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Proper suit wearing for a female.

Discussion in 'Gender Identity and Expression' started by Trixxster, Oct 3, 2013.

  1. Trixxster

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    It's been a heckuva long time since I've been here, but I'm back at least for a little while, because I need help with something and don't know where else to ask.

    I am female, a little on the chubby side (maybe 10-20 pounds over my ideal weight) and definitely have some hips. I'm not very fashionable, I go for comfort, but I love clothes! I love the way they look and sit. I really like guys suits, and the way they look and how thy look like they fit and I've always wanted to wear a proper suit. I'm not transgender, I like being a girl, I simply want to wear a guys suit. So basically cross dressing. I've never had any experience with this so I was hoping for some advice.

    Being a girl and having a far different body shape than a guys I know I won't get the same fit. Does anyone have any advice on how to get a good fit of a guys suit and make it look close to how a guys suit would fit for a girl?

    Note: I do have a small enough chest that with the proper bra I can almost eliminate any chest so that isn't a problem.
     
  2. JustAnotherSoul

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    My advice is about trying on ALL the things. Depending on your height and various proportions, different things will give you the best fit. A lot of this also depends on your budget and whether you're willing to get things tailored.

    When I shop, there's a lot of jumping around through the women's section to the men's section to the little boys' section. In juniors clothes for girls, I wear (or wore, about three months ago) a size 3, 5, or 7 pants- which usually correlates to about a 2 or 4 in women's. I usually wear a 30" waist in men's pants (although it does depend on the cut), or an 18 in boys' Almost all the dress pants I own come from the boys' section.

    For shirts, the key is fitting the shoulder seam, the width of the sleeves at the armpit, the length of the sleeves, the width across the bust (although like you, I'm very flat chested, and a snug sports bra takes care of the boobs), and the hips. One convenient part of wearing a suit, is that the shirt will be tucked in, so it doesn't matter if you have to leave the last button undone. Still, that's a lot of variables. I usually just try a bunch of things on, although my white nice dress shirt does come from the women's section of Macy's (it looks exactly like a men's shirt, but is built for my proportions). The trouble with the men's section is the shoulder width and just generally large clothes, and most of the shirts in the boys section that fit me in the shoulders have too small of arms. I have heard nice things though about Express (like that they make extra-small men's clothes).

    My one suit jacket also comes from the little boy's section, although it isn't completely perfect (I don't usually button both buttons, because it pulls across my hips). Still, it's pretty darn good and was on sale and cheap (from Kohl's, if you have any near you).

    Shoes, ties, etc. are just fun. Please buy a tie/bow-tie that you actually tie yourself. The pre-tied ones are just party poopers and nowhere near as sexy. If you're looking for shoes in the men's section in America, just subtract a size and a half to two sizes from your women's size shoe (e.g., I'm an 8 1/2 or 9 in women's, so I'm usually a 7 or so in men's).

    Good luck!
     
  3. clockworkfox

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    SUITS. I LOVE SUITS. SUITS SUITS SUITS.

    A while back I made a post about suits. I should blog it for future reference. But I tigress...

    You're going to want to find something that fits as close to your measurments as you can manage. This means a lot of trying things on. I'm a short guy, so this is sometimes tricky for me - I've had issues where the smallest size suit jacket in the store won't fit me. So far, I've had the best luck with JC Penny, I believe - they seem to carry the broadest range of sizes in my area. Fitting menswear to a female frame is trickier than just matching up approximate sizes though.

    So I've uploaded some pictures of my suit for reference. :slight_smile:

    Observe the suit.

    At it's most basic, a suit consists of two parts - pants and a jacket. Rule number one, always wear the suit jacket with the suit pants. They are a set. They look awful individually, and sexy together. Easy enough.

    The suit I managed to find is something like a super slim fit cut. Men's suits come in different cuts, just like women's dresses do. A classic cut is usually boxier, and not particularly flattering for a female frame. Slim fit is awesome. It's often a better fit in the shoulders, too, which is vital. Guys have broader shoulders than girls do, and suits will reflect that. You're probably thinking, "Super slim fit? Works everywhere else, but my hips are broad, won't that pose a problem if I button the suit?" Not really. You don't want to button both buttons. In general, you should button the top one, but leave the bottom one undone. I do not know why, it's a mystery.

    *Note: three button = business, two button = everything else. The number of buttons matters. Also, suit jackets usually have either one or two slits in the back. Two is probably more accomodating.

    Let's talk about sleeves. This is about how they should fit.

    In general, you want some of the cuff of your shirt to show. If you're a man, this is probably easy enough. When you're female, you probably have this going on. Because our shoulders aren't as broad, most likely. The only way around this sort of issue is tailoring, unfortunately.

    Also, you might want to find a vest to go with your suit. Three piece is awesome. Seriously though, look at how classy this is. I had to order mine online from a Korean shop, because American men's vests tend to be too loose in the chest for me, even at their smallest. If you're considering three piece, keep that in mind.

    The trickiest part I found to be pants. I can't possibly take photos to make the process of fitting pants any easier. What I ended up doing was taking my normal men's pants size, then going two sizes larger in the waist - suit pants seem to be tighter than other pants for some reason, at least in my experience. What you end up doing will likely be trial and error. If you're unfamiliar with men's pants sizing, they're measured by waist, and by length.

    I hope that was helpful.

    ---------- Post added 4th Oct 2013 at 01:16 AM ----------

    Also, I found that post I made about suits before and blogged it. It's geared more towards ftms but it covers a few more details of finding a good fit if you were curious.
     
    #3 clockworkfox, Oct 3, 2013
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2013
  4. Nick07

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    LOL! I just knew you would be here! :grin:
     
  5. confuzzled82

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    The reason suit pants SEEM tighter is they typically don't use vanity sizing like regular pants typically do. Most regular pants are 2-5 inches larger in the waist than the tag says. That's the same reason you might, say, wear a size 34 in one brand of pants, 36 in another, while your suit pants could be a 38, and all of these pants fit right.
     
  6. clockworkfox

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    Haha, yes! I am the suit guy. :lol:
     
  7. Lipstick Leuger

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    My wife likes to wear suits and she looks hot in them. She is very petite and she has such a hard time finding things that fit her. Because she is short, mens don't fit her well, and finding a tailor that will fit her is almost impossible.

    If anyone has ideas I would love to hear them!
     
  8. Trixxster

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    Thanks for all the advice guys! I'll keep it in mind.
     
  9. Femmeme

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    Find a good tailor and have the suit altered for a perfect fit.

    P.s. girls in suits are crazy sexy.
     
  10. awesomeyodais

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    Some men's suits are made in short/regular/tall variations (you may also sometimes see the term "portly" used, which is another way to say "non-petite" :wink: ). Something else to consider, some suits are available for sale as "suit separates" i.e. you pick the pant and jacket sizes that individually fit you best (in same fabric of course) rather than having to compromise on a pre-matched set and having to alter the heck out of it. Another selling feature of the "separates" is that someone who wears suits every day for work can buy two identical pairs of pants as they do wear out faster than the jacket.

    Unlike denim/cargo/khakis that come in a few standard ready-hemmed lengths (30, 32, 34 etc), suit pants will usually need to be hemmed to the appropriate length (make sure you wear shoes with a sole thickness similar to what you would wear with the suit to get the measurements taken), often done through the store and included in the price.

    For dress shirts, they are sometimes sold in small/med/large etc (and regular/fitted/slim/etc variations) but more often you will find them sized by neck size and sleeve length (for example 16/33 meaning 16" collar/neck and 33" long sleeves), so you can usually find the combo that works best to have just a bit of cuff showing beyond the jacket arm, which will often need to be altered to suit (pun intended).
     
  11. flymetothemoon

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    I don't really know anything about this, but I do know that we had a female in our wedding who wore a suit. She was able to have hers fitted to her at Mens Wearhouse. I don't know if they actually sell suits there or just rent them since she rented hers. I also don't know if they will fit a suit you buy elsewhere, but I thought it might at least be worth checking out.