I recognise that, at my age, I am one of a dwindling number of members whose dressing days were inspired by and began in the very different world of the 1950s. I'm clear about what spiked my interest in women's clothing but I'm also aware that I wouldn't have been similarly fascinated by what women generally wear today. So, I wonder whether younger cross-dressers, brought up in the modern world, can explain what it is that inspires their dressing.
For me, I'm quite clear that the main influence back in the late 1950s was a curiosity about what it was like to wear those items of clothing that were distinctly different from what I, as a man, wore. I can list those. It starts with stockings, suspenders, girdles and bras. Then come skirts, dresses and petticoats/slips. All of those have no equivalent in male dress ? and all feel very different to the wearer. Blouses, tops, etc were pretty well identical to men's shirts, jumpers, etc, so not really of great interest. Two items are in a different category: shoes are worn by men and women but heeled shoes, fashion boots, etc only by women and something similar can be said of pants/panties: men's pants are different (coarser material, fly opening, etc) but essentially they are similar ? so, to me, not the most interesting of contrasts.
I can see that, between about 1970 and the turn of the century, skirts and dresses remained prominent in women's wear but were diminishing together with slips. Tights/pantihose replaced stockings and saw the demise of suspenders and girdles ? but I note how many cross-dressers name tights as their starting point. Today even those are much less in evidence though not yet extinct. That seems to leave only heeled shoes/boots and bras as a total distinction between male and female dress ? and again I notice how much those items plus panties (because of their variety of materials and styles) remain as key items for cross-dressers.
I'm sorry if the length of this post annoys some and sorry, too, if these points are dismissed as the ramblings of an elderly man but I would be interested to hear what equivalent stimuli provoke the start of cross-dressing in young men today. Please note that I am distinguishing between dressing ? clothing ? and the wider world of transitioning and living as a woman which clearly require a high degree of conformity with modern female dress.