I'm doing some shopping at OldNavy, Gap, etc. (I have a gift card). I was looking at slim-fit oxford shirts, etc. in the men's section, and I had a thought. Will I look weird at work, where they all know me as female, if I suddenly start wearing men's shirts and trousers? Also, as someone who doesn't currently fit completely in either male or female socially, would it be work-appropriate to wear short-sleeved button downs? (I know it's too casual for men, but the women in the office wear basically whatever they want to as long as it looks nice. Would I be okay operating somewhere in the middle?) What do you guys think? Work clothes experiences??
1. I think nobody really notices if you wear men's or women's clothing. The section it came from ,I mean. As long as they don't read the label. Plus many women wear men's clothing, because pockets or something silimar. It's not that uncommon. 2. If I were you, I would stick to the men's dress code. E.g. if they say men don't take off jackets, and I come in a suit (probably as the only woman in a suit anyway), I don't take off the jacket, I don't want to stand out. If they say white shirt, I wear a white shirt or blouse. If I dress like a man, I dress like a man and accept the rules. It seems fair. (But I mix too, anyway, I just stick to the rules and add e.g. black heels or sublte jewelry)
I agree completely with emerry. Unless you're going from 100% fem to suddenly wearing men's clothing, no one's going to notice. If you've been dressing somewhat androgynously up to this point, no one will notice the difference between a men's button down and a women's button down because they're really not looking that hard. If you have been fairly feminine up to this point (e.g. wearing skirts to work most days), I would recommend starting to wear men's clothing more gradually so you won't draw attention to yourself. Instead of showing up one day completely dressed in men's clothing, start wearing pants to work more often, then more masculine shirts, then some men's clothing, etc. Also, if you don't mind people noticing (and possibly commenting), then screw gradual change and just go for it. They'll get used to it pretty quickly. Sticking to the men's dress code seems like a good bet. A men's short-sleeve button down is probably a bit too casual. It's definitely a different style from a women's short-sleeve button down, which can be made to look cute and professional more easily.
What do the guys at your work usually wear? I work in a fairly casual office and the guys all pretty much wear polos and slacks in the warm months and button downs in cooler months. I dress exactly like that and look perfectly normal, however I dressed like that since day one. Just make sure the clothes fit. You will definitely stand out in oversized men's clothes. I made that mistake when I was younger and I looked ridiculous. ---------- Post added 15th May 2016 at 03:58 PM ---------- If you do go for a fairly casual masculine look, make sure your shirt is tucked in, you have dress shoes (i like loafers or brogues), and a belt that matches your shoes, dress socks that coordinate, and a watch does wonders to top it all off. ---------- Post added 15th May 2016 at 04:04 PM ---------- Sorry this is an interesting subject for me so I have more. I am known as a cis gendered woman, and nobody questions my style choices at all since I am confident and put together. If people see you as a woman, you can still get away with much more than an mtf could in similar situations, unfortunately for them/fortunately for us. I actually work with a straight cis woman in her early 40s who has a very masculine haircut and will sometimes dress more in lines of what a man would wear and nobody looks twice at her. She does also sometimes wear skirts though. ---------- Post added 15th May 2016 at 04:10 PM ---------- just one more thing, I don't know how big/small you are but if you are skinny like me, old navy is the worst because they don't have xs in men's and their small is very wide in the shoulders compared to say target. Walmart also sucks. American eagle is the best if you can afford it. I find it a lot in thrift stores. Just keep in mind certain brands work better for transmasculine bodies.
Thanks for the feedback, guys! The men in my office tend to wear button-downs, belts, slacks, etc. when a client is in the office--and jeans on Fridays. However, some of the audit guys (and managers, naturally) do wear polos on hot days. I live in the South, so there are a lot of hot days. I'm not sure I can go with polos, because I'm tax, not audit (when audit guys are in the home office, it's more casual, because all their client work happens on site. Tax clients always come into the home office, so I might be better off sticking to the more professional button-downs-- and you're right, the short-sleeved men's shirts may be too casual). I can wear several of my blouses with a binder and look reasonably normal and also avoid too much dysphoria, so maybe I can just switch it up when I need to? It's hard to know how to dress, because it varies so much within the firm and within the office. I want to feel gender congruent, but I really don't want to have to have "the talk" about dress code because I show up too casual one day. @Rickystarr I actually picked up some Gap company stuff at a thrift store, which is how I figured out that the slim-fit stuff fits me okay! I've got a medium build, so it works okay for me (except for the dang hips, which naturally make all men's clothing a pain). Which is convenient, because my only clothing-money right now is on a Gap gift card, haha. I'll definitely keep an eye for AE, thanks for the tip!
It is much, much easier for a woman to wear men's clothes in a professional environment without question than for a man to wear women's clothes. Case in point, I'm cis, but for many years dressed fairly androgynous, even stealing some of my (ex) husband's shirts. I even wore my 16 year old son's jeans the other day and no one noticed or commented. However, we have a gender non-conforming IT guy and he came in to our office the other day in a dress and freaked some people out. Double standards, yeah. Another suggestion when you might have more cash to get clothes - I have a taller, lanky kid and I can find a pretty good fit for him at H&M; they carry XS in men's shirts which fit him perfectly. If you're really lanky and not too tall, you could even check out boys' sizes. Silly, I know, but slacks are slacks, and dress shirts are dress shirts, right? My kid (and he's 5'9", just doesn't weigh anything) can still wear a boys XL top and I bought him size 18 boys khakis the other day after searching and searching for the right waist/length combo in men's clothes. And for some reason, even though they can be the same size, boys' clothes are like, 2/3 the price of men's clothes.
Ohh, poor IT guy. That really sucks. Reassuring, though, that you haven't had any issues. I wish I were lanky, but I'm much farther on the curvy end of the spectrum. I'm average build for a female, even kind of thin, but exceedingly pear-shaped for a guy. If I can ever get rid of this extra squish, I'll definitely check out boys' stuff! That's a great idea--and the price thing is weird, but I guess no weirder than price discrepancies between women's and men's stuff (especially when some women's stuff is made of tissue paper and costs more than well-made men's items).
