Men's clothes

What do you wear now?

 

It seems that you wear more or less unisex clothes. Do you think that just knowing that you have men's clothes on will make you feel better? Then you can try to buy men's jeans, tshirts and shirts. Many of them are almost unisex, but YOU will know they are men's.

If you want other people to notice, it will be more tricky.

 

Try looking in the mens' section of clothes shops. If you're not sure what suits you, you could ask for someone else's opinion, or just try different clothes on and see which one you like

 

well then happy shopping!

You can start with men's tshirts, short-sleeved shirts perhaps. You will learn that some men's shops are full of girls, because casual or sporty men'clothes are almost unisex. Sporty shirts usually have pockets, they can make you feel comfortable too.

You can try on men's jacket, cardigan or a sweater too.

 

For me, the first steps in transitioning my wardrobe were terrifying. I barely had a handle on my gender, and felt like any little push or attack about it would completely undo me. I knew that I needed new clothes ASAP, but had no clue how to go about shopping for them, sizing them, or affording them. I was also really nervous about actually doing the shopping and buying, I felt really weird about standing in the mens section of a store. Here are my tips and ways that I dealt with all of these crazy feelings:

-Figure out what you're basic ideal fashion is. For me, I would love to be dapper just about every day (although I recognize that sports coats, trousers, and bow ties are expensive). I have trans* friends who identify very much in the "bro" spectrum and love snapbacks, jerseys, and basketball shorts. Or maybe you're looking for something basically like what you wear now, but masculinized. Try to get in your head a basic concept that you might like to head toward. Do note, it's okay if this image is more extreme than you really want to be. You won't get there overnight anyway.

*NOTE* For me, the goal is to pass as a guy much/most of the time at first glance. I want strangers to "call me sir, but be confused about it," to quote a friend.

-So once I had a rough goal in mind, my next challenge was to get over the weirdness of buying men's clothes. It is very much worth noting here that unless you are large, broad-shouldered, and big-footed, you will probably actually be shopping in a combination of the men's, women's and boy's sections. I actually found it weird to shop in any of these places, as I was used to the juniors department (i.e., the section of "let's show off those curves!"). What I ended up doing was making a lot of little runs in and out of stores. There were a couple weeks where I think I went into some sort of clothing store 6 out of 7 days and bought pretty much nothing. In the beginning, I would go in and do a sort of dance, where I would hover in the women's section until I thought no one was looking and then dart in to get a closer look at some shirt or something. It was silly, but I think it was a crucial part in getting my feet wet. The goal is to push what you're comfortable with until you get a new comfort level, but it doesn't have to happen overnight.

Another idea is to bring a friend along. If you have someone who knows what's up with your gender, is supportive, and likes to shop, they can give you a lot of courage. If it's a guy, you can pretty much pretend that you're shopping for him if you want, but even a girl can help make everything more comfortable.

Logic is not always useful against anxiety, but on occasion it does help. Most employees and other shoppers will not give you a second glance. However, I have had one experience where I went into a dressing room with a mix of items from both sections and had the attendant ask if I wanted her to hold the masculine pieces for me, and then give me a weird look when she realized they were not being chosen for a boyfriend or brother but for me.

*NOTE* Wow, this is long. I guess I have a lot of feelings about this. I'm not even done yet...

t-shirts are wonderful creations. They are soft and comfy and come in boys cut. But they will not disguise your boobs. In fact, they will pretty much highlight them. There are ways around this, but they take some work. If you're looking to pass, t-shirts are not your friends.

Quick sizing tips:
-the shoulder seems should not fall past your shoulders. (This is a duh! tip, but the other day I realized that my father, who has been buying men's clothes for over 50 years, didn't know it.)
-You can roll up sleeves that are too short, and leave the lowest button undone if you have to in order to accommodate sleeves sized for a twelve year old and/or boy's hips.
-The crotch of pants should not hang to your knees (unless you are purposefully sagging), getting pants that really fit will make your legs look longer, and therefore make you look taller.
-Don't buy anything that doesn't fit unless you a) know how to sew and are prepared to tailor it, b) are going to take it to a tailor, or c) have a plan in mind to work around the part that doesn't fit.
-Don't ever buy a shirt that is too broad in the shoulders or too baggy in the armpits. They are monsters to tailor and will not look good on you.

I thrift a lot of my clothes, especially my button ups. What I have discovered is that I can wander down the two rows of men's button-ups in Goodwill and look for the ones where the shoulder seem is resting on the hanger instead of hanging off of it. Those might fit me.

 

I don't know if this'll help, but I'm kind of stuck with buying more girls clothes than guys (my mom only recently bought me two guy shirts for school) because I'm not out, but I can very, very easily make a girls flannel shirt look very masculine when I button the shirts all the way to the top (so they look like basically button up shirts lol). But I like to look more on the neat/trim/dapper side of the clothes spectrum, so t-shirts aren't my thing :x but if you want a bit more variety, try button ups! un-buttoning or buttoning them really makes a difference with how masculine/unisex/feminine it looks good luck!

 

Maybe you could shop at a chain store like JC Penney. Is there a mall anywhere near you? http://www.jcp.com