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Here is a simple poll. How many of you girls can zip up a back zip dress without help. I recently bought a pretty black lace dress and I’m not flexible enough enough to reach around and zip it. What a bummer for a CDer.
I can’t zip it “myself” without a little help.
I have found that a safety pin on a long piece of twine or string is the easiest tool.
I secure the string to the eye at the base of the pin. You attach the pin to the zipper pull… pull the string over your head like zipping up a wetsuit…then you open and remove the safety pin….
TA DA!!!
Have fun out there!
xoxo
Rayna
Nothing feels better then having a well fitting dress and having it zipped all the way up. I used to risk dislocating my shoulders just to get zipped up. Didn’t worry about the unzipping part. There was one time I didn’t think I was going to get out without ruining the dress but eventually got it. Now I have my wife help.
Hi, Kerry, well, my fav dress is my lbd (which is one of my pics here) and it is a back zip, and I’ll tell you, when I slip into it and reach behind and zip it up to about my bra line, and then back over my shoulder to bring the zipper to the top, I feel….well, calmer, happier, more at peace with myself than I can describe.
Now, in the past for a dress or two I previously had, I’ve used makeshift zipper extenders, but there’s nothing like doing it by myself and getting it to the top.
Hugs, ChloëC
Definitely problematic but some good workarounds suggested. The double buttons at the back neck on some blouse or tops are very difficult too I have popped or torn or broke a few struggling.
Strange coincidence Kerri. I just zipped and unzipped 8 dresses today. No special helpers for me. I just reach up the back and then over the shoulder. I was packing for Diva Las Vegas and needed to do a try-on check for just such a thing as a sticky zipper (rub with wax) or too much pizza and beer (I was ok, only a half pound overweight). I figure if I can’t zip myself in and out, then it’s time for a different dress since I can’t always count on somebody being around to help. But here’s something that may help others who struggle. If you need help to zip yourself up and there’s no one around try this zipper help. Just take a skinny necklace chain and clip the lobster clasp to the hole in the zipper pull. Then you can just pull the zipper up from over your shoulder and then drop the chain inside the dress. Then when it’s time to take the dress off, just lean over until the chain falls out and reverse the process. I’ve also seen this done with invisible thread or fishing line on stage for a quick change. I hope this helps everyone with a problematic LBD. Marg
Hi Kerri,Its Michelle.There is a product on the internet called Zip Her.Being in my 70s{while admitting to 45}hahaha,I love it.It works well for me on my back zip dresses.Its a long pull chain with a hook on the end and included with it are circular metal rings that you attach to the zipper on your dress.Step into your dress ,pull the chain up and the zipper comes with it.To remove your dress attach the zipper pull,hold the dress at the top and pull the chain down.Its simple and great.Go on you tube and watch it.Enjoy.Michelle.
I had some trouble at first, but I trained my left arm to get the zipper most of the way up, and then reached over my shoulder with my right arm.
Worked fine until I tore my left rotator cuff! But at physical therapy, they taught meet hold a short towel, like a dish towel, in my right hand and over right shoulder. Grab it with your left hand and then pull and force it to go higher with your right hand.
Amazing!! Really worked, and I can reach higher now than I could before the tear.
Bobbie, I can relate to your experience with physical therapy… I had spinal surgery and I was taught the same in my PT… eventually I incorporated more physical therapy by overhead or zipper dresses and putting on pantyhose lol.. a girl had to do what she could do express her feminine self. Regards, Leonara
Hi,
Most dresses I can manage fine. The odd one I’ve used string and a safety pin. I have one dress that my other half bought for me. It’s a brown polka dot dress like the one that Julia Roberts wore in the Polo scene in Pretty Woman. It’s not stretchy and a tight fit. The zipper has no eye on it. Does anyone know how i can fasten this one?
Rachel.
I just want to say that i love a back zip dress. While i do have some pullover ones I prefer the sexy feel of zipping myself up. The only ones that i have a little trouble with are those tight fitting ones, where you have to pull the fabric together with one hand while pulling up the zipper with the other.
At my age I don’t have many of these tight fitting ones but sometimes i jut can’t help buying one that I love. I found a couple of zipper pulls on Amazon that have different attachments for different zipper tabs. Some are hooks and others have clasps. They work very well for that never land in the center of your back.
The only thing I have trouble with is how zippers tabs can be hard on my nails.
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Usually there is a metal loop where the pull attaches to the actual zipper. Use a safety pin and string there as described. Also, drilling a small hole in the pull might work.
Oh Kerri it is a chore to say the least I feel your pain. I have done the same almost destroying he dress getting in and out of it. I do have shoulder problems that don’t help. I have been able to zip up a few times but if you or anyone saw the process it would be a comedy hit. I have as some of the girls posted come up with a string attached to the zipper to help. In my and others defense here my wife has to have help zipping up hers and as long as I can remember has always asked for help,I have heard my daughters as well ask for help over the years.So it is not only a crossdressers problem but a problem for the real girls out there too. It is one thing we share with our sisters on the other side.
Fun topic!
I love and have 10 or 15 back zip dresses and can zip them all by myself with no aid/tool/string at 65yo. I have even done it a few times in my car but definitely way more difficult.
When I zip the dress I’m always in front of a mirror-no idea why though but at one point I considered making a video showing my front and face as I zip up because I make some rather odd faces when doing so. Pretty sure a few 4 letter words are in my mind also!
Sandy
Most I can manage. Some I need to tie something to the zip. Others my wife has to zip me in…. It’s a very special feeling when my wife zips me in. As the zip gets to the top, it’s an incredible feeling when the zip gets to the top…. Also knowing that I’m stuck in the dress until my wife unzips me harks back to the days when it was a secret, and it was a bit of a fantasy getting caught 😉
Cerys.
I agree with you Cerys – being zipped into a dress by one’s partner is such a nice feeling, no doubt because I know that I am able to have her do it after so long in the closet. I also experience a sensation of pleasure as I feel the zip glide all the way to the top and close the dress… oo! 😀
I can usually manage all of my dresses apart from one – a prom dress that has a sort of in-built corset. All of my zip-up ones I can do myself, but I like to involve my partner in the process too 🙂
Generally, I can but for those cases where I can’t, I devised a zipper pull using a paper clip and a piece of string.
i have a hard time zipping up the dress have to zip it up where i can reach it once the dress is on and zip it up all the way. when i have to unzip its harder to do. but i manage to unzip it. having my wife zip my dress up i would be in heaven having my wife zip my dress up or call her to unzip my dress. my wife knows that i dress up but will not help with zipping my dress up or do my make up or have me sit in same room as her and chat and talk like 2 females. she is getting better at me dressing up but will take time for her to say dress up, and she will do my make up.
I can usually manage, but one time in a dressing room I had some serious trouble. I was shopping in drab and had chosen a rather expensive dress. I managed to get it on and zipped, but I could not get it unzipped. I tried and tried but just couldn’t get it. I considered doing an incredible hulk job on it to free myself but I also didn’t want to destroy it.
I eventually had to ask a SA for help. She was very kind and performed the task. I was more than a bit embarrassed though…since then I carry a zipper pull with me for shopping trips!
When I was younger and more flexible I was able to have my hands touch behind my back, one reaching around and up and the other reaching over my shoulder. With a bit of scoliosis, I can’t quite do that any more.
I am pretty boxy in shape, and can usually slither into the dress with the zipper almost all the way up. Then I only have to pull the zipper up just a little way, which I can do. The other thing I will do is to pull the zipper partway up, put the dress on, reach over the shoulder and pull the zipper a little more, pull the dress down, and repeat until the dress is in position and the zipper is near the top.
If we’re talking an empire waist dress, I may have to squeeze the breast forms up into position going on, or out of the high tight waist coming off.
So more often than not I can handle a back zip dress without any help.
It’s not easy but I can zip all of my dresses so far, but the thought of being zipped into a dress that I can’t get off is a turn on
Erika
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