simply can't afford to buy things online only to discover they are too big or too small?

Kati

You need to measure yourself in three places. It's not a conversion chart from M2F sizes you need, but rather a chart where you can measure your own womans size. I found on right here on Susan's Place:

https://www.susans.org/reference/size.html

So just measure yourself in the right places and you will have a good idea. I did it with this chart and ended up in size 14 for most things, sometimes size 16.

I actually went to experiment with a girlfriend of mine in a thrift store (Salvation Army in Australia) and trying on clothes there has helped me know what size I should be.

Thanks, Michelle, for steering in the right direction.  Your kindness is much appreciated.

Kati

Once you know your size, the next adventure is to figure out the styles that work best for your body shape. 

For example I am a size 30 on down to my beer belly, and then size 22 from waist down... Trying lots of different styles to find the look that screams "that's me!" is definitely a trial and error process but eventually you find what works for you.  Its tons of fun and if you have girlfriends / SO to help you along its even better.

https://www.susans.org/reference/clothes.html gives some good starting tips about what to look for.

Cheers!
Rayalisse

Yeah.

Size is just the first step in a long road. Next you need to try things on to see how they hang. Then colour. Then shape, then style, feel, material, accessories, the event in question, (it's always an event), then how it wears.

After all that, some things just don't work.

The most important thing to have is a big wardrobe. For that, the golden rule is, there is no such thing as too much wardrobe space.

Remember that some designers and manufacturers size differently.  Better clothing will have labels indicating smaller sizes IE their 12 will be another companies 16.  It's an ego thing with rich women.  If you can get on Macies mailing list, the clothes in their ads will often have comments and charts from other customers as too whether something runs large or small, short or tall, etc.  Interestingly, among the comments are quite a few from males of one gender variant or another.  You really have to try something on.  Thank God, returns are easy!

Hi, Kati:

These girls have given you awesome advice on this post!  They are right about everything they've recommended to you, IMHO.

The following book is a GREAT place to start.  Why?  It teaches you all you need to know about buying, fitting and wearing women's clothing from honest-to-goodness experts, and it's a way fun read:

http://www.amazon.com/Dress-Your-Best-Complete-Finding/dp/0307236714/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283525761&sr=1-1

Also, check out this website for more information:

www.CrossDresser.com

Finally, once you've read Stacy & Clinton's book as mentioned above, checked out the Suddenly Fem line of clothing specifically made for people like us at the crossdresser website, you are now ready for:

http://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Shopping-Manual-Building-Improving/dp/1592400361/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283526082&sr=1-1

There!  You now have a "graduate degree" in shopping for women's clothes, really knowing your stuff and totally looking great, and you've had FUN learning how!   

Rock on, girl!  Happy Shopping!    

Hi Lacey Lynne,

I must confess that I haven't the given much thought to what to wear in the past few weeks since posting my original message.  I've had second, third, and even fourth thoughts about the whole undertaking.  I decided my first step towards becoming the real me was to learn to how feminize my face.  Ninety dollars later, which given the cost of makeup is a drop in the ocean, hours of watching instructional videos on You Tube, and many attempts, I still haven't been able to achieve any kind of believable look.  I want to look girlish not grotesque.  I keep thinking about silk purses and sow's ears and old dogs and new tricks.  I'm not quite ready to give up just yet, but I am decidedly discouraged.  Those transformational videos make the whole process look easy.  It isn't.  It obviously requires skill, patience, lots of practice, and probably a greater variety and better quality makeup than I bought.  For the moment at least the question of clothing seems rather unimportant.  Hopefully someday soon all your helpful hints will prove their worth in my life.

Until then, thank you so much.

Cheers,

Kati

Don't be discouraged by that Kati! Beautiful girls don;t just appear all of a sudden when they have been hidden for years...they have to be slowly coaxed out of hiding!

One of the best things you can do to boost self-confidence about your own achievable face is type "celebrities without makeup" into google and have a look what comes up. I was kind of interested in this before the urge to feminise myself came upon me, so I knew a bit about it already.

Another thing to remember is that lots of genetic women have the same problems as genetic men when it comes to makeup.
I have black rings under my eyes that are hard to get rid of completely, but guess what? So do lots of women! I just had a look at one site and found some pictures of J-Lo, Kristen Stewart and Drew Barrymore with their eyes looking about the same as mine without my makeup on! Go and have a look at pics of Madonna too.

I spend some time wishing that I had looked after my skin and wore sunglasses when I was younger, but I try to spend more time thinking about the assets I have instead, and making sure I look after my skin carefully to try and stop it from getting worse.

I haven't done it that many times, but I really find eye make-up is the big problem for me. At least I've learnt not to spot mascara all over my lower eyelids any more.