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So given our shared interests, I assume an early attraction to fashion - not necessarily female, was probably present. Given how the world can treat boys with such an interest it was likely repressed. What did it? Was it when something got too girly and you were shamed and it was more complicated?
I think we know the power clothing has pretty early on and who wouldn't want to get to know that well? I think even before I was shamed for even mentioning anything about how girls dressed shopping for my own boy clothes became an unpleasant experience. For a lot of my childhood even thinking about clothes was very unpleasant, especially when I started considering some bad choices to attempt to fit in in middle school. I was often mistaken for a "future lesbian" (though that would have been pretty nice if true!) with my long hair coupled with aggressively grunge clothing (it was the 90s after all) when I was 9-11.
My interest came back in my late teens perhaps partly out of rebellion, also with a francophilia phase, plus the assistance of "metrosexual" being a fad at the time. Early in college was even considered one of the best dressed guys at my university. It's always been there, but one thing or another has stopped it from flourishing and accepting my CD definitely opens it up again.
How has your interest in clothes - for women or in general fluctuated over your life in regard to your acceptance of the woman in you?
Looking at everybodies profiles we all started cross dressing at about 7 years old as a precursor to what we were to become but does clumping around in our mums shoes or slipping on an old dress count as cross dressing? Every daycare centre has a dressing up box which seems to be used by more boys than girls but I also had a Davy Crocket and a cowboy outfit but never became the King of the wild frontier or Roy Rogers!
I suppose it became more apparent when I started looking at the Miss Marys of Sweden section in old catalogues and dreams of being Haley Mills in the Parent Trap in my early teens and later the fancy dress parties in mums one piece swim suit with the help of female gang members who were always willing to lend a hand, in fact I remember my first ever cross dressing outing with frozen feet in wooden Scholl sandles!
That's it for my early days in the world of dressing up. It has taken many more years to become the woman I am today......but that's another story 🙂
Sally xx
Sally xx
Sally, I think the different feelings boys can have while playing dress-up can be very complicated and telling. Early on, in that context I never had the chance, but i quickly startes to have anxiety about that. When I was five I was supposed to wear a silky costume with butterfly buttons for a school production of the Nutcracker.- I was to play a Chinese dancer, and I had a meltdown. Sat out of the whole thing beginning a very awful pattern! Later that school year at a children’s mus my teacher suggested I put on a princess costume for a laugh and that really made me panic. That whole year was capped off with a pirate themed birthday party after which my mom tossed the skirt she bought for the occasion into my costume bin. Of course, I had a meltdown over that and wouldn’t go near the dressing up clothes for months after that, but when I knew I was totally in private... you bet that was the first skirt I ever wore.
It was a pink hippy skirt and I have definitely never lost attraction to such things. Some day I will have my own all over again...
I always hated anything to do with fashion and clothes. I hated getting dressed up (in boy clothes) for weddings and family occasions. As long as I can remember I have had and anxiety at the thought of accidentally wearing something that may be at all feminine. When shopping as I kid I'd always be looking for the sign saying "Boys Clothes" and making sure I was well away from the Girls section. That is a fear that has stayed with me until recently when I actually started intentionally shopping in the women's section.
When shopping with a girl friend, or more recently, my wife, I have found it very difficult to offer any feedback on her clothing choices. "Does this look nice?" "Yep." while thinking lets go!!!
It even bothered me when my oldest son would wear anything that looked less that 100% manly.
I feel that all this negativity toward clothing was because inside I was fighting a battle against deLora Occasionally she would win and I'd sneak some clothes and satisfy her need to express her self even if only for a few minutes.
Now that I have accepted deLora as a part of my being I hope I'll be a better shopping partner for my wife!
Oh yeah I couldn’t even LOOK at the girls’ department when I was a kid out of fear i would get called out by my parents! Now as the parent of a girl I have the right to linger in there and I get so envious. Especially now that the people designing these clothes are closer to my age I just look - especially at Target and think « this is exactly what I wanted to wear when I was a kid! » Girl’s clothes were so awful in the 90s but now I see all these shiny colourful space dresses and think, « I wonder if they have that in women’s plus »
I recall a few times I had questions about women’s clothes that were answered in a reasonable way and just being so amazed by how different they could be... not all skirts are the same? What!? Nothing like pants! Such envy!
I've always been interested in women's clothing/ fashion , the colours , shapes , oh the textures. Add to that I've always tried to dress well as a male - especially for a date or girlfriend & now for my wife.
Growing up my head was always turning when seeing girls in lovely clothes.....it still is , now I want to be them & fortunately I can & do - daily to differing levels. ☺👠👗💋 Tiff
Well growing up with three sisters curiosity what would I look like if I was a girl and than it was can I walk in high heels and what about the mini skirt and go go boots hay it was the 70s than the make up wow
Well true for me regarding the opening question, as long as you leave out the word "fashion". I enjoy the idea that I'm either out of step with fashion or ahead of fashion. As far as girl/woman clothes, I always secretly envied them as they have a wide range of clothes than us boys/men have. It's not just that, colours, men are restricted to a few dark colours. I saw women's clothing as being "freedom". They even have the back up option of wearing so-called men's clothes like trousers, without having people stare at them oddly.
Roxy641
I remember it occurring to me a very long time ago that I was probably way more into clothes than was normal. Maybe as far back as elementary school. So of course being how I was back then I mostly tried to hide this.
I always got really excited at any chance to wear anything a bit different. My elementary school had "California Days," where we'd all dress up in outfits from early California and then go around the school doing educational activities. (I'm getting the feeling this sort of thing is no longer socially acceptable!) The standard thing for boys to dress up as was gold miners of course, so of course I had to be different. I dressed up as a ship captain, with a long overcoat, vest, and captain's cap. I felt awesome and got tons of compliments. That may be the first time I realized the power of clothes, because not much else made me feel like that back then.
I may have even surprised myself a bit that day. Doing stuff to stand out went against my reserved nature, and does still. But I do have a thing for outfits that stand out.
My interest started very early in life. My Mom was a very sharp dresser and I loved seeing her in such beautiful dresses. I constantly noticed at church that the women and young girls always looked happier in their dresses than the men and boys did in their clothes. They smiled more, giggled more and just looked pretty. So I associated dresses and bright colors with being happy. Plus I loved the feel of panties, stockings and slips. When my parents were gone I would dress up in my Mom's dresses and when I looked in the mirror I loved what I saw.
I used to follow my sister's lead, she's very fashion conscious. Early 70's she made me a couple of pairs of bag pants, tight at the waist and then a flaring leg. These were women's pants but she used men's material and colours to disguise them. I would wear them with a button up shirt but more full and blousy, tight around the wrist and puffier sleeves. Then my gym teacher, who I later found out was gay. saw them on a magazine and showed it to me. I was horrified, I thought he was going to shoe everyone but he complimented me on my style and boldness and talked to me a few times afterward about style, a really nice person.
Then came the 80's and the introduction of designer jeans and club style footwear, I was in heaven. I bought several pairs but my favourites were Jordache high waist and slim line shoes. They were pretty much valet flats with a small heel and botched up a bit for guys. Add on a blue satin high collared shirt and I was ready for the disco, John Travolta eat your heart out.lol
By the mid 80's I was married and off to work so it was t-shirts, sweat shirts and jeans, BORING but that was life.
I definitely had a phase with polyester « disco shirts » as I called them which was a lot harder tha to do circa 2010, but I had a couple. Love some of that stuff but whenever I get up close to the women’s equivalent it feels like some kind of torture device. One of the few cases I’ll opt for the men’s option, not that they’re terribly comfortable either.
