Crossdressing as a fashion

[Cait]

Hi, I assume this subject has been done over and over, but...oh well. I was just wondering whether you girls think that guys wearing 'womens' clothing in public will ever just be accepted in the mainstream of society as merely a fashion. How inconcievable a notion is this? If it were to be accepted as just a fashion how do you think this would impact upon your own crossdressing?

[Billijo49504]

I wear girls jeans and shorts all the time. Some of my t shirts are from LB or Ave. I do this in guy mode....BJ

[ColleenW]

I seriously doubt crossdressing will ever go 'main stream' but if it does or doesn't it wouldn't I don't think it would make any difference to my crossdressing.

[Stephanie Anne]

So long as we have wonderful gender norm pigeonholes to keep us tied up in snips and snails and puppy dog tails, you can forget it.

That and the religious fanatics that give Christians a bad name keep harping that we are child molesters kind of puts a cramp on things.

[Kickin' Crosser]

So long as we have wonderful gender norm pigeonholes to keep us tied up in snips and snails and puppy dog tails, you can forget it.

.

Yeah, because apathy fights apathy so well. :doh:

[ellenwannabe]

I sure wish it would happen but I'm sure it won't be in my lifetime - and no it would not change the fact that I dress in womens clothing every day but it would certainly give me a more varied choice of styles and colors and fabric - Ellen

[Freddy12]

I think that guys wearing women's clothes will never be completely accepted. While I wish that were not the case, I think it will be.

Would it affect my dressing if there was ful acceptance? I'd dress all the time!

[JiveTurkeyOnRye]

I find it funny because this thread exists, and at the same time in the shopping forum, there's a thread about the companies that make men's lingerie and the vast majority of responses is "there's no point if it's not made for women."

As a whole, crossdressers don't seem to support the very companies that make clothes specifically for us, and then we wonder why we keep getting so much resistance from a public who has little to no exposure to us aside from a small portion of us.

Pigeonholes, conservative religious types, social norms are all excuses. Women changed the face of fashion, men could too but we're too busy saying "It'll never happen," to realize we're the ones who have to make it happen.

[Rachel Morley]

I was just wondering whether you girls think that guys wearing 'womens' clothing in public will ever just be accepted in the mainstream of society as merely a fashion.
Oooh ... now that's a question! :) Merely as a fashion? Well, my personal opinion is that dressing for fashion (total clothing rights etc) is way, way different than dressing for TG or CD reasons. In other words, IMHO CDers will never fully support feminine fashion for men (or maybe only the one's still in the closet) perhaps guys that enjoy being different or somewhat girly, yes, maybe, .... but to answer your specific question: "will guys wearing women's clothing (not girly versions made for guys) be accepted in the mainstream of society as merely a fashion?" .... I highly doubt it. Why? ... because regular guys (and others) still have issues with the idea that dressing feminine is somehow connected to sexual orientation and folks, ... there's still a lot of homophobia out there! The other thing of course is the social pressure among men to not "go down the scale" and so for a man to openly wear clothes that are made for women, is IMHO seen as being feminine, and being a feminine male amongst a lot of regular guys, is seen as being weak. Regular guys don't like being seen as weak. I know that's a long (boring?) answer .... but the short one is .. "sadly no!" :sad:

[Taylor186]

If it does become acceptable--the norm--to wear what ever you want then we'll have to come up with another name for what we do because it will no longer be, by definition, crossdressing.

[sissystephanie]

For the past 5 years I have been wearing all kinds of womens clothes, including skirts and dresses, out in public. The major difference between me and most CD's is that I wear no makeup or wig. I am a man and look like one, but I am dressed as a female. And I get no comments, unless they are compliments on my outfit. I think the world does accept us, if we just accept ourselves!!

[windycissy]

It's not as far-fetched as it may seem...100 years ago if you'd told someone that one day women would wear pants most of the time they wouldn't have believed you. My own prediction is that men won't dress up in girly dresses in the future, but rather that both sexes will merge towards an androgynous look, body hair will be a thing of the past and men and women will dress more or less the same, like in capris, sandals or maybe even skorts?

[NathalieX66]

When I go out in public en femme, I usually dress for the occasion.
I'll sex it up for a nightclub, but if I go to the grocery store for the usual weekly items, I'll wear ballet flats, womens jeans, and a frilly top, and some neat looking earrings. I don't do this every day, but I have done it on my own ( unaccompanied) more than a dozen times since I became honest with myself a year & a half ago.

Even though I'm just a crossdresser, I aim to blend in, and not make a scene.
As far as being accepted, I have not had a single negative indecent yet. Sometimes people are too polite to stare and don' t want to be rude. Others are curious. I just get the feeling that when you dress the way women typically do everyday, people will take you seriously as a trans person and not mess with you. I'm at the median heigh of a lot of women, which is 5'6", and I hardly get eyes on me until someone attempts to study me. As much as I want to put on a big frilly prom dress or those 5 inch heels and a pencil skirt & sheer hose & garters (which is gonna get noticed), I found that being stealth is better than not going out en femme at all. :)

[daviolin]

When I go out in public en femme, I usually dress for the occasion.
I'll sex it up for a nightclub, but if I go to the grocery store for the usual weekly items, I'll wear ballet flats, womens jeans, and a frilly top, and some neat looking earrings. I don't do this every day, but I have done it on my own ( unaccompanied) more than a dozen times since I became honest with myself a year & a half ago.

Even though I'm just a crossdresser, I aim to blend in, and not make a scene.
As far as being accepted, I have not had a single negative indecent yet. Sometimes people are too polite to stare and don' t want to be rude. Others are curious. I just get the feeling that when you dress the way women typically do everyday, people will take you seriously as a trans person and not mess with you. I'm at the median heigh of a lot of women, which is 5'6", and I hardly get eyes on me until someone attempts to study me. As much as I want to put on a big frilly prom dress or those 5 inch heels and a pencil skirt & sheer hose & garters (which is gonna get noticed), I found that being stealth is better than not going out en femme at all. :)

Very well put, Nathalie.

[goofus]

So long as we have wonderful gender norm pigeonholes to keep us tied up in snips and snails and puppy dog tails, you can forget it.


I tend to agree :iagree:


It's not as far-fetched as it may seem...100 years ago if you'd told someone that one day women would wear pants most of the time they wouldn't have believed you. My own prediction is that men won't dress up in girly dresses in the future, but rather that both sexes will merge towards an androgynous look, body hair will be a thing of the past and men and women will dress more or less the same, like in capris, sandals or maybe even skorts?

No please, not skorts!!!

[docrobbysherry]

Then, I'd have to toss out 99% of my clothes. Which r more suited for a drag queen, than a CD who goes out in public dressed!:doh:

However, I think I'll start worrying about THAT issue when pigs fly!:brolleyes:

[Joanne f]

Some designers like Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier have tried to bring in skirts for men and there are still some places that make skirts for men but it has never really caught on, H&M use to sell a skirt for men and if you look in the high St a lot of the men's tops are getting very feminine maybe it would take just one well known person to or a lot of us not so well known people to change things .

[Deborah Jane]

Guys wearing womens clothes?

Nah, it'll never happen, guys don't wear womens clothing :whistling:

It wouldn't have any impact on me at all, I'd still wear my clothes :)

[Dana]

Not going to happen ~ because we as a general population are a population do dumb!~@ZZes.

Uneducated, under read, illiterate, culturally and socially "socialized" by the Curch and state.

As to what is right and wrong?

Personally

I would love to be the "wife" to a GG?

[BRANDYJ]

It will never happen since most men think of women as somewhat lower then themselves therefore would not make themselves look like a lower class citizen. What a shame and sad fact.
And most men have this macho attitude that won't let them show any sign of femininity as it may be deemed "gay".

[faltenrock]

skirts for men are a different story, it has nothing to do with crossdressing.
We usually dress up fully en femme, with stockings, a wig, some with make-up, high heels, a short skirt and breast forms .....

That is CDing, I think, at least in Europe, it has been accepted to a certain degree by now. There are many shows on German TV, such as 'cooking shows'. That is a show where 5 oeple get together from Monday evening til Friday, each person has to cook a 'perfect dinner' and can win EUR 1.500,-.

I usually don't watch, but my wife and the boys do. There were at least 5 CD's this year, who dressed up when it was their turn to cook.
People are getting used to the theme of Crossdressing and they get 'conditiouned' to the look of men en femme. I think that's good.

[Anneliese]

It's pretty obvious it's ok for women to dress in men's clothes. No biggie. As obvious as it is when a man is looking in the ladies clothing section at a store, it's completely normal for women to be shopping in the men's section. In addition to it being ok for women to dress as men, it's also assumed women are shopping for their husband, their son, for a gift, etc. It is not assumed we are shopping for our wives, daughters, etc.

Fashion? It should be, but it's never likely to occur. As per comparing us to Europe, they are light years ahead of us socially. As a country we are quite behind the times and quite backwards. Compare the percentages of those who are super-religious here versus in Europe, and although I'm sure there are many here who are religious, realize that many of that ilk use the bible against gays, CDs, TS, etc., figuring only normal and standard people are acceptable to Jesus etc., when (IMO) nothing could be further from the truth.

[Joanne f]

skirts for men are a different story, it has nothing to do with crossdressing.

Every step forward is a step in the right direct , if the general public get`s use to seeing men in skirts of any type and then maybe dress`s the acceptance of seeing a full CD maybe just a short step away .
In that way we all win from the ones who just like to dress in the clothes to the one`s who want to be seen as a woman .

[Nicole Brown]

I suspect that someday, sometime in the future, this may become common practice. But I believe there will always be differences nonetheless.

When a woman dresses in men's clothing, which is considered a fashion statement, she is simply wearing the outer clothing that a man would wear and not the under clothing. She will also continue to wear her usual lingerie, shoes and makeup that she would normally wear. If it were acceptable for a man to wear woman's clothing, I assume that he would simply follow suit and wear the outer clothing of a woman along with his boxers, undershirts, sox and flat heeled shoes.

We as crossdressers, and beyond, take this to an entirely different level. We not only wear the outer garments that a woman would wear, but also the lingerie, heels, makeup and hair styles that woman wear. We use breast forms and padding to try to achieve a feminine appearance which most men who just wanted to make a fashion statement wouldn't do.

So, even thought it may someday become acceptable for men to wear skirts, blouses and dresses, I do not believe they will ever take it to the level that we do. And just look at all of the fun they will be loosing out on... :battingeyelashes:

[JiveTurkeyOnRye]

I suspect that someday, sometime in the future, this may become common practice. But I believe there will always be differences nonetheless.

I'm all for differences, I just think differences should be more of an individual thing that one develops in their own style as opposed to a blanket rule. Plenty of "menswear" lines exist for women where men's clothing styles have been tailored to fit the female body better, I'd be all for "womenswear" lines designed to fit the male body. Skirts fit me very well, but most women's tops don't. I like the styles and looks of many women's tops but I'd like to have the same tops without the need for breasts to fill them out, and larger dimensions on the sleeves which often are too small for my arms.


When a woman dresses in men's clothing, which is considered a fashion statement, she is simply wearing the outer clothing that a man would wear and not the under clothing. She will also continue to wear her usual lingerie, shoes and makeup that she would normally wear. If it were acceptable for a man to wear woman's clothing, I assume that he would simply follow suit and wear the outer clothing of a woman along with his boxers, undershirts, sox and flat heeled shoes.


On the other hand, I know plenty of women who wear boxers, or basic cotton undies, and unisex shoes such as Chuck Taylors or similar styles. I also know many girls who wear little to no makeup. My point here is that there's room for exploration for a guy wearing "women's clothing" for a man to be able to play with types of shoes and a bit of makeup.


We as crossdressers, and beyond, take this to an entirely different level. We not only wear the outer garments that a woman would wear, but also the lingerie, heels, makeup and hair styles that woman wear. We use breast forms and padding to try to achieve a feminine appearance which most men who just wanted to make a fashion statement wouldn't do.

:

I have a sometimes unpopular on this board theory about this though that most who are "just" crossdressers only do this stuff because it has been so beaten into us our whole lives that we have to dress as women and present as women to appear in feminine style clothing. I truly believe that if in the next generation, men wearing things like skirts and dresses and such became commonly accepted by society, the newer generations of crossdressers would be less likely to wear forms and such, saving that stuff for those who are truly transsexual. The reason I feel this way is because that's how women seem to have gone. There are plenty of very butch women who dress "like" men on a daily basis without dressing "as" men. Typically only FtM TS actually take steps to present as male.

[Lorileah]

Once upon a time in a land far away, there was just such a scenario. It was a time when people were discovering themselves and making a statement about how they didn't need to look like everyone else. Men wore colors and ruffles on their shirts, their pants were tight and colorful, they grew their hair long and wore jewelry. Their shoes had 2" heels and even after that they had platforms. There was a time when androgynous was in style. Some men wore loose fitting sheath type outfits that were patterned with ethnic colors and prints. Under these clothes they wore nylon underwear without "flys". It was a time of peace, love, tolerance and hope. Then something happened and guys decided that sloppy was in and easier.

The only thing that never really caught on was skirts

[telawilson]

I don't think it will ever gain mainstream acceptance, but I think it will be more tolerated, like long hair on men. That said, the concerts I go to usually feature at least one guy wearing a long, paisley skirt.