More of Eric's shopping adventures

[Guest Eric6]

I was shopping for jeans in a store that sold both male and female clothing and came up against a failing memory. I could remember the sizes for one style, i.e. the one where my size is 77 or 82, but not the ones where it's in the 30s. So, staring at a pile of jeans, when salesguy comes up and asks can he help, am I shopping for someone? I decide to hell with it and tell him they're for me. Salesguy seems cool, definitely gay, with more facial piercings than I'd ever have the guts to get - the earrings were bad enough - and he says, among other chat, that he wears the girls ones, for style. Crashing fail on passing; he doesn't see the trans thing at all, only says that some female customers do wear the male jeans because they are more comfortable.

I leave it at that because honestly, no need to know. I start trying jeans on and realise I have guessed sizes miserably wrong. Have to go back and get more and I'm still wrong. So I quietly put the jeans down and slink out. Too much attention, but also not enough, because salesguy didn't come back to the stalls and help me out by bringing me more sizes, I had to get dressed and come back out myself and this rapidly made me too uncomfortable to stay around.

I think I might try online buying again. If I'm careful to follow the size guide, I'll hopefully do all right. Shirts I'm ok if they state the size, but the ones where it's only "small", "medium" etc, I can get the size wrong if it's a menswear-only store where I can't try stuff on. Most of them aren't like Man to Man which treats me like any other customer, but MTM is low-end and if I want a good dress shirt or trousers, it's unfortunately not the place to go.

This trans thing is hard, sometimes, and it gets me down, but hell, this is how I want to be so I guess I have to get over the embarrassment and just shop.

I hate shopping!

Eric

[Guest Maria_B]

Yes, shopping is the bane of many adventurer who has to try sizes on.

Many do-not-want feelings when it comes to trying things on Hopefully, though, you'll find a relative ''fits me'' area to cling to, and avoid trying things on again! bwaha.

[Guest Jaques]

it can be awkward when you don't pass, before I began T I wouldn't have passed ever but though I felt awkward, if an assistant asked me anything I would just say I was trying something on for my then teenage son, who was the same size as me - I learnt after a while that the assistants don't give a damn, theyre more interested in themselves, what theyre having for lunch or where theyre going that evening. I did have a problem in larger stores with the male and female rooms to try on clothes, so I just braved it out in the male ones anyway. Once you know your size it gets easier............I have shorter arms than a bio guy so find it hard to get long sleeved shirts and jackets to fit, esp as I have quite a broad chest which mans a larger size and the sleeves are several inches too long, so have to shop where they have several sleeve lengths. For suits and dress shirts we have Moss Bros. who are in larger towns and do have varying lengths. Nowadays I don't bother with too much formal wear and have 2 tux's in my wardrobe that haven't seen the light of day for years...............I should give them the charity shop.

[Guest Smaointeoireacht]

If it's any help, I tend to go shopping with a friend who is aware and really supportive of my trans status. That way if I have misjudged sizes, I get her to go back and change sizes for me rather than having to go through the whole business of getting redressed. But I often find that it is a case of trial and error and different shops will have slightly different fits, meaning that you have to learn what sizes you are in specific stores.

[Guest faint111]

If you know sizes for one sizing system you could try to google the conversion for the 30s? I've pretty much always shopped in the male section, before and after I came out and started occassionally passing. It's not a big deal But all of our mens sizing for pants is the 30's so I've never had to remember different sizes. Plus once you figure out a size you dont have to try stuff on anymore! I never try anything on, just buy it and hope it fits LOL.

[Guest Eric6]

Thanks guys. I've got it worked out a bit better now. I needed 34, not 30-32. No wonder they were embarrassingly tight. Yeah, I've learned that a shirt which is 37-38 will nearly always be all right, but pants are a little trickier. I too have the short arms problem but the sleeves generally are not too long. I just fold 'em. I'm now confident to buy shirts in those plastic boxes :-) As for pants, well, I went to a secondhand store where they have "people's changerooms" (g) and you just take what you want to try and nobody knows. I scored some really nice dress pants which must have been owned by a short guy (g) because they were already altered! . I thanked him in my mind as I took them home. :-)