Thoughts concerning silhouettes

[Myopic Bookworm]

My style is generally "masculine above the waist", and I routinely wear men's shirts with skirts. It's a way of steering to the masculine side rather than appearing trans to the casual observer. Women's tops are frequently shaped to the bust, and have a lower neckline than I would be comfortable with. I have a girlie leather jacket and a couple of cropped T shirts, and I would wear cropped jackets, but nothing else feminine above the waist. I struggle to find satisfactory dresses, because they tend to be aimed at making women feel feminine, and I want a masculine upper section, like, square shoulders or epaulettes: often the best option is to wear a man's jacket over the dress.

[robehickman]

My style is generally "masculine above the waist", and I routinely wear men's shirts with skirts. It's a way of steering to the masculine side rather than appearing trans to the casual observer. Women's tops are frequently shaped to the bust, and have a lower neckline than I would be comfortable with. I have a girlie leather jacket and a couple of cropped T shirts, and I would wear cropped jackets, but nothing else feminine above the waist. I struggle to find satisfactory dresses, because they tend to be aimed at making women feel feminine, and I want a masculine upper section, like, square shoulders or epaulettes: often the best option is to wear a man's jacket over the dress.

That makes sense, re dresses, men's 'medieval tunic' style 'dresses' are readily available from reenactment and LARP suppliers, at least in the UK. Also, basic kinds of dresses like that aren't very hard to make, and 'the stitchery' recently published a video on abstract concepts of dress design:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGrWTW6buX8

It is worthwhile taking a bit of time to develop a custom fit 'bodice block' / 'sloper' pattern, and how to do that is discussed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUtyPPn ... bT&index=2

That channel has a great deal of information about pattern drafting.

[Grok]

Male body types.

[robehickman]

Male body types.

Taking these and doing 'paper dolls' with varying garment shapes would give some good baseline on what does / does not look natural on each.

[Grok]

Description of masculine skirts.

[Grok]

Come to think of it, what I have worn has conformed with angular, square/retangular/trapezoidal. Didn't plan it that way, I just picked out designs that I thought would look believable on me.

[Mouse]

Come to think of it, what I have worn has conformed with angular, square/retangular/trapezoidal. Didn't plan it that way, I just picked out designs that I thought would look believable on me.

I read the link and then became quite lost, since I just go with what I think I look good in, not knowing anything about what my shape really is and what shapes I should be going with.

[Grok]

I just go with what I think I look good in, not knowing anything about what my shape really is and what shapes I should be going with.

Me too.

[Grok]

I just go with what I think I look good in, not knowing anything about what my shape really is and what shapes I should be going with.

How many have tried on a skirt, and then looked in a mirror to see if they look good in the rig?

Growing up, I was oblivious to body shape. And there was very little incentive to experiment with typical drab mens wear. The components/garments offered little variety, were nearly standardized, and were generally in the range of drab to dull in terms of color or details. Even mens suits were dull.

Forget about looking good, the very best you could do was look presentable.

[webboy42]

I’ve always gone with what’s comfortable. My current go to is a regular Macabi with the hem taken up (the shortest length in my size is a tripping hazard unless I drape it over my apple gut) and a men’s polo shirt. I used to wear their knee length skirts, but I find the shortened regular generally more comfortable. I have considered trying to find a cotton skirt, but I find the hip/waist sizing of women’s skirts confusing, because I don’t know which measurement to use since the way I wear skirts effectively makes the waist and hip line the same and on the women’s skirts I’ve encountered they’re always different.