I know there are some people here who dont like to wear dresses or even look necessarily feminine. I however really enjoy being feminine, i like to carry purses, i love wearing heels, wearing make up, etc. Basically things that are considered female. Anyway i also love wearing dresses but i find that i look almost ridiculous wearing a dress unless it has long sleeves maybe. I usually wear a dress with a cardigan over if it has no sleeves kinda like a sun dress which i own quite a few of. The reason for this is i have pretty wide shoulders, thin but wide. I also have almost no hips or curves and i just hate how i look when i try to wear a nice fitted dress or something. When i look at myself in the mirror with a dress i just see..... a man with a dress. Sure my body has somewhat feminized but for the most part it still has more masculine features than feminine. I feel ok when i wear a dress up until i see a natural woman who just looks perfect in a dress it just fits natural women better their femininity just shines through when i see a beautiful natural woman with a gorgeous dress and maybe a flower in her hair. It kills me inside to not be able to look how i want and be more feminine. I just wanna know if anyone else feels this way sometimes even after being out and being full time

Is it possible you're not buying dresses that fit your body type? Are you an inverted triangle?

http://www.ehow.com/how_2065771_dress-flatter-inverted-triangle-body.html

You really have to try on a bunch. I don't wear them often (well never yet!) but I know you have to find a cut that looks good.

Look at other woman, most woman make this mistake I would say at least 50% of woman do not look good in the dress they picked out. You should get advice from someone else when trying one on.

My ex was bad at this, every time she wore a dress (maybe all of 4 times in her life) she would pick one that was basically a sack that went down to her ankles. She did this cause she was short and a bit over weight. All the dress did for her was make her appear short and overweight LOL.

Its like tops, I always look for one with a princess cut and that goes to top of hips, this makes it appear I have a thinner waist and hips. The trick is you can't go too tight but you can't go too loose either. This same thing goes with finding a dress.

Shelly

I dont own any dresses. But I'm waiting a few months to perhaps wear them on special occasions. My friend, Doshia, who is like a Mom to me since my real mother lives in Germany, says that when I am ready, she wants to buy my my 1st dress. ^_^

I feel terrible in a dress. I feel like a man in a dress and that is just depressing. It´s worse with dresses which are exposing the shoulders and I feel much better with a cardigan or something like that to cover my shoulders. And I am not very big at all but still.
But I have always had an issue with this covering and hiding my body. It doesent feel very healthy.

Not much for the dresses myself - but I'm looking forward to trying out the whole "skirt over jeans" look damn soon . (I'm such a hippy)

Dress over jeans is cool to...pretty much one of my wardrobe staples because that way there's no worry of flashing your knickers.

I love dresses and I can occaisionally find one that fits properly,(if I remember to such my stomach in) but have started to look for a dressmaker. 
I can find plenty that are long enough, but they are almost always too wide.  For health reasons I have to keep my weight down as much as possible which means my shoulders stand out. I worked out it will be cheaper to start from scratch than to buy good stuff and have it altered properly.

Karen

You just have to find dresses that fit your body type. I have wide shoulders as well so I normally wear a cute mid-waist length jacket that matches. It looks good. V-cut dresses look best on me. It's all about trying them on and seeing which looks best. And don't forget to accessorize.

Yes, there's are great dresses out there for every body type. You just have to find them. Go shopping with a friend sometime. It sounds like you need some unbiased input about how you look in various clothes. With some things the way we perceive ourselves if very different that how everybody else does.

BTW, I am totally envious of your hair in the avatar pic. I think you're gorgeous.

I look awful in a dress! my lower legs are so skinny and boney and my belly is too big. I try and wear clothing to cover up all the bad points and unfortunately there are a lot of those. 

I only have one that I could wear out and it's a lounge dress but I love it and I think I look good in it. I have my eye on a pleated dress at Kohls that I may get in a week or two if it's still there.

Randi

I'm another girl that can't pull off a dress to save her life.  Instead, I've taken to wearing skirts and a tank top - very similar look.  That way the skirt - esp if you buy a maxi with some ruffles or something - will accentuate what curves you do have on your legs, and you can wear a top that fits you right in the torso - in other words, tight enough to show off those curves too.  I've found baggy makes me look dudish, tight makes me look sexy.

Two things I've learned is first figure out your body type and to shop for clothes that will flatter you. While I 6' tall and have an odd barrel like chest yet small shoulders, a high thin waist and biggish hips and butt. Just about anything with an empire waist looks fantastic on me.

The second thing I am still having a hard time learning is self acceptance. Years ago I gave up twice on my experiment of part time towards maybe full time, precisely because I felt like some guy in a dress. Sure for as long as I can remember I wished I was a girl, prayed to wake up from the nightmare of being a boy, and heavily chastised when young for wanting to wear my sisters clothes. Yet, when out as the woman I wished I could be all I could feel like is a faker.

I am right in the middle of wearing only dresses/skirts phase when i go out.

QuoteI know there are some people here who dont like to wear dresses or even look necessarily feminine. I however really enjoy being feminine, i like to carry purses, i love wearing heels, wearing make up, etc. Basically things that are considered female. Anyway i also love wearing dresses but i find that i look almost ridiculous wearing a dress unless it has long sleeves maybe. I usually wear a dress with a cardigan over if it has no sleeves kinda like a sun dress which i own quite a few of. The reason for this is i have pretty wide shoulders, thin but wide. I also have almost no hips or curves and i just hate how i look when i try to wear a nice fitted dress or something. When i look at myself in the mirror with a dress i just see..... a man with a dress. Sure my body has somewhat feminized but for the most part it still has more masculine features than feminine. I feel ok when i wear a dress up until i see a natural woman who just looks perfect in a dress it just fits natural women better their femininity just shines through when i see a beautiful natural woman with a gorgeous dress and maybe a flower in her hair. It kills me inside to not be able to look how i want and be more feminine. I just wanna know if anyone else feels this way sometimes even after being out and being full time

I feel this way too. I have one dress that looks and feels nice on.
And yes as a few other have posted not all dress are equal.
You need to try them on and find which ones look good. Such a hard job but a girls got to do it.
Hon by looking at you avatar I would think you would look good in anything.

Quote from: Lyric on September 22, 2011, 09:59:22 AM
Yes, there's are great dresses out there for every body type. You just have to find them.

I'm not so sure about that. consider this photo:



Kind of an inverted triangle with a huge doughnut around the middle. if they make a dress that looks good on that figure i've never tried anything similar to it on yet (not that i've ever found very many that were even big enough to try.

that said, I LOVE wearing skirts, and if i could wear dresses I'd do so often. but right now the best i can do is find a skirt and blouse that look good together.

Quote
Go shopping with a friend sometime.

that's SO unlikely to happen. Not that it wouldn't be fun.

Quote from: Cadence Jean on September 22, 2011, 07:20:35 PM
I'm another girl that can't pull off a dress to save her life.  Instead, I've taken to wearing skirts and a tank top - very similar look.  That way the skirt - esp if you buy a maxi with some ruffles or something - will accentuate what curves you do have on your legs, and you can wear a top that fits you right in the torso - in other words, tight enough to show off those curves too.  I've found baggy makes me look dudish, tight makes me look sexy.

Curves on your legs? my lower legs are so thin I look like I have ricketts! I rarely show my legs as they look so awful. HRT hasn't done it's job with me unfortunately.

I read something the other day that suggested you have two choices when you reach 40.  Either cover up or wear short skirts. At least when I wear a skirt I can wear a different size top and have it all fit. 
I have given up looking at size labels.  The two dresses that fit me best, and that I look best in, are body conforming in a size that should be too small. What gives?

Karen.

I looked great in a dress when I was younger and not on HRT. HRT seems to have put on fat in the wrong places, especially to the upper body and belly area, and the opposite of what I was trying to achieve.  I looked better before I started HRT. So I may now stop HRT after 10 years but continue with anti - androgens and see if the unwanted fat in the wrong area declines!