Women's/Femme fashion for men - Topic of the day 10/19/23
Do you wear any femme clothing / clothing designed for women? If so, how do you approach integrating more feminine pieces into your wardrobe, and how do you approach finding pieces that fit male proportions? What can male fashion enjoyers learn from femme clothing?
26 Replies
I have a couple pieces from women's lines, most recently this shirt https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1135916565183856660/1164355472904691794
I dress pretty masc but if there's a cool femme piece I'm not gonna let the tag stop me. Especially with relaxed/oversize fit it's easier to find pieces that work for all genders
Nothing yet besides a pair of pants but watch this space
I have a tough time cause im generally too big for the womens clothes that i want to wear
If i wasnt i think my style would have taken a very different course
I have a couple pieces that are meant to be oversized for women but just kinda fit me regular
Yeah the real problem is that nothing would fit me
I'm a 34W and a 17 neck currently
i also present mostly masc but i do have quite a few femme pieces in my closet. the top (same shirt) and bottoms in these two fits are designed for women
https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1116800072093532191/1157044905382780949
https://discord.com/channels/1116793467654381685/1116800072093532191/1158862321343529010
i do have a few skirts and dresses but have been a bit apprehensive about posting that stuff online due to bad online experiences in the past, but i'm trying to get over it
to answer the actual questions, i just really like the silhouettes clothing designed for women have, don't why not to wear them, and the main issue is finding thigns that fit the shoulders (usually too tight) and sleeve lenght (usually too short) the right way, and just use them the same as my other stuff
Yea we’re about the same yurt
Its kinda tough it really is a blockade against a lot of style options
I agree on the sizing issue
Prob the biggest obstacle
I once borrowed a dress from my wife and I wish I could do more stuff like that
Bond that was for the womenswear theme on reddit, right?
Ya I think it was
Skirts are the easiest womenswear piece to experiment with in my opinion.
Any thrift store should have a decent selection with elasticated waists and a range of lengths.
This was my first skirt and my best attempt to style it at the time. I think that it helps that kilts are socially acceptable for men to wear.
I mean I guess this is an off angle of the question but my general problem is that I'm not trying to wear "womenswear in a men's way" and in fact that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid
i have nothing to say but I love that young thug pic
I feel like you should experiment with skirts no? Just seem to have minimal sizing issues, and even when used in masc looks they are almost always layered over pants. Skirts without layering generally comes across as femme imo. Feel like Mew is a good example of this
I’ve got a couple of dresses that I like, but kind of struggle in styling them in a way that feels right. I do know that I’d like to look more queer, whatever that means, and I feel like I’m still perfecting my gender expression in general. Separately, I do really like how women’s pants tend to drape, and they tend to fit me better in many ways than men’s pants.
I had a more drastic solution in mind
I'm the biggest cheerleader for the brand 4sdesigns -- one thing I love is how they have embraced femininity in menswear in a very specific, different way. The silhouettes are still very conventional menswear, but the detailing ends up changing twisting that a little.
Not everything is a success in this way -- frankly as many misses as hits on the concept for the brand. Here are a few that work for me.
1) Skirted shorts. These are a basketball short silhouette. They've been done in couture-ish fabrics -- floral fil coupe. They've been done in leather (this season). There is a snap at the crotch slightly offset. This snap allows the wearer to change the silhouette to become a skirt. * (1st and 2nd pic)*
2) Couture fabrics. This one is a little bit of a stretch, but there's a ton of usage of conventionally womenswear fabrics. Heavy viscose, silks, lurex, lux tweeds, jerseys, velvets. A few other brands have played in this realm, but it's nice that things here end up soft compared to some counterparts (eg: older marc jacobs)* (3rd pic) *
3) Blouse Silhouettes. This one is a bit of a stretch, but there has been a reoccurring motif of workshirts and "rugbys" in couture fabrics with a silhouette that ends up being bigger, cropped, and sometimes with some micropleats as in a blouse (reoccurring through the collections)
big fan of jacket + shorts sets or jacket + skirt sets like this
Latey i’m really drawn to androgynous outfits that are distinctly workwear informed, or menswear predominant looks that include something distincty femme as a sort of combo breaker. A lot of it can come down to proportions and vibe tho whether i feel like i hit that note rather than looking masc since i’m not afab like these models (presumably)
You're kinda nailing it
Need to get some combo breaker items 🤔
I've a number of women's pieces I wear from time to time, most notably from designers that take a less-differentiated (read: more androgynous) approach
I don't really think feminine and femme are interchangeable words in a modern context
Just @ whoever wrote this question
^
Echoing what others have said about difficulty finding the right physical fit, but finding a good stylistic fit also took a lot of time and practice and releasing of socially reinforced notions about what gender clothes have and how I want to present myself
Hot tip is that there are tons of women's/feminine/femme clothing widely available in thrift stores for low budget experimentation
To speak on the last bit, I think there's a lot that men/masc folks can learn and enjoy from working in femme styles. I'm queer so it's kinda tied in with a lifestyle and not just an outfit to wear for one or two days a year, but overall arresting the way you present yourself and facing the challenge of being perceived by others in a different way has a lot to offer as far as deepening your understanding of your own identity or adding a bit of nuance that may not have been there before.
Mm, I'm a fan of frillier & drape-ier blouses and big dresses. I like some womens cuts a bit more too, just from experience. Flowy and pretty things are nice, and used to make me feel nice.
Now that I'm perceived as a man first more often, it's kind of rough trying to continue wearing the same things I used to (or rather, already know that I) enjoy. In part because now things fit really differently (so less feeling nice :( ), and in part because of the social pressure.
That said, it's been a good opportunity to re-assess what I liked about what I wore. I like feeling pretty or like a doll, so ruffles, accessories, and a good drape go a long way. I've packed away some of my gothic lolita dresses and skirts, for resale or to give to locals, but I did find that I felt I could keep a few of the nicer ones. I hope I'll feel more comfortable wearing them some time. But I think the silhouette of the pieces I'm keeping will work with an androgynous or masculine presentation just fine. I'll probably continue to purchase blouses that I like, and just get them altered to fit my new body better.
I'd love to say age factors into this somewhat but I don't think it did much but add to what I like and maybe curate my sense of quality. Actually, I was recently thinking "as someone who's now a man, is it... skeevier? to dress in a way that evokes being young somehow?" but when I joined here I noticed how popular Ivy and other schoolboy looks are so I got over that pretty quickly, lmao. As long as it's thoughtful, its fine. 
I wish I could give more advice on finding good womenswear but my perspective is probably too skewed haha.
If I had to pick one thing that I could transfer from womenswear to menswear... Hm, having more cuts or styles generally and having more of them "acceptably" in-fashion at a time would be nice. I feel like often where there would be 3~5 "acceptable" choices in womenswear, for men there's maybe 2~3, or practically just the one unless you're really already quite confident in your personal style/choices (and people* will* pressure you more about it too-- not just here in MFAD). I guess it just felt like a much bigger world sometimes in terms of choice, though that also makes it easier to poorly combine options or make cascading poor choices that are hard to dig out of haha.
Maybe gals who are in here might actually disagree with this. That was my experience, and I did care about fashion, but also I was always pretty opinionated so I also wasn't particularly fussed if something was offtrend 
I wish I could give more advice on finding good womenswear but my perspective is probably too skewed haha.
If I had to pick one thing that I could transfer from womenswear to menswear... Hm, having more cuts or styles generally and having more of them "acceptably" in-fashion at a time would be nice. I feel like often where there would be 3~5 "acceptable" choices in womenswear, for men there's maybe 2~3, or practically just the one unless you're really already quite confident in your personal style/choices (and people* will* pressure you more about it too-- not just here in MFAD). I guess it just felt like a much bigger world sometimes in terms of choice, though that also makes it easier to poorly combine options or make cascading poor choices that are hard to dig out of haha.
Maybe gals who are in here might actually disagree with this. That was my experience, and I did care about fashion, but also I was always pretty opinionated so I also wasn't particularly fussed if something was offtrend