| When in drab, I also wear women's... (60 votes) | |
| pierced earrings | 11 (18%) |
| other visible jewelry | 16 (26%) |
| shirts, if they pass | 24 (40%) |
| slacks, if they pass | 14 (23%) |
| jeans | 44 (73%) |
| shoes | 22 (36%) |
| sneakers | 15 (25%) |
This is just a little catchall. I'm sure I missed some things, and there's one thing I wish we did wear (more at the end).
Many of you are wearing women's shirts. I know shirts are difficult. In a dress shirt, darts may appear where they shouldn't. While men's shirts have a uniform collar, women's shirts are all over the place in terms of size, shape, and buttons (or lack thereof). No complaints: that's a large part of what makes it so much fun to buy and wear women's clothing. But it's hard to buy a shirt. You need to look at the collar size and shape; the buttons, including size; sleeve length, since men have two sizes and women have an infinite range of sizes; cuff size; length, since some shirts are barely waist length; darts; and so on. Sometimes colour is the big showstopper. Pink is OK, bright pink or salmon, maybe not so much. Blue is good, but teal is right out.
But 40% of you manage. I wear a women's shirt one or two days a week and always on (casual) Friday.
Almost a quarter wear women's slacks, which are also difficult: pockets, belt loops, zipper, length, cuffs can all differ on women's slacks in subtle ways. There may be a perfect pair of pants but the pockets are tiny or vertically slit or way too high, or there are no belt loops or the loops are skinny and definitely femme.
I'm guessing that the slacks wearers are a subset of the jeans wearers (three quarters of you!). Jeans are easier, and a bit of flair is allowed. When I started wearing women's jeans, the first non-plain pair had a rivet pattern, like one of those cause ribbons, on the back pockets. My wife said "well, everyone will know they're women's jeans." Since then, I've seen men wearing jeans with rivet patterns on the pockets. The same thing happened with embroidery: white stitching is kind of mainstream now. But those pretty bright butterflies on the legs are still off limits.
About a third wear women's shoes (I wear Aerosoles) and another quarter wear women's sneakers (mine are from New Balance). I'm still considering ballet flats for the airport. Loafers are not hard to find. My next pair of sneakers will have a little bright colour ~ some electric green or blue maybe.
A quarter wear some women's jewelry. I always have my charm bracelet and a necklace (which is under my shirt, generally). I'd love to expand my repertoire, if anyone has any suggestions!
And almost one in five wear pierced earrings! I have often considered having my ears pierced, but always change my mind. Someday, I need to figure out what the hang-up is and go for it.
What I wish we wore: something that was kind of a secret sign that says "hey, I'm a crossdresser." I don't know what it might be ~ a pin, a bracelet (maybe one of those rubber band things), a thumb ring, a pink shirt every Tuesday... something so we could identify our sisters and feel less alone.
You forgot long acrylic nails painted conspicuous colours. :)
ReplyDeleteLike these, for example. ;)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alicejaneinnewcastle/6558123977/
Hi Meg,
ReplyDeleteI agree it would be nice to be able to show a 'secret' sign - you could be working every day with another cross-dresser and never know.
Unfortunately it would get out eventually which would spoil the point of the thing.
Perhaps we have radar anyway. I have often wondered who (else) is the statistically likely tranny in our office, but after much thought have concluded it's me!