Managing the contents of my closet

 

I'm one of those transgender women who love wearing dresses.  If I were born in a later generation, I'd likely want to wear different garments, as the cisgender women of my generation made their transition into preferring trouser-like garments years after I grew up.  In short, I modeled my clothing preferences on that of my mother, and I may always gravitate to those garments.

Unlike my mother, I enjoy wearing clothing with simple lines and strong colors.  Although I will wear patterns, I am more into solids - in either gender presentation. Although I have more patterned tops for when I present as male, it's only because these are the only tops available in my size. When presenting as a female, I prefer to let my costume jewelry do some of the talking. But I try never to over do it with  jewelry.

Over the years, I have bought way too many items of women's clothing, and I have had to purge some of these garments as they have gone out of style and no longer fit my needs.  Luckily, some charities have been beneficiaries of my purchases.  Today, I am gradually removing the cheaper garments from my closet, those garments which wore out quickly and were not meant to last.  In short, I'm trying to remove "fast fashion" from my wardrobe.

Shifting towards more sustainable fashion requires work.  Yes, I will continue to occasionally buy lower priced garments which I know will last a year or two. But I will not do this as often as I used to do it. (A gal's got to spruce up her wardrobe occasionally, doesn't she?)  The big question becomes: When I eventually get around to losing some weight, will my taste in women's clothing change and what will happen to my wardrobe when that happens?

Deciding how to get dressed can be hard for me - A short post.

 

For most people, it's easy to figure out how to get dressed for the day.  For me, things are a little more complicated.  First, I need to make sure of which gender presentation is expected of me that day. And only then can I make the next decision - what to wear.  Most of the time, this is a simple process.  If the day involves foul weather, strenuous work, or otherwise requires the presence of Mario, I dress as a male.  However, if the day allows or requires Marian's presence, I dress as a female. And then, I try to figure out what a cisgender female would likely wear that day.

Normally, I keep track of my future presentations by color coding entries in my online calendar.  But this doesn't always work for me, as I have to allow for days where I present as Marian for part of the day, then Mario for the other part of the day. So far, I don't recall many days where I start the day as Marian, switch to Mario, and then back to Marian.  But I'm pretty sure that I have had to do this switch on occasion.

As Marian, I try to wear dresses as often as possible.  RQS says that I'm more of a girly girl than she is.  In response, I remind her that she will always be the cisgender female in the relationship.  (Yes, I use other words.  But I use them to reinforce her femininity and  the idea that I can and will not compete with her true femininity.)  So far, she is comfortable with this.  But sometimes, I wonder....