Old Gals Like to be Chic Too

Pauline Estelle

Young or old the best way to dress is always the simplest. Less is best. Our problems, in general, are the same as younger women, with a few exceptions.

As with the younger trimmer set, there are items that one must consider when buying clothes, such as body shape and the undertone color are the first things that come to mind.

When getting dressed with a purpose, that is you are not just scuffing around your home, we must consider a number of items. An oldie who is on the slim side can get away with more than full-bodied Gals can, so it is very difficult to generalize. I will start by discussing clothing literally from the ground up, and try and cover the variations as we go along. Coordinating clothing is not easy, If you have trouble with it go to the internet and check photos in your age group.

Footwear

Thigh-high boots appropriate for grocery shopping?

As we age it becomes more difficult to wear higher heels. This is a shame as a well-turned ankle looks very sexy. One might get away with heels in the one-inch range but shoe size affects heel size also. A small shoe will come with a one-inch heel but as the shoe size increases so does the heel size. They grow to about one and a half inches with women’s shoe size 12 or 13. As an individual, you may be lucky enough to get away with a two or three-inch heel. Shoe style selection is entirely up to the wearer. Pumps are of course the most common style of shoe, there are also sling-backs, mules, boots, and the ubiquitous sandal. Those of you who live in a temperate climate can wear sandals most of the time. They can be extremely attractive not to mention sexy.

The color of the shoe should match the outfit. It doesn’t have to be the same, but it shouldn’t clash. I must add a comment on boots. As you all may know they come as ankle boots, knee highs, and thigh highs. I could get into trouble here but boots can be very sexy to some gals. I have a friend who has a thing about black thigh-high boots. If she sees a well-dressed woman wearing black thigh-high boots out of context, while in Walmart for example, it makes her tingle all over. However the same woman in the same boots, out on the street, does not have the same effect. It’s hard to understand the incongruity. Whatever style and color of shoe you choose must of course go with everything else.

Hosiery

Leg covering is the next item. I don’t have much to say here as I covered it in some detail in my last submission. I do want to talk about the term sandal foot. It is a term given to stockings or pantyhose that do not have a reinforced toe or heel. The fashion gurus will tell you that stockings should not be worn with sandals. To repeat myself, why then, are they called sandal foot? My wife thinks their idea is old-fashioned. She may be right. My information source was written in 2010. I don’t know if you can call 11 years ago old-fashioned.

Lingerie

Personal choice again. If it is all covered up it doesn’t matter too much. Foundation garments help to hide the lumpy bits and make everything smoother. There are several unwritten rules: Don’t wear anything that is too tight and uncomfortable, it’s a no-no to show bra straps, if you wear a sheer top avoid wearing white underneath, black is okay and so is natural.

Big time lingerie no no.

I have a couple of pet hates. If you are going to a formal or semi-formal event, don’t wear a bullet bra. I also have a personal beef that may not really fit here. It concerns breast sizes. I hate to see Trans girls wearing breast forms that are extremely exaggerated in size. It’s okay if you are having a bit of fun somewhere, but don’t do it in public. I think it disparages women.

Like everything in the clothing lines, color and styles are endless. Pre-op trans women should always wear a gaff. Try and keep the color of the gaff the same as the panties, no real reason, just a foible of mine. Do not allow your panties to show above your jeans. If the jean body is too short this will happen. There is a term for it but I don’t want to offend plumbers. The cure is a longer jean body or shorter style panty. There are a variety of panty styles that will allow you to make this choice, these are thongs, boy shorts, bikinis, or briefs.

Outer Clothing

Faux lambs wool coat.

This subject could have its own book. I am not going to do that here. (Sigh of relief.) I heard you. When buying outer clothing one must consider two things, body shape, and color tone. There are five female body shapes—rectangle, which is a similar hip waist and bust measurement, triangular, or pear-shaped, wider at the bottom than the top, hourglass, narrow waist with wider hips and bust apple-shaped, inverted triangle, broad shoulders, and narrower hips, round shape, large bust narrow hips and large midsection.

Skin tones are a different matter. There are four general tones to consider, cool, neutral, warm, and olive. They do affect your clothing choice but the subject is very complex, so the best guide I can offer here is when you try on a garment and the color lights you up you can be quite certain it goes with your skin tone. Skin tones affect makeup as well, probably to a much greater extent than clothing. One must also consider the color of your hair.

Hair generally falls into four distinct colors with applicable shades. They are blonde, black, and red (ginger), and of course, don’t forget grey. The choice of wig color is also affected by your natural body tone which, does also affect your clothing choice, or vice-versa. If you need more information on the subject of color and color tones you will have to go to the internet.

Tops

The selection of a top, whether it is as simple as a tank or a tee shirt, has a huge effect on how you look. Here I am repeating myself again, there are a huge variety of tops. Sleeveless, sleeved, tight or loose-fitting, regular collar, no collar, a ruffled neck, v-necked or, shirt-like, plain or patterned. It goes on, ad-infinitum. Please make sure that the top you selected goes with the bottoms you are going to wear they don’t have to be the same color, nor the same pattern, but they do have to compliment one another.

You may also include jackets in this discussion. If the outfit you are wearing is suit-like, that is, the jacket may be tailored and match the bottoms in every way, there is no problem, however, the blouse or what you are wearing underneath must fit the jacket and bottom combination. Other jackets must compliment the bottoms but not necessarily be the same color.

Bottoms

Pants are also Hobson’s choice. Again one is confronted with many styles and colors. Jeans, jeggings, straight pants, tailored pants, shorts, and styled bottoms like Gauchos for example.

Skirts present exactly the same type of choices, colors, patterns, length, pencil, flared, and skater skirts. Whatever you are wearing has to suit you. The length of the skirt you choose is a big factor, if the choice is wrong it can ruin your whole outfit.

Your general choice of style is already familiar to you but if you are dressing to go out what do you do? Where are you going? What are you going to be doing when you get there? These decisions may already be made for you. Layout the items you would like to wear on your bed, fit them together to check they all complement each other in every way possible. I am sure that by this time you have prepared everything else such as makeup and hair, if so, put the items on, don’t forget a nice belt, stand in front of your mirror to double-check that everything fits in every way and you feel absolutely comfortable with your choices. Smile to yourself, put on your coat, pick up your purse, feel like a million, and go.

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Tags: crossdressing, fashion, featured, style

Category: crossdressing, Transgender Fashion