Anna, finally but not yet final.

[Petunia]

Anna, I have been dressing similar to what you have described.
Girl jeans, or leggings in casual, femme sneakers or obvious womens akle boots and either womens tees or mens neat button up shirts.

Jewelry is earrings, thin braclet and necklace.

I have only had positive comments on the womens items I've been wearing.

I'm trying to find a nice style women's shirt or blouse that doesn't scream out. The two that I have are OBVIOUSLY women's items are would be crossing the line if I wore them out with my wife.

I did wear one out once with white jeans and open toed sandles when getting my brows done and my beautician liked what I chose and said it was very age approapriate.

What you have said about comments from other women, I am guessing they are suspecting you are changing.  I get that same idea from our female friends.

Growing your hair longer like I am too is another clue

[KristaFairchild]

Gym session today. The first in almost two weeks since summer contains a lot of other activities. A bit of an allround workout with bike, glutemax, rdl, glutemedius and some core. Might be a bit stiff tomorrow - the RDL has that effect when waiting too long between sessions.
I try to do 3-4 sessions per week during Oct-May, but June-Sep tends to be once per 7-10 days.

I find different activities make me feel differently about my gender. While I realize I'm always Krista, my body has its own memory. Do you feel that when you work out? 

[Finally Anna]

I find different activities make me feel differently about my gender.

Yes, I also have that feeling.
I am always fully Anna when I work out. Feeling and dressing Anna, more female-typical excercises, motivation by Anna, ...

[Finally Anna]

What you have said about comments from other women, I am guessing they are suspecting you are changing.  I get that same idea from our female friends.

Petunia, that is a good thing!
I hope they are suspecting that I am changing into more femme, even that they suspect that I am transfemme.

The reason is simple: They see changes and may wonder what is going on. If they then get a positive vibe from my softer and more caring behaviour, then that behaviour and their positive vibe is their view of the new me, if/when they later realize that I am in fact transfemme. The behaviour, not the word "trans", becomes their reference
Their reaction is then much more likely to be "Oh, transfemme, then we understand the changed appearance and we like her a lot" than "Trans, that is weird".

[Finally Anna]

Today is a day of testing.

My wife is out of town until tomorrow so I am testing various presentations to find out for myself what I really think and feel with respect to clothing.
A very light makeup with brows styled/coloured, mascara and just a very subtle very light blush (my skin tone) on top of the beard shadow for simplicity, light pink lipstick. Subtle.
Femme perfume.
Hair more femme without really styling it.
Glossy pink nail polish.
A couple of rings, a bracelet.

What is absolutely obvious is that I need a bust to even remotely resemble a woman, bodily. Without bust there are just these wide shoulders and the blouses fit/hang badly. With a padded bra and medium sized bust things look so much better. So, for an actually femme presentation with a skirt I will need a bustline.

Almost as obvious is that face and hair are not female enough. Ok, my hair can be styled androgynously but it lacks a few cm if I want a more female hairstyle. Face is male. Not square and angular male but still male. Can probably be decently fixed with makeup and if getting rid of the beard shadow (laser, makeup).

So, how did the various outfits work then?

Female style
Beige linen blouse and black maxi skirt, with high wedges: Nice. Below the neck this could possibly-probably pass as a woman even though I don't have any hips.

Androgynous or Femme that is leaning andro:
Leggings, same blouse, canvas sneakers: Nice.
Denims, same blouse, canvas sneakers: Nice.
Stretch trousers, lavender shirt-blouse that is androgynous, canvas sneakers: Nice, but this is without any bust since that shirt is too small for a bust.

I dont have any flats that can be used instead of the sneakers.

If there is a bottom line then it is that:
I feel about as good when presenting femme leaning androgynously as I do when I present all femme. It is also that my perception of myself has changed a lot since a few months back. A few months ago I couldn't look at myself in purely female clothing, without a lot of aversion. Now it is quite ok, given that the clothes fit well.

[Maid Marion]

Black skirts minimize volume.  A white or light colored skirts will help balance your top by adding volume.  Pleating skirts will also add volume.

I have thick thighs.  I'll choose skirts that hide my thighs while showing the thinner part of my legs below the skirt.  That is about four inches above the knee.  I suggest experimenting with different skirt lengths to see what is most flattering.

I have a lot of skirts.

Marion