How old when you told SA your shopping for you?

[Kitty Sue]

I was 21 I believe when I first told a sales assistant that I was buying lingerie for me. Prior to this I always told the SA I was buying for my "GF." I am now in my mid 30s. So how old were you, when you first told an SA you were buying clothing/makeup for you. :battingeyelashes:

[Sihaya]

23, seeing as i just did it for the first time 2 weeks ago

[SuzanneBender]

I was an old coot, but now you couldn't pay me not to tell them.

They are either very helpful once I do or I get a real bang out of there surprised reaction.

[Toni_Lynn]

I was 25 . And I must admit -- I did it primarily for the shock value :eek: and bit of erotic thrill :devil:

It was 1983 and did the whole deal with an SA in some trendy store where I tried on and bought a yellow jumpsuit and accessories cause I wanted to dress like the girls in Banarama. I wason lunch from work, so I was in guy mode -- well -- with panties

*sigh* -- oh to be 25 again!

Huggles

Toni-Lynn

[Danni Kay]

I was 21 I believe when I first told a sales assistant that I was buying lingerie for me. Prior to this I always told the SA I was buying for my "GF." I am now in my mid 30s. So how old were you, when you first told an SA you were buying clothing/makeup for you. :battingeyelashes:

I bought a dress when I was 19, and didn't try it on first (too nervous and self-conscious). Unfortunately, it was a bit too small. I returned it for store credit ($35 or so in 1997), and the SA said in a non-condescending way "Was it wrong size for who you bought it for?". I just said: "Yes, it didn't fit me". She didn't bat an eyelash, and said "Don't worry hon, next time just ask to try it on first--it's OK! You need a dress that fits you". So I exchanged it for one just like it that was two sizes bigger, and tried that one on first. I asked the SA to wait for me at the fitting room to get her opinion. She said I looked great and that the color of the dress was a good color for me. A very positive experience! Unfortunately, the store went out of business a few years later due to the economy.

[sherri52]

Twenty four when I first admitted it was for me. Prior to that if I was asked I just said it was a gift. Never brought it back if it didn't fit until then either.

[JiveTurkeyOnRye]

I don't remember exactly. I sort of slowly transitioned from buying for a fictional girlfriend, to just being vague on the details to actually saying it was for me, to now where I actually solicit their help or opinions on stuff.

I also somewhere stopped doing stuff like hiding skirts between two men's shirts on hangers when going to the dressing room. At stores where you put the stuff that you don't want on a rack in the fitting area rather than back on the shelves, I used to get a little chuckle at imagining the face on the SA when she'd go to that rack after I walked away and found a skirt. Now that I've tried on enough skirts I think their reaction was probably always just "ok, got to put this away."

[Kristy 56]

I was an old coot, but now you couldn't pay me not to tell them.

They are either very helpful once I do or I get a real bang out of there surprised reaction.

I didn't get the courage to even go shopping until I was an old coot.But now I couldn't agree more with Suzanne. So many dresses etc,so little time !!

[dilane]

When I started out in the pre-internet days, I'd order from the Sears or Penny's catalog. Then I got introduced to the real world by a bolder and more experienced T-girl friend.

From then on, I started buying my girl stuff only when en femme. So I can't remember ever buying femme garb in boy mode.

[~Emma D~]

I was 16 when I bought my first clothes, it was just a small shop and the SA realised straight away that I was shopping for myself. I bought quite a lot of items over the next year and was always allowed to try them on first.:)

[vetobob9]

When I bought a dress 15 years ago, I acted like it was for my gf. Except that I've never had a GF.

I think if I did it again, I would still pretend it was for my nonexistant GF.

[Sarah Doepner]

It hasn't happened for me yet. It's not that I'm not ready, but it's never come up when I've been shopping. I'll let you know when it does, it ought to be good for a story.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Ktty Sue
I never realy told them but when one of them would
say something like do you think that will fit you or that
will look good on you or do you think you can walk in them.
I would just say I sure hope so.

Orchid

[maddiegrl2k6]

I think the SAs always know lol. I remember being open about it when I was about 19. It was nice to not have to lie about it and to be able to use the fitting rooms and stuff! Well worth it!

[Daintre]

I was 21 at the time. I decided I wanted to buy a bra and a pair of panties in a Ladies Wear store. I didn't realize until it was to late that all the bras and such were kept in drawers behind a glass counter. (It was like the counter in Are You Being Served). An SA approached me before i could leave and asked what I required....well I told her and I was so red faced when she reached in the drawer and pulled out several pairs of panties, then spread them on the counter for me to view. Oh she was good, explained the pros and cons of each style....I quickly picked 2 pair then she asked what size bra? ...well I didn't know so she wrapped a tape measure around my chest right there, gees I was :o . Afterward though in the safety of my car, I was so excited that I had done it.

[Kitty Sue]

Wow, really interesting experiences ladies. I have become more shy as I get older. I think that is because I have so gotten used to internet ordering that I hardly ever buy from stores compared with 10 years ago. I do let those on the phone know that I am ordering for me sometimes.

[Nicole Erin]

I don't really remember but I pretty much don't really bring it up.
A few stores know me anyways and I doubt they think it is for anyone but me.

[JiveTurkeyOnRye]

I think the SAs always know lol.!

I wonder about that too sometimes. Because really, as clueless as we men can be sometimes, how many guys really go shopping for clothes for their wives or girlfriends when they're not there? How many non CD-ing husbands and boyfriends know their SO's size? Victoria's Secret does get a lot of this I'm sure, but do non-lingerie women's clothing stores/departments?

[lingerieLiz]

I was 16 and went into a store and picked two pairs of panties out. The SA told me I needed a different size and exchanged the ones that I had picked out for the correct size. That was in 1960.

A couple of years later I was purchasing some lingerie with out saying who it was for and the young SA (my age) said everyone should have and wear beautiful lingerie like this. She let me know that she was very available, but I was on a trip and wouldn't be back in that town.

I think that many SAs knew it was for me. I dated a girl that worked in one of the women's stores and she introduced me to her dad and told him that I bought all my clothes there.

[angpai30]

I haven't done that yet; is that a bad thing? If I had someone to go shopping with I most certainly would tell the SA it was for me, but then again when I'm on my own I tend to keep to myself.

Hannah~~

[Toni_Lynn]

As I had mentioned in my reply, back when I was younger, I was a lot more daring -- raging hormones -- definitely fueled by rum -- I guess. So there was also the time in Houston Texas -- at the Target in Sharpstown -- I shopped for boy stuff en femme -- and let the SA know that the tighty whities were for the girl who was buying them - -ah - me that is

Now when I buy 'em they're for my wife :)

Huggles

Toni-Lynn

[Annaliese]

49 was the first time, Iam now 56

[SheriM]

I was about 40 when I went into Sally Anns Corset shop in Chicago. If I recall, I had called them first. They took me straight into a dressing room and brought a girdle in to try on. Still remember that she said that I should leave my panties on. Tried on a couple All in One's, bra and girdle and she came in often, to tug on it a little, like around the bra portion and in the back, etc. There I was standing in a bra and girdle and pantyhose in front of a woman who I didn't know. She would say that "this looks nice on you" They wouldn't leave me alone for more than a minute.
When I went back several months later, they remembered me and gave good service but left me to be on my own a little. Bought breast forms on the second visit.
Anyway, this opened the doors for me and now I'm OK with asking to try on womens clothes just as a woman would ask.
SheriM

[JenniferR771]

Age about 45. It was a dress for me--but Halloween excuse number one--does that count? About 55, I began to tell the clerks that it was for me, as a cd. Very scared and nervous--but after I met a few SA's, they were nice, and it began to be fun.

[NathalieX66]

Round One was when I bought a black corduroy miniskirt at a Salvation Army in Bridgeport, Connecticut when I was 20, and asked if size 7 would fit me.
Hey! at $5, who could do better?!
I'll never forget the dirty look of disdain from the 60ish woman behind the counter.

[Xenia]

Man, I envy all you folks who had the cojones to start young. I'm 34 and just now starting to, er, "man up," as it were.

[NicoleScott]

Probably late twenties/early thirties. That's about when I realized several things: most of the SA's I lied to in the past probably knew it; I got better assistance by saying it was for me; I got a kick out of it (excitement); they found it fun and amusing.
On many occasions I showed SA's pics of me en femme. Never had a bad experience, other than one scowl from an old biddy at JCPenney while buying pantyhose. My best experiences were in wig shops. I mean, come on, who buys other people wigs?

[LeAnne Marie]

Never have, never been asked either although a few have hinted that they thought it was for me

[Elle1946]

I never have told them, I figure that it is none of their business. Like others have said, they really do not care. I know my size, if it doesn't fit I just exchange it or return it.

[Sandy Banks]

I haven't tried it yet, however just recently a SA asked me if my purchase was for my wife or daughter and I answered,"Yes", she just smiled and rang me up.:heehee:

[Kitty Sue]

It is amazing how helpful the SAs are. I am glad I started relatively young. I am really impressed with those of you who started in your teens or 50 and above.

[linnea]

It was quite awhile ago, in my late 40s, and I did it because I was tired of making up stories. I just thought, "Who cares?"

[jill_gossard]

It has a lot to do with what is in your own mind and how that transfers to the shop keeper.
Are you furtivly buying panties to wank in or are you carefully planning on dressing convincingly as the kind of lady that the assistant might be comfortable with.

My fear leads me to look like an embarassed bloke buying stuff for his wife, I am often approached and find it too easy to brush off offers of assistance.

Reading all the above I feel the need to get properly involved in the shopping experience. New years res.
say yes they are for me and see how it turns out

[kimdl93]

As I mentioned in another post, I bought some stay ups and made no attempt to pretend they were for my wife (since they were size F). The clerk cheerfully gave me an opened pair from the stock room.., I guess I was in my early 30's.

[StaceyJane]

I was 43 and I was at a Dress Barn where I had been introduced to the manager by someone from Tri-Ess so I knew I was in a safe place.
The manager brought me all sorts of stuff to try on and it was really fun.

Of course just last week a SA at Target asked if I needed help while I was looking at a skirt and I mumbled no thanks.
Well a step forward and a step backwards.

[Jennifer Soames]

I have been admitting this for 5 years. SA are always helpful and they always say ENJOY your Night. They know what I intend to do in my new lingerie. One SA is very helpful and always shows me the most sexy sheer lingerie and offers suggestions as to how I might match it to previous purchases.

Recently Imade a purchase and had coffee near the store. the SA who served me came in for coffee and just came over and asked if she could sit with me. She openly discussed my purchases with me and gave some advice onlaundering my "pretty things". I admitted to her without any prompting that It was a sexual thing. She simply said that all women who buy sexy lingerie intend to have sex in it so why shouldnt I. I am a repeat customer and she has seen me in Bra panties and stockings. I love being out to her and in some small way being her (girl) Friend.

[Jennifer Marie P.]

When I was 17 and started shopping alone and told the SA that I was looking for dresses and skirts for me and helped me pick the right ones and made me try it on.

[Kathi Lake]

I was 45 before I told the SA that I was shopping for myself. That was a little over a year ago - about the time I started dressing in public. Moral of the story? If you're going to do it, do it right. Tell them! They already know!

Kathi

[Micayla]

Two years ago in Gatineau,Quebec I was in a Pennigtons and they had a huge sale on bras.I was almost mesmerized by the prices($5.00) for really nice bras.A beautiful young French girl asked if she could help me and I blurted out that I was not sure what size to buy.After the smallest hint of a blush she took me to the back fitting rooms and measured me up.She brought me at least 12 or 14 to try on.Deciding on 3 she was so positive I should try the matching panties.The whole experience for me was awesome.I was 46 years old and haven't stopped shopping for myself since.

[Julogden]

My first time was 1977, I was 26, I bought a wig from a local Frederick's of Hollywood store.

Carol

[Janet Bern]

First time I said it was for me I was about 30 and was ordering from JC Penney by phone. Seemed pretty easy and really broke the ice. In my 40's I went to a dept store for cosmetics and finally came out with it and said the cosmetics were for me and asked about putting on foundation, eye liner etc. It was so easy and the SA was great. Since then I have always told the truth and have gotten excellent service. The SA's have "been there and done that", so we should really let them know it is for us we are shopping.
I hope those that are nervous about saying "its for me" get over it.

[Hermione Simpson]

I think it might of been about 2 years ago, but most of the time, I think that they know it's for me even if they don't ask, by the time i spend looking at what'll suit me before i buy it

[kimdl93]

I was in my mid 30's, just buying some stay ups at a lingerie store - the SA first checked to see if I had the size right, when I said yes, she realized they were for me, she gave me a big warm smile, asked me to wait and ran back into the stock room. She came back with an opened box of garter stockings - she gave them to me for free because they couldn't sell opened merchandise. From then on, I shopped quite openly for myself at that and other stores.

[VeronicaV]

I think I was 18 or 17 when I bought a pair of pantyhose. The SA gave me a small look, but continued on and sent me off. I look forward to the not-so-faraway future when I'll shop without a care.

[Diane Smith]

A bit of a different story for me. My mom always rather wished I had been born a girl and indulged my own predilection for girly things by putting nail polish and lipstick on me from time to time when I was little. Knowing that I had been in her closet from time to time and that her things didn't really fit me very well, when I was 12 she told me I should have a pair of girl shoes of my own. She took me to the fancy downtown department store where she did most of her own shopping (and had once worked herself, so she knew many of the SAs there), and helped me try on and pick out a pair of navy blue pumps with about a 2-3/4" heel. I had on mostly boy clothes but was wearing earrings, lipstick, mascara, pantyhose and red nails at the time, so there wasn't much doubt about my intentions! So I was outed to the SAs by my own mother, before I reached puberty! It wasn't too hard to tell them on my own after that experience.

- Diane

[amy canada]

I still haven't told any sales associates that I'm shopping for myself. I figure that they can assume I'm shopping for myself when I ask to use the fitting rooms. None of them have really asked if I'm shopping for a wife or girlfriend or anything like that, actually.

[Rebecca W.]

It was at age 42 that I told a saleswomen that I wanted to try on some dresses. I was tired of saying that it was for my wife or girlfriend when I bought them. It was not a warm response but she carried the clothes into the mens changing for me and she let me leave the ones I did not purchase in the changing room.

[MissyW]

I think around 21

[Aaron Zwidling]

For me it was in my twenties in a very haphazard way as it had more to do with making it obvious the stuff was for me than coming right out and admitting it to the SA. It was also very infrequent as I didn't have a lot of money and couldn't afford to buy things very often.

Then in my forties I went for a bra fitting, which opened the floodgates so to speak. Going up to the SA at the counter and admitting you are bra shopping for yourself but need to be measured first changed me. Especially as the first SA then turned me over to one of their 'fitters', who I then had to admit the same thing to. That plus the fact that almost immediately I was naked from the waist up in front of the fitter (a woman who I've just met a couple of minutes previous) as she measured me, helped me try on bras and commented on how each one looked on me and fit me. As both SA's were so supportive and the product was so much more intimate than dresses or shoes, I have found ever since then I don't have any problem admitting I'm shopping for myself.

At least that's true when it is a female SA. I'm not sure I would be quite as open with a male SA if it ever came to that, although there was one time at Payless that I admitted to a seemingly gay male SA that I was high heel shopping for myself. My most recent shopping experience was just yesterday, when I went into a store that carries fun sparkly clothes. I had passed the store dozens of times before, but I would always just look but not go in the store. This time I went in, asked to try on a dress I liked, bought it and the twenty something SA (who was cool throughout the whole thing) told me to "have fun" as I was leaving. I find having that kind of experience makes the disapproving look type experience that sometimes happens easier to ignore.

[golferguy]

I was 26 this was just over a year ago, when I was out of town on Business and went to Victoria's Secret and got a bra fitting and bought some panties and other lingerie. I admitted to the SA that it was for me and she was really helpful.

[susan54]

I think in my case it was about 15 years ago (before I had plucked up the courage to go out dressed, so I was in male mode). Armed with advice from the Tranny Guide, I ventured into Long Tall Sally in London, picked out two skirts and a dress and nervously (and in a very roundabout way) asked if it would be possible to try them on. She just smiled and said "of course", as if it was the most normal thing in the world. After visiting the Aberdeen branch of LTS a few years ago as a man in a skirt (and attracting no obvious attention) I asked the SA if they got many men trying things on, and she said it happened so often it was a normal part of their day. And this was Aberdeen! I would have been around 40 at the time. Things have moved on since then and it is only in remote, rural boutiques that thye have not encountered this before. These smal boutiques are truly wonderful when you find the ones that are right for you - and don't be put off if the SA and the other customers appear to be "wee wifies" - this type of store is just as likely to be nice and helpful. I confess I am not so comfortable with male SAs but they are rare in Scotland except at the till, but my favourite boutique has just recruited a male SA (I have not yet encountered him) - the female staff are so nice to me that it would be bigoted of me to try and avoid him.

[DaisyG]

It was just last year, when I was all of 69, that I first told an SA it was for me. :o

A lifelong CD, I was nevertheless very much a solitary soul hiding in my own little closet, until I joined this forum and became exposed to the real world of CD. Through countless diverse and thought-provoking posts by so many of the girls here, I have come far in understanding who I really am, and have been able to shed decades worth of self-suppression and guilt.

In turn, that made it possible for me to do last summer what I NEVER could have done before.

I really hated the look of my male-styled glasses. So, primed with a fresh level of confidence and with new prescription in hand, I walked into a department store optical department. I asked the SA to have my new bifocals made in feminine style frames, and would she help select something?

I was so, so happy my request was met with a professional "glad to help you" attitude, not with the sarcasm and disdain I'd feared. As a result, I had a good first-time experience. Thus as I write this, I'm wearing cute glasses appropriately styled for the active senior lady I wish to present as. :)

Now at age 70 and since this first experience, I have several times asked an SA for help with something "for me". So far, good results every time.

So thanks again, all you girls whose posts have enlightened me. You're a wonderful bunch of people.

Daisy :hugs:

[Bailey_in_Mansfield]

I was 25 (it was just a few months ago) when I first told my SA at Victoria's Secret that the bra was for me. But I was still kind of hiding, in a way... I had my forms on and was making excuses for myself, like I had this extreme gynecomastia and so my doctor recommended I start wearing a bra... She just smiled and nodded and helped me out, but now I know she didn't buy that story from the beginning. Once she had measured me and I picked a bra I wanted, she made the second part of telling her much easier when she just plainly asked, "want me to point you to the matching panties too?" I chuckled, blushed a thousand shades of red, and finally said, "Sure." :)

[plumblossom]

I was fifteen. It was the first time I'd worked up the courage to go into a lingerie shop. The shop was tiny, with all the lingerie behind a counter, and I was the only customer. I told the assistant (a woman in her fifties) that I wanted to buy some knickers. She showed me a few different styles. On seeing a little lacy pair I said - they're nice, could I try them on? She said no, they don't let men try things on, some shops do but they don't. I left.

I've never made up a story while shopping. If the SA asks, I say it's for myself. I've always had helpful responses.

[Nicola2876]

I did it this morning in New Look. I exchanged a dress and told the SA it didn't fit me. She just smiled:)

[NatalieM]

Yesterday, as well as being the first time going out and shopping

[Edwina888]

[QUOTE=Jenni Y;2014841]I was 21 at the time. I decided I wanted to buy a bra and a pair of panties in a Ladies Wear store. I didn't realize until it was to late that all the bras and such were kept in drawers behind a glass counter. (It was like the counter in Are You Being Served).

I think you might be from Edmonton, N. London - and I know that shop, a real time warp place, stuck in the 1940's. I was caught there, and strong-armed by a battle axe assistant. But I came out alive, with the bra I wanted.

Edwina.

[Kitty Sue]

Yesterday, as well as being the first time going out and shopping


That is great Natalie. What a special day it must have been. :battingeyelashes:

[Kitty Sue]

I did it this morning in New Look. I exchanged a dress and told the SA it didn't fit me. She just smiled:)

How did you feel? That is so cool.