I thought long and hard about where to place this post, here in the main "Male to Female Crossdressing" section or in "Clothing, Shopping and Beauty", but on balance I have opted for here and this is more about my continued journey and it includes shopping, rather than it's a post which says, "This weekend I went shopping and I bought X, Y and Z"
Anyway, this weekend I went shopping. As you may know I've recently flipped from being a long term closet dresser to now out and about in the wide world. Briefly what changed was my understanding of myself, my acknowledgement that mt dressing stems from my gender identity and my wish to go about in the world in that gender identity. You see, and this won't be news to the vast majority here, and it shouldn't be news to me, but now I go outside there is suddenly a whole lot of things that I need in order to operate on the far side of the front door.
This weekend me and my SO had a night away in the quaintly named Lancashire town or Ramsbottom (yes it really is called Ramsbottom). Our journey there took us past one of the Boundary Mill shops. These are vast barns of places that sell huge amounts of clothes, mostly at not too bad prices. It's not all tiny prices, in that something expensive will probably still cost a lot of money but not necessarily as much as in a high street shop. Yes, you can buy online but I find it hard to beat the touch, feel and trying on test that you get in a proper shop.
So, on Saturday morning we set off and drove all the way over to Colne in Lancashire, the nearest Boundary Mill to Ramsbottom. I had a short list of things that I needed (I won't say wanted, as now I'm out, I really do need these things). Top of my list was a coat, followed by hat and gloves, a purse (something for carrying cash money) which goes into my handbag (purse (US), I got a handbag last week), an umbrella (it rains a lot) and a pair of ladies shoes.
As I, now, like to present all ways around, the coat and the shoes had to be able to pass a casual glance for when I'm presenting in a more male way (though this is done wholly in ladies clothes) and also for when I'm presenting wholly in girl mode. Boundary Mill is huge and covers two floors each bigger than a football pitch (both UK and US), and looking round requires time and patience.
Anyway, as we were driving to the place, I was able to knock the need for a hat from my shopping list as my SO is going to knit me one, (I have to make the bobble though), and then, in the Marks and Spencer outlet bit I was able to get the gloves and an unmrella fairly quickly. In the accessories section by the main entrance I was able to get the purse, This left the coat and the shoes.
We went off to look for a coat. There we had much less success, in fact we failed and I couldn't find one that I liked and there were plenty to choose from, bearing in mind my need for it to pass (at a pinch as a men's coat), but none was just right, they didn't have, 'the coat', but here's the point, I tried plenty on, and not only did I try them on, but I did so in the main body of the shop even though I was in drab. Now, when I look back, even a couple of weeks, there is no way then that I would have been willing, or probably even able, to try on ladies coasts in full view of everyone else. But, of course, everybody is all too wrapped up in what they're doing to bother about anyone else. But, we drew a blank when it came to the coat.
So, we moved through to the rear part of the shop where the shoes were on display. When it comes to me wearing women's clothes there are a number of things that are stacked against me (size and looking just like my father to name two), but, as I've mentioned before I still have plenty of my own hair and I have size 8 (UK) feet. This means in women's sizes, a 9 will do for me, unless it's thin, I do need a wide fitting. I'm essentially after two pairs of shoes, one a smarter pair and one a more rugged outdoor pair. My hope was that Boundary Mill would be the kind of place tht might have a few pairs in large sizes and so size 9s would be plentiful. They weren't, as most ranges stopped at an 8 which is too small. However, the other half with great vigilance found a pair of Hotter size 9 Mary Jane shoes. And again, I tried them on, there in the shop, alongside where everyone else was trying their shoes on. Not only did they fit like a glove there are so comfortable that it's like wearng a pair of slippers. Being black too, it's perfectly possible to wear them when I'm presenting in male mode, something which I proved at dinner in the hotel on Saturday night and all day Sunday on the long journey back home. As an aside to this wearing the shoes in general wear I wore them with what now quaintly are called trouser socks but back in the day were known as pop socks and I'm an instant convert.
Apart from the coat, the trip to Boundary Mill was very successful.
When we got to Ramsbottom we had a look around the town centre and in a vintage shop / antique centre I was able to find a really nice pair of Austrian crystal clip on earrings. Yes, I know that they can be painful and I can only really wear them for shortish time, but I'm going to add earrings to what I wear just to see how I get on with them particularly when presenting in the more male way. If I'm comfortable with it then I'll seriously consider getting my ears pierced, something that the other half has wanted me to do for years. But before I can go down that route I need to be sure in myself that I'm happy permanently changing my body in a noticable way.
On Sunday we came back home and when we saw a TK MAXX we decied to call in to have a look around - it was a weekend devoted to shopping
So a fully successful weekend after all. I managed to get all I wanted, I was happy to try things on in the shops as needed and I was able to spend a whole day in ladies' shoes with no one noticing.
And this finally is the other thing that I've noticed with this change to how I'm going to live, when you go from being only inside, to going outside, particularly when you live in high and remote places which have a proper winter, then you suddenly need a whole lot of stuff just to get by. But that just adds to the overall adventure
Originally Posted by kayegirl
