Nancy Wichmann

If you're more than five years old (if you're not, please leave this site), then you've been subjected to the most cruel and inhumane discrimination on Earth: MEN'S CLOTHES. You've been taught that there are only four types of clothes: Grubby, casual, suits, and formal. And most men only wear formal (a tux) for their proms and wedding. If you've been working in a suit environment, there's even a high likelihood that your casual wardrobe is sadly lacking.

Women have a lot more types of clothes that they need to have on hand. This is one big reason why women always have bigger suitcases than men - we need it.

Around the House or Beach clothes - These are the things that you don't wear to the office, like jeans, shorts, tee shirts, sweats, etc. I'm a bit old fashioned here, but I don't like many of these things in public. I wear jeans in public (as the most casual), but only because they have become so pervasive. I don't know who decided that jeans could be "designer wear," but they should be shot! [Even worse is the person that decided that sweat clothes - no matter what you do to them - could be worn outside the gym.] Please be careful wearing this type of stuff outside the house or the beach. Sloppy clothes make a sloppy girl; and a sloppy girl may not pass as well.

Casual and Career clothes - These days it's sometimes hard to tell the dividing line between casual and career (office) clothes. I do recommend that you pay attention to how your boss and your boss' boss dress - even if they're men. Don't dress like everyone else at your level, and never the way people below you dress.

Oh, by the way, if you're working en femme, congratulations.

Dating clothes - well, this is hard to explain. I think this category is one of those you have to experiment with and find your own style. It can easily combine casual, career, and dressy clothes and depends a lot on where you're going.

Dressy clothes are more for parties and up to semi-formal occasions (actually, many girls split party and semi-formal into separate categories). For the most part, they will look out of place at the office. However, you can learn to dress down and up outfits too.

Formal clothes are just that - for formal occasions. These include going to the symphony, weddings (if you're in the wedding party), proms, formal parties, etc. The invitations will generally say "Formal" or "Black Tie" if they intend for you to wear a formal.

Crossdressers often don't understand the distinctions because men don't have all these categories of clothes. But, look on the bright side, dear, now that you know, you need to buy some more clothes! When I was still pretending to be a man, I had trouble understanding the wide variety of seasonal clothes for women ("Oh, I can't wear that in the Spring!"), but now that I'm living it full time, it makes a lot of sense. And increases my need to shop.

Most crossdressers really do need to find a few (2 - 4) really good role models for their dress; those women don't need to know they're your role models. Just study them. And don't forget, some may be bad examples - just as important. And if you can travel, do so; the women in my new home of Boston, by-and-large, have no sense of fashion.

Don't go cheap - you'll look cheap. Invest in a good wardrobe. Look for fashions that will hold up for several years instead of going out of style before you get to wear them a few times. Closely following the fashion trends is okay for dating, but not for the office (and many GG's are bad about this). There's nothing wrong with looking feminine at the office (as a matter of fact, it's a good thing), but it needs to be a more conservative feminine.