(Originally posted May 7, 2016, here.)
If anyone saw me at RT, you probably noted I spent a lot of time rather dapper. My clothing consisted of two suits, a bunch of dress shirts, two vests, and a pile of ties.
I don’t have too many photos of me from RT, but here’s one of the outfits:
I’ve been aching to dress like that for ages, and you know what? I was comfortable and myself—which is the point of dressing how you feel best at conferences.
It’s just taken me a while to get to a point where I felt comfortable going out and buying men’s clothing, especially getting a suit fit to me.
So it was also a personal celebration of sorts. Fitting into my skin for a week—or maybe exposing it. Not sure.
There were a few things I learned over the course of several days:
- Men’s pants have serious pockets. Like fit-my-big-ass-iPhone-in-them pockets. Men’s clothing in general have more pockets that I had stuff to…well…stuff in them. Pockets everywhere. Pockets. What a grand idea.
- I loved my shoes. They were comfortable and had arch support and looked fantastic. More men’s shoes for me!
- I wasn’t cold, which is unusual at hotel conferences. The only thing I can figure is that the temperature really is set to what is comfortable for a guy in a suit.
- On the days I wore my suits, I also wore a chest binder. I figured out that my binder so much more comfortable when I wear a sports bra under it. The binder itself isn’t uncomfortable, but I’m well endowed and gravity likes to pull down. The bra keeps the flesh where it belongs.
- I can’t slouch as well in a binder, which let me know how much I slouch in a bra.
- It was nice, for a while, to not be so well endowed. Really really nice. Freeing.
- I got some looks, but no one said anything. Yay?
- I could wear a suit daily and never complain.
That said, I’m genderfluid, and probably on the femme side of androgyny. I adore men’s clothing and certainly will be incorporating it more into my everyday wardrobe. I wore the outfit in the photo—sans tie—to work and while I got a few blinks, no one said anything. I suspect the blinks were more because it was a nicer look than my usual. I mean, I’ve walked in with shock white and blue hair. They know I’m weird.
I finally got to dress closer to how I want to dress all the time, and it was wonderful.
It’s nice being yourself.
