Dressing hyperfeminine

[Mariabella]

When I first started dressing fully at fourteen I only had access to mothers work outfits. 1970?s miniskirts and tall boots. And that seventies makeup style. I would go all out and nearly drag makeup myself in her huge stuffed bra and hose and in a short skirt and sweater. Very over the top.
Later when my first marriage ended I amassed a wardrobe and makeup collection but noted that I leaned to more long dresses and a classier look.
Fast forward to today and I love skirts and blouses that are not flashy and a age appropriate face pallete I no longer have any desire to dress provacativly but rather much more like a librarian 💁🏽*♀️ I wonder if others went through stages of hyper feminized makeup and dress only to settle on a more conservative permanent look?
I have found the more I look and dress my age the better I feel and I do get many more positive reactions

[Alice Torn]

I would say most get more conservative with age. I did.

[Vicky_Scot]

My wife and female friends are around the same age as myself so I get a good gauge from what they wear of what is acceptable. X

[Cheryl T]

I most certainly went through that ultra feminine stage.
When I was a teenager the image of choice was from Playboy. I wanted so to be one of the models (pre-nudity this was). All the garter belts, hose and heels were my mainstays.
Makeup? OMG I looked like a cheap imitation of a hooker I was so bad.
Later in my 20's I learned to have a lighter hand with makeup and my style became more mainstream. I had an outfit I still miss today. It was a chocolate brown bra/panty/garter belt set with a full slip under a chocolate brown, cowl neck dress with long sleeves. It was just above the knee and I wore this outfit with what they called buffalo sandals. They were 3" wedges with a 1" sole something like the platform pumps so popular the last 10 years. The shoes had wide straps across the toe, instep and around the ankle. I had my first wig which was shoulder length brunette and I felt fabulous dressed this way.
Ah youth....
Now I'm more casual, more average, more age appropriate (sort of) and more often than not dressed and loving life.

[LilSissyStevie]

My journey has been in the opposite direction. When I was younger and more confused about what motivated me to CD I tried to emulate what I found attractive in women. But, I found much more satisfaction when I dressed in a "hyper feminine" style that I didn't find all that attractive when women did it. At some point, I realized that I dressed to escape the confines of masculinity (real or imagined) rather than dressing to be or emulate a female. So calling my style "hyper feminine" kind of misses the point. Rather, I think of it as hyper anti-masculine or hyper emasculation. As I get older, rather than becoming more conservative, I just do it less often.

[Stephanie47]

I still have the vast majority of dresses I have purchased over the decades. The only ones that have been culled from my wardrobe did not fit. Remember those early years of not knowing sizes and styles. In my early years my interests were limited to lingerie; nightgowns, slips, bras, panties and hosiery. When it comes to undergarments it has always been colors...lots of colors. My dresses have always been age appropriate. My dress buying started when I was in my mid thirties. I worked in a professional office environment. I'd say a woman in her thirties through her fifties would definitely wear what I wore. Now? It is still pretty patterns and colors, but, not on the side of looking like a neon sign. A long time ago I gave up wearing a lot of makeup. Today, if I wear any makeup other than lip color it is to cover up the aging imperfections on the face. I'm in my early seventies. There is no way I would wear a mini or micro mini skirt or dress.

[Helen_Highwater]

I'm not sure I'd describe it as hyper feminine. many of the images were hyper sexualised and not something GG's tended to emulate. They would favour more Vogue or Cosmopolitan than Playboy. I do suspect though for many of us who are straight males that draw towards the very sexy would be there. Possibly because it was easier to feel sexy in a pair of heels than it was to actually look it. That said, guilty as charged and it's only with time and a long learning curve that I've moved to dressing to emulate the tastefully well dressed woman as opposed to looking like a lady of the night.

[MarinaTwelve200]

I think there is a fine line between "Hyperfeminine" and DRAG. Drag sort of "Freaks me out" also and seems to scream "MALE" to me. I admit I do go a bit "overboard" with my makeup a bit, simply because it's the most fun part for me, but I try to keep it below the "drag" levels.------Actually I feel I do look better and more realistic with less makeup. Compare my photo to my avatar.

[Robertacd]

Well it's common for the new or occasional dresser to gravitate towards hyperftminine styles.

It's that "teenage girl" thing we all go through. But as we age and become more comfortable with ourselves. Most of us tend to settle into styles that allow us to blend in with GG's of our age group.

Don't get me wrong, I still have my share of sexy outfits. But I don't dress like a street walker.

[BettyMorgan]

It's that "teenage girl" thing we all go through. But as we age and become more comfortable with ourselves. Most of us tend to settle into styles that allow us to blend in with GG's of our age group.

I wonder if many of us went through the teenager phase but smartened up as we aged out lol.
Do some of us dress like the girls we wanted to date when we were younger?
Just questions for internal thought.

[BlueTempest]

I wonder if many of us went through the teenager phase but smartened up as we aged out lol.
Do some of us dress like the girls we wanted to date when we were younger?
Just questions for internal thought.

Certain outfits trigger memories of past girlfriends definitely, I wouldn't say its a bad thing per se as I'm completely over the relationships and they had good style!
As for dressing like girls we wanted to date, well I always remember being at school during that muddled up stage of puberty and there were girls obviously way ahead of the curve that would wear the most ridiculously tight trousers with a well chosen thong that made an appearance when they sat down. Just to be clear, I am NOT fantasising about school girls here, rather the fact I longed to have the ability, and the freedom to show femininity like they could.

[junetv]

When I was younger (in my 30's) I would dress in skirt suits, nylons and heels - like Ally McBeal.
Now, I'm in my 50's and dress in longer length dresses with heels and hose. Miniskirts are out of place for someone like me in public - private is a different story These days I mainly just get dressed to run errands like grocery shopping and filling the car with gas. Shopping en-femme
I don't really like pants or leggings for outside wear. I do wear women's slacks end drab.

The yellow outfit is about the length I wear now. The miniskirt suit with the slit is what I wore in the 90's. The lbd with "adjustable" hem is a fun dress I try every now and then.

[Micki_Finn]

I wonder if many of us went through the teenager phase but smartened up as we aged out lol.
Do some of us dress like the girls we wanted to date when we were younger?
Just questions for internal thought.

I think it just takes some a while to figure out the difference between sexy and ****ty.

[Lacy PJs]

After reading the posts here, I believe that when we first start to dress, we tend to be more "ultra-feminine" as a way of expressing our female side. Think about it... if you started out with jeans & a woman's flannel shirt (that tends to look like a guy shirt anyway), there's not much of an expression of femininity. So I think most of us go overboard at first so as to leave no doubt. Then later, we kind of realize our style and migrate in that direction. Just my thoughts... yours may vary...

Lacy PJs

[Stevie Allyn]

I agree with you there, Lacy PJs.

When I first started buying my own femme clothes I did the high heels, short skirts, stockings and suspender (garter) belt, fishnets etc. Nowadays I like a nice ankle length skirt or dress when dressing for an occasion, more often jeans and a sweater. Oh yes, and I now always go for flat shoes or ankle boots - I'm six foot tall and really don't need to be wearing heels!

[Sandi Beech]

Hey there Mariabella,

I suppose I have toned it down a bit, but it depends on where I am going. The picture in my profile is what I wore at the mall the other day. I would NEVER wear what I have worn to bar/dance clubs to the mall. (My slip was just above the knee, it's not see-through) Like others have said, it?s best to dress for the occasion.
Still, I like both and my main concern is to look classy, and people DO notice even when conservative. I was in the grocery store yesterday (man mode), and the woman in the line in front of me had a conservative women's business type suit on with black boots just under her knee, and I couldn't help but think I would look good in it. I said to her "I like your outfit, it's very attractive", and said nothing else after she said "thank you." I did not want her to think I was hitting on her. On the way out, she turned back and said thank you again and smiled. I love the positive feedback myself, so I am much more aware of giving the same feedback to well-dressed women. It has always been well taken. So my focus is to look as good as I am able, conservative or otherwise. You won't see me going out in women's jeans and a t shirt.

Sandi

[Elizabeth G]

I didn't necessarily go ultra feminine but my preferred style continually evolves and is becoming somewhat more conservative as I get older.

[jacques]

hello Mariabella,
I dress in private so can choose to wear what ever clothes I choose - they are not always age appropriate!
luv J

[Mariabella]

The responses really highlight how individual each ones experience is. I have always wished to dress ?pretty? but in my youth sexualized and/or hyper emasculated my dressing as it eased dysphoria. Now after many years of secrets and finally letting them go I find I am most at ease when dressed as a conservative-ish older gal. I get more positive reinforcement when out now also and I do conflate the two.
For myself fully owning that I AM MariaBella not that guy anymore really took the intensity of dressing into a more natural and comfortable place and really made my transition a natural evolution opposed to a reactionary expression to my dysphoria

[Micki_Finn]

I don’t know that I’d call what you described as “hyper feminine”. Maybe hyper sexual. To me the height of femininity is gowns and jewels and glamor. To me hyper feminine is pageant winner, not porn star. To that end I’d say I’m still in the area of “hyper feminine”, but what I do is essentially drag.

[sometimes_miss]

I don’t know that I’d call what you described as “hyper feminine”. Maybe hyper sexual. To me the height of femininity is gowns and jewels and glamor. To me hyper feminine is pageant winner, not porn star. To that end I’d say I’m still in the area of “hyper feminine”, but what I do is essentially drag.

Says it all. There's nothing more feminine, than clothing that would simply never be worn by a male, and firmly identifies the wearer as female minded, and who behaves as such.
Are my clothes from Forever 21 very feminine? Absolutely. Are they overly sexual? Of course not.
Hyper feminine? Well, that would be maternity clothes. Nothing more distinctly feminine than having a baby, now, is there?

[Robertacd]

I love how these threads always seem to disintegrate into arguing semantics.

crossdresser or transvestite?

hyper-feminine or hyper-sexual?

Does it really matter?

[Mariabella]

🤷🏽*♂️ I do not know much except no matter how you word a thing on an Internet forum it will not please someone. I accept this and sometimes make my case and others not. I used the term I thought up to describe a thing I have seen again and again of fetish dressing more or less ( yes I know some will not like ?fetish dressing? either) in the trans and CD communities.
No judgments attached just semantics I chose to describe an observation.
I still am trying to see where I fit into a community of like needs. So am asking questions about things I encounter and am curious about to gauge the communities consensus and determine if I hold similar.

[Jenny22]

As with possibly most of us here, my early dressing was fetish oriented. Today at 85, I dress modestly as a 50 tear old woman might do, because that's my age when dressed and confirmed by the mirrors.

[Micki_Finn]

I love how these threads always seem to disintegrate into arguing semantics.

crossdresser or transvestite?

hyper-feminine or hyper-sexual?

Does it really matter?

Yes. If we don’t know what each other means with the words they use, then we can’t really understand what they’re telling us can we?