How does a crossdresser determine his size in ladies clothing?
Before you can start shopping with any possibility for success you’ll need to know your size in ladies clothing.
There’s also other issues: namely, the cut. Women’s fashions are cut specifically for various types of female bodies with allowance for expanded hip bones, larger buttocks, more narrow shoulders, breasts, etc.
First Off: Measure Yourself
You’ll need to create a detailed account of all your key body measurements - otherwise: you'll end up with lots of clothes that never fit right.
Take the time to pull out the old tape measure - and see where you fit in. Just remember - the bust is measured at your nipple line - and your waist is measured right above the belly button. ((hugs))
Before we get to all that…
If you're looking for other insider tips on crossdressing? These other free articles might provide what you're looking for:
Crossdressing Shopping and Fashion Tips
How to Get Past the Nervousness of Buying Women's Clothing
Crossdresser Size Conversion Charts
Tips for Trying on Women's Clothes in Stores
Important Shopping Rules for Crossdressers
Shopping On-Line for Women's Clothing
Crossdressing Fashion Secrets: Wardrobe Essentials for Crossdressers
Crossdressing Fashion Secrets
Crossdressing Fashion Supplies and Accessories
Or…take a glance through some of my free personal favorite photos:
Additional Main Chapters in this Area, include:
How to Crossdress
Crossdressing
Tips for Beginning Fetish Crossdressers
Crossdressing Tips - Beginners
Crossdressing
Wig Selection, Care and Tips
Crossdressing Shopping and Fashion Guide
Tips for Taking Great Photos as a Crossdresser
Learning to Live Happily as a Part Time Trans-Woman
Tips for Wives and Girlfriends of Crossdressers
Sex and the Transgender Girl
Women's Sizes for Men
Fortunately, figuring out your equivalent female shoe size is a fairly simple process. Essentially your female size is two sizes large than your male number. Thus, if you wear a “size 10” male shoe? You’ll wear a twelve in ladies footwear.
However…We sometimes face issues with width as women’s feet are often more narrow than our own. With some designers? You’ll need a "wide" variation to achieve a comfortable fit.
Crossdressing: How to Determine Your Size in Women's Clothing
Women’s Sizes are much more complicated then men's
In comparison to women’s apparel, shopping for clothes as a guy is much easier. What’s the first mistake we often make when shopping for women’s apparel? Not knowing what size "department" we’re in - and being sure which one applies to us. In fact? Entire store brands are designed to primarily appeal to just one of these special size groups.
There are four core size groups within any women’s fashion retailers. These are cut and styled differently based upon the target market they serve. Its essential you learn these since you’ll run into them mixed together on clearance racks or at thrift stores - and you’ll need to know the big difference between an 11,12 & 12P - if you want to score affordable treasures.
The five major women's clothes size "categories" include:
- Juniors
- Misses
- Women’s
- Petites
- Small, Medium, Large, etc.
Juniors - The Junior's department for young teen girls. If you don’t see a department sign, you’ll know something you’re examining is from the “Junior’s Department” because the size label will be an odd number: 1,3,5,7,9,11 or 13. The larger the number? The larger the size of that clothing. Juniors clothing is cut differently - to reflect more narrow hips & less fully developed breasts & buttocks. While this mirrors the needs of some trans-women they’re also often not wide enough to accommodate our larger more muscular forms. The Juniors department is where a lot of transgender women find clothes they consider the most appealing. That’s not surprising since regardless of our chronological age - we’re often still young girls "at heart" when we start our journey. However, buying more than a few things from juniors often causes problems with our subsequent outfit since women can quickly spot styles sized and cut for young ladies and often consider them inappropriate for mature women to adorn.
There is one unique item I adore for trans-women you’ll only find in Juniors departments or stores: hip coverings - that wrap around the waist and add bulk to the buttocks. They look like scarves at first glance - but they’re designed to wrap and tie around your waist. These are usually a nice touch for transgender ladies since we're naturally less "hippy" like our younger female counterparts.
Misses - Misses is the most common cut and size for mature women or any younger gals whose body has blossomed with appropriate curves following puberty. You’ll know your shopping in the “Misses Department” if the size labels include all even numbers: 0,2,4,6,8,10,12 - up to a 14. The larger the number? The larger the size of clothing.
Women’s - “Women’s” is the term used for what’s considered “plus” size in ladies clothes. They start at a 16 and continue higher in even number increments. Regardless of how slender they're underlying figure, a lot of trans-women have to start in the women’s department just because their sheer frame and rib cage is much larger than most born women.
Petites -Petites are the final core category. These are mature styles cut for smaller framed and shorter women. In other words? The arms and length will be shorter than Misses styles. Petites mirror the even numbered sizing system of Misses but garments will include a letter “P” following the numbered size.
Pronounced Sizes - There’s also the Small, Medium, Large & XL sizes plus the equivalent versions in the “women’s" department = including 1X, 2X, 3X & 4X.
It actually keeps going even further.
Lots of designers only produce for one of the major size categories - i.e.: Misses, petites.
There’s also sometimes “tall” label - for some departments - a somewhat common need in our transgender community. For instance? Even though I’m only 5’8 - I buy tall inseam pants since I prefer wearing 3 1/2” heels with most my outfits. Clothing from the “talls” area usually include the letter “T” on the label.
Women’s Sizes and Actual Measurements
A little more complicated than shopping of guy clothes, huh?
Guess what?
It gets even worse when you examine the measurements attributed to the various numerical sizes I just shared. For men’s clothes? Measurement are spot-on to the actual size. Thus, a 16-32 short will have a sixteen inch neck and a thirty-two inch sleeve.
That used to be relatively achievable; e from women's sizes: but no longer.
The Advent of Vanity Sizing
There once was an agreed upon exact size for the numerical numbers associated with ladies clothing. However, beginning in the 1980’s - designers discovered that women would opt to buy one particular designer over another just because it allowed them to fit into a much smaller numerical size.
Women take lots of pride in being able to fit into smaller clothes: it's a very emotional aspect of female shopping. This phenomenon resulted in the advent of what’s known as “Vanity Sizing” - which caused most designers to create previously larger-sized garments into smaller listed size numbers.
Standardization went out the window in that process meaning you almost have to be previously aware of the sizing aspects of a designer before knowing if a garment will fit or closely examine any accompanying garment measurements before making a purchase.
Is Renee a size 6? Sure she is. She has a few dresses that say she is. *Grin* Does all this sound ridiculous? It's not - really. Men fib about their golf scores & the fish that got away, It's only fitting - we'd acquire a couple of fresh white lies - as a girl.
Following is a somewhat standard size chart for women's misses clothing.
Problems with Sizing Clothes for Transgender Women
Figured out female your sizes yet? Good - that will make your shopping a bit easier. However, you'll still face a few challenges in finding clothes that fit perfectly.
A few t-girls don't face these problems. Their bodies are built very much like women from the onset. If you know such a tranny - you'll really come to hate her over the years. Don't feel bad about - we all hate them!
Even though I'm only 5'8 - I'm still the prototypical t-girl...and I know lots of gals face my problems in finding great clothes. Here's but a few of the unique problems we face with sizing.
Large Rib Cages - In general - our rib cages are not only larger than women - but they start flaring outward - at a lower position. This makes lots of dresses that fit perfectly otherwise...unwearable - damnit!
Fat Storage Problems - The human body is an amazing device. It stores fat as energy - when we let it. Unfortunately, men & women's bodies store fat in different places. Guys retain this extra energy at their waist - women in their hips & ass. Fashion designers know this - and cut female clothes accordingly. Thus, we're often cut-out of a great fit - long before that hot dress even gets shipped to your favorite retailer.
Thicker Shoulders - It's bad enough we don't have breasts - and our rib cages are oversized - but why do our shoulders always have to be thicker than a female counterpart of a similar size? It's just not fair. ((hugs)) Lots of jackets will be overly snug in the shoulders and fit less than ideal.
Larger Hands -Men usually have larger hands than a comparable female. That's cool - we can add long nail tips to help extend our phalanges and lessen their oversized appearance. However - you'll discover certain blazers where you can't even get your hands through the sleeves. Can we never win?
Narrow Hips - Women's hips widen as they reach puberty as their bodies prepare for the ability to bear children. Ours? They're naturally more narrow.
Oversized Feet - This one bothers me the most. I wear a size 10 as a guy - which means I shop a 12 in women's shoes. In case you've not already looked - most 12 styles - look like shoes your grandmother would hesitate to wear. You can find a decent number of fetish heels in larger sizes - but high-quality, large sized fashionable shoes at a decent price - are as rare as a DRAG Queen at an NRA talent show.
Larger Muscles - I've got fairly large and muscular calves. In a pair of 6" heels - they slim a bit and help my legs look pretty hot. I like that! Unfortunately, they also mean I can't even get my legs through a lot of women's pants that fit me otherwise. You might face this same challenge with your thighs, biceps - you know the drill. Consider your muscularity issues before any purchase.
