Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Stuff #24

By J.J. Atwell

Hello Again

I’d like to write about something that cis women deal with all the time and most haven’t yet found the solution. And if cisgender women haven’t found the solution, is there any hope for crossdressers? Yes, there is lots of Stuff to cover today.

The Big Question

How do you find jeans that fit properly and show off your “girlish” figure. I guess that depends a bit on how you like your jeans to fit and what the current fashion trends are. 

I personally like the skinny jean look. I know that’s going out of style, but I still like it.  

Skinny jeans are very difficult to match to your figure because there can be so many variations in people’s bodies. Think first about cisgender women. How many of them have the same kind of curves around the hips, butt and down the line of the leg? Not to mention the actual length needed so they don’t wrinkle up at the foot. Even with those constraints, each manufacturer of jeans has different size standards. That forces a cisgender woman to try on jeans from different brands to find the one that fits her body best. And even then, they will find differences in fit between styles from the same manufacturer. For instance, one of my cisgender woman friends, Alicia, can wear a size 8 and a size 12 from same manufacturer, but in different styles of jeans. 

There is also a thing often referred to as “Vanity Sizing” in the clothing industry. That’s when a manufacturer purposely makes the clothing larger but labels them in a smaller size. That way the buyer can say to herself, “Yay! I went down a size!!!” I recently did that myself having gone down to a size 8 skinny jean from a 10 or 12. Well, actually I’m going to stick with the I’m losing weight story and not the vanity sizing story.  

But what about us?

Now let's talk about crossdressers. How do we find jeans that fit our body best? We do the same thing that cis women do, we try various brands and styles. But we have a complication: how to make our typical male body look more female in jeans. Many of us, JJ included, use hip/bum padding to fill out the seat of the jeans. 

But some padding solutions leave an even worse problem… you can see where the padding ends on the leg (the dreaded “visible padding line”). So those typical oval foam pads that many of use to enhance our lower body work just fine when we are wearing a skirt. But when wearing skinny jeans or leggings, they can leave us looking like the snake that swallowed a ball! So it is important to get padding that tapers down the side of the leg to give the illusion of a smooth line.  

Fortunately, most skinny jeans are made with material that has a fair amount of stretch. That helps the jeans hug the contours of the wearer without being too constraining when you move.  In fact, some jeans are really comfortable.  

I’m partial to the Gloria Vanderbilt line of jeans. I get their “comfort curvy” skinny jean because they do best on my augmented figure. After many different attempts to find the right fit, I now really understand women’s frustration with clothing sizes.  

I’ll be back

Yes, there will be more Stuff. In the meantime comments are welcome either here on the blog or by email to Jenn6nov at-sign gmail dot com. JJ is always looking for more stuff, so if there is something you would like to read about please let me know!



Source: Venus
Wearing Venus


Donovan Leitch Jr.
Donovan Leitch Jr. femulating on television’s The Job.
Click here to view this femulation on YouTube.

14 comments:

  1. I have the sloution to the jeans problem. I never wear them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JJ here. LOLing about this solution. Of course the point is trying to find clothes that fit no matter what the type or manufacturer.

      Delete
  2. I have had good results with Buckle that carries brands Rock revile & Ms. Sizing is different my waist is 38" but wear a 31R 32" length with hip pads. I first purchase in person after trying to fine some brands online but was sent counterfeit jeans that were nothing like what I ordered. I bit the bullet and went in person and the sales girls were fantastic & helped me to get outfits the fit me & worked together.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JJ here. Thanks for sharing this resource with all of us!

      Delete
  3. Thank you for sharing this episode of The Job. It was a pleasant surprise - the presentation of a cross dresser on a cop show who isn't a murderer or psychopath. The actor did a fine job, too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. At over 6 feet, I have found that Gloria Vanderbilt Amanda jeans work the best, as they are some of the longest jeans I found and tend to to have a less curvy fit, but have lots of stretch. Also found some very long hip pads on e-bay that are made specifically for wearing jeans that are work quite well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JJ here. I have the opposite problem as I'm 5'6" so I need the short version of my Amanda jeans. The tip about the long hip pads is very helpful to us CDers.

      Delete
  5. Personally, I concur with Jane. My granddaughter buys her jeans in the young men's department because she does not have a girlie figure. My daughter use to buy men's jeans because men's jeans actually have pockets that work. My granddaughter also buys men's flannel shirts after she raided my excess flannel shirts. I deal with not having the waist/hips figure by wearing empire waist, wraps and sheaths.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JJ here. Interesting to hear that the problem exists on both sides of the aisle. :)

      Delete
  6. I took the plunge 5 years ago into only wering women's pants. What's missing from you writings is POCKET SIZE. This can be a real issue for some people. Rise plays an important part here. Low rise only have suggestion of pockets; mid-rise have smaller pockets. Get high-rise or super high-rise and you get pockets. "Curvy" jeans to me means I can go down a size. Levi's come in waist and length sizes and I have had good serve at Levi's stores. Currently, I like Express FLEXX skinny jeans because I can wear my knee high boots over them. I
    have a few straight and wide leg pants. I also like cords to.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. JJ here. Ah yes, pockets! Basically I'm at the point where I don't count on pockets when dressing girly. Everything goes in my bag. But some times I'd like to stick my phone in my pocket. I see many GGs carry theirs in a hip pocket.

      Delete
    2. Rachel McNeillJanuary 03, 2024

      I layer. A tunic and/or a cardigan will often have more useful pockets. I almost always carry a handbag. In boy-mode, I carry a "man bag". A cellphone, reading glasses, sunglasses, and wallet are more than can comfortably fit or without looking lumpy, even when wearing men's attire.

      Delete
  7. I only wear women’s pants/jeans. Luckily my wife is a sewer. She adds pockets to my jeans and pants. Some brands come S,M etc others are number sizes 12-14. But size varies by brand too. One website suggested subtracting 21 from your man size. Example 34 minus 21 is 13 or a 12-14 ladies. I don’t see me going back to men’s any time soon. Wear ladies denim shorts for summer or 5”yoga shorts. I’m going to keep cross dressing don’t care what people think!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I wear jeans only if I'm doing repair jobs around the house such as getting up on a roof to replace shingles. Otherwise I wear dresses except when I occasionally wear a man's coat, tie, and trouser outfit to church.

    John

    ReplyDelete