Thursday, 1st July, 2004

You know what I don't talk enough about? Clothes. Which is odd seeing as how I'm a transvestite and that's pretty much what I'm all about.

I just got the latest Additions catalogue this morning, and I've been flicking through it, and it started me thinking about what kind of clothes I do and don't like.

Or more to the point, what clothes do and don't suit me as a man in women's clothing.

See, one of the problems that I think most trannies face, is that we have no shape to our bodies whatsoever. Without any padding, I'm pretty much a straight up-and-down kind of figure. Now trousers work pretty well with that kind of shape — but skirts look rubbish — they accentuate (big words for this early in the morning ) the boringness of my body, and make me look very dowdy.

And if you add to that the fact that my arms and hands are a lot longer than a woman's would be, it doesn't add up to a particularly attractive image.

So, what to do? Well, for a start, I hardly ever dress without some form of padding under my clothes. I've got two hip-pads (I used to wear two bum-pads too, until I realised that, yes indeed, they did make my bum look big...) and just by wearing them it makes things look a lot better.

I'm wearing my long denim skirt this morning, and if I didn't have the pads on it would hang limply from my waist. But with the pads it's suddenly 'ooooh, curvy'

The other thing I think really helps is clothes that have shape already built into them. I get some stick from certain people () every time I wear my little grey pleated skirt, but the pleats really help to hide my crappy boy-figure.

It's the same on top as well. I find that the vast majority of my tops look crap when I haven't got my boobs it. And I guess that's because they weren't designed for men — they were intended to be filled out in the chest. But again, sometimes if you find a top that's rouched or frilly, it can help. I've got my frilly black blouse on right now, and the extra shape that that gives me really helps.

Also, I find that off-the-shoulder stuff works really well. Wierdly, considering that I have standard-issue Bloke's Shoulders, wearing things that shows them takes the focus away from them, and they end up looking smaller. Odd.

See, I think a lot of the time, us blokes in dresses get too obsessed with the fact that we're wearing women's clothes, and we focus on that rather than on whether or not they actually suit us. I've seen quite a few girls wearing stuff that really doesn't flatter them at all, long dresses that just hang off their shoulders, rather than flatter them.

This has all the danger of turning into a You Must Do This To Be A Transvestite rant, so rather than getting carried away, I'm just going to go through some of the stuff I've seen that I quite fancy...

The picture in the catalogue was much nicer than that. I'm not sure that the pleats are big enough for me, but it's quite like the black one I allready have and I quite like it Incidently, if you enlarge the image, I swear to God that's a bloke wearing it. Either that or the model needs to do something with her legs...

Oooo! Now that's a bit gorgeous Not entirely sure about the top, but I think it could work...

Now, that's a better top. That could work quite well, what with my 'expose my shoulders' theory. Plus it wouldn't keep falling down like some of my off-the-shoulder ones do.

ahem Yeah, well, ya now. (note to Katie, I know my birthday is months away, but...)

Yeah, I know — I'd have boob-problems with that one. But it is cute

Now, I know I'm not a huge fan of shirts, but this bluse is rather nice — and it's got texture in just the right place.

That's pretty cute too. Good neckline

And that one as well. The wrap-around thing is good, means you can hieghten your curves

Cute jacket Gotta love those cuffs — and as a bonus, big fluffy cuffs detract from the No. One trannie giveaway clue: Big Hands™

And finally:

Well, I'd hardly be a proper trannie if I didn't want to flounce around in women's underwear would I?

I'm sure that there's some stuff in the catalogue that isn't on the web-site. Either that or I'm just dopey and can't find it. There was a whole collection of fab red satin tops and stuff which I thought would be quite nice.

It's not a great collection — there isn't nearly enough frilly things if you ask me — but it's not too bad.

All I got to do now is work out how I'm going to afford all this...

Shape writes:

Odd you should wonder if the skirt is being worn by a guy. I just happen to know a guy who was a male model. Apparently younger guys are quite often used for the pics of much lingerie and some clothes. Something to do with having flatter tums.

Odd that isn't it? The first thing in that photo that struck me were the legs — but the more I looked at it, the more I noticed things. The hips for example, are practically non-existent. I wouldn't put it past them to use a guy for that — I'm just trying to imagine the scenario that's all:

"Damm, where have all the models gone? We still need to do that pink miniskirt. Here, Dave, whack this on. I'll crop your head out of the shot..."

I remember a while ago there was a company that were doing lingerie for men. I was thinking earlier that it would be a good thing if there were skirts and stuff designed for men.

But then I thought, nah. Part of why I do this is because I'm not allowed to. Transgression is part of the fun. If it was acceptible for men to wear dresses and skirts, then being a trannie wouldn't be half as much fun as it is now.

Hmm, not sure I got mine (are you sitting down?) from Transformation , but I wouldn't recommend them at all. Far too expensive. I know a lot of online pplaces sell then (perhaps looking on the UK Angels website would be a place to start (try and find "Doreen's Fashions" — that's where I got my breastforms), or alternatively, I'm sure I read some stuff somewhere about making your own hip pads out of some old sofa cushions