Vestlove

I have a love affair with vests. Long vests, short vests, crochet vest, cargo vests that make me look like I should be hosting some wildlife/nature show.

I love them all, and I have for some time, despite the removal efforts of the unofficial queen of my college band. Apparently I looked frumpy in vests.

I like them because they're dressier, but still cooler than a blazer or something.

Anyways, I was reading some old stuff on the What is Gender? forums that I lurk around, and I found this conversation about using vests as binders. I'm excited, though none of mine are really appropriate.

One of the posters makes an excellent point about the nature of vests, a point best taken into account by those vest virgins.

Women's vests are cut for women, while men's are cut for men. I own a couple women's vests, and they are most definitely tailored, however subtly, to accentuate the curves.

Plus, they often come off looking horrendously ugly:
I'm a big fan of men's waistcoats though- the kind of thing worn under a suit. One of these over a band t-shirt with jeans is my favorite outfit right now. The only thing to remember with these is that they often have some sort of cinching mechanism in the back that conveniently hits where a female person's waist would be.
Resist the urge to cinch up your vest (I know, it's hard for me too). It'll only emphasize your natural curves.

I'd like to start a movement creating more unisex jersey vests, like the one seen on this woman:
Only, you know, not girly. I have one that I sewed from two t-shirts (Woo reversible!) and I think it "passes," depending on the right clothing that it's worn with.

Anyways, if all else fails, there's nothing sexier/trashier than a good ol' fashioned biker vest:I like to think fringe is coming back in style.

Hooray for T-shirts!

A lot of advice columns aimed at female-bodied people trying to present themselves in a more masculine/androgynous manners discourage t-shirts, considering that they are "unisex."

But t-shirts are like jeans. Everyone wears them, but men and women often wear different styles of shirt. To pick a more masculine t-shirt, focus on these ideas:

• Shape: Boxy, unisex/men's t-shirts are the best, particularly if they're a little loose. Also, v-necks, while hot on biological men, can also be feminizing depending on the cut.
• Logos: A big logo encompassing the entire front of the shirt can draw attention away from your breasts, where a shirt with a logo directly across the chest can draw attention straight to the ladies.
• Color: Like it or not, some colors in our culture are considered more feminine than others. Black, brown, and other dull shades are masculine, where as pink, purple, and various other pastels are considered feminine. However, brightly colored t-shirts can still be seen as masculine depending on:
• What Else You're Wearing: Short shorts, strappy sandles, and a bangle will feminize even the boxiest black t-shirt. I admit, I don't always dress like a hardcore man's man- more like an effeminate gay guy, at times. But a brightly colored t-shirt can still work if it's under an open button up or over a white undershirt, with loose jeans and tennis shoes. Also, wearing nothing with your t-shirt gives it away too, unless your t-shirt is really long.
  

The best way to judge what is more masculine/androgynous is to simply study the opposite sex. Find celebrities whose style you like and try to put your own twist on them. For instance, lately I've become a bit enamoured of Christofer Drew of NeverShoutNever!:

And above all else, dress comfortably! And hope to God that Stacey and Clinton of What Not to Wear don't find you.

The Problem with College Fashion: Or why skinny jeans can go to hell.

In high school, I spent most of my time in office appropriate clothing, since I went to work at the public library immediately after school every day. College was a huge shock, and I went a little overboard in rebelling against the button up/dress pants/sensible shoes wardrobe I had to wear so much of high school.

Hello, t-shirts. Hello, jeans. Hello, Converses (because flip flops are a fail moment for any member of a marching band).

Of course, the freshman fifteen didn't help my fashion- neither did the other fifteen on top of that. I mainly stuck to t-shirts, baggy jeans, and bandanas my freshman year.

And then I bought the skinny jeans.

Skinny jeans are one of those tiny failures in fashion, for me at least. When I saw skinny jeans, I wanted to look like a skinny little emo boy:



Instead, I look like J. Lo's ass and thighs came to inhabit a grungy college boy's body. I don't know where this ass came from; no one else in my family is so gifted. The thighs?A result of stress-related eating binges.

So no skinny jeans for me. It's something I don't think about, a lot of the time when it comes to passing. Breasts and hair are always my main concern with dressing as a guy- flattening the breasts, hiding the hair. Fortunately, I spend most of the school year in baggy jeans and jackets which help conceal the whole hourglass effect.

In summer, my hips have nowhere to hide. And that's the problem with unisex fashions such as skinny jeans. I would like to look androgynous, but to do that I feel as if I have to dress extra-masculine to cover up obvious female characteristics. I wear sweater vests, loose shirts, and I can pull off looking dressed up and male- but t-shirts and jeans, which are my most comfortable choice, just make me look like a lazy college student.

It's a matter of body dysphoria, I guess, because in my mind I feel like I should still be skinny as I was for that brief, unhealthy time. I see men in AP and Rolling Stone and I want to be thin. To be the waifish-looking musician in an oversized flannel shirt. I admit, normal women have a lot to live up to when compared to their size 0 fashion counterparts. But don't men as well?

Maybe, maybe you could argue that men don't care as much about their appearance, don't study it and how it compares with the media around them (though I doubt it). I guarantee transmen do though, because they're learning through comparison, what parts of their bodies and poses are passable, and what parts- like breasts, like hips, like babyfaces- are not. Passing as a man becomes a test, a study, and we don't have the proper shape/parts to begin with.

So now, the skinny jeans rest in the back of my closet, eagerly awaiting the day that I lose enough weight to have legs that aren't the fine curved gams I've got now.

Passing for the Generations

As I said in my first post, I rarely pass as male. Besides the way my voice climbs in pitch when I get emotional (on a level on par with Elliott from Scrubs), I also have long hair which, no matter how much I tie it back, is still obviously long hair. However, I had a “passing incident” recently with the secretary of our music department.
Ms. A is not known for her intelligence, though she can be a remarkably sweet lady. Well, sometimes. On occasion. But it's disconcerting to see her happy at work. Regardless, she was actually conversational when I went to the music office to permanently borrow duct tape. The duct tape was for a ghetto tuba pad, and the only color of tape my roommate and I own is hot pink. When I explained to Ms. A that I didn't think hot pink duct tape would look professional on my tuba, she agreed, though pink duct tape would look “cute on a girl's tuba.”

I laughed it off, “It sure would,” and promptly went to laugh about it to my tuba professor. He and Ms. A have a love/hate/please-make-the-copier-work relationship, and he thought it was hilarious that she thought I was a guy.

In fact, most people who have passed me off as male have been older, whereas younger people just assume I'm a lesbian, a tomboy, or one of those strange girls from the gamer floor of our dorm (my straight, soon-to-be-married RA is so much more masculine than I am). Is this because our generation has a broader view of gender representation? I don't have the quote, but I believe in Sarah Waters' Tipping Velvet, one of the characters remarks that a woman can easily pass for a man if she wears pants, because only men wear pants of course. That doesn't hold water today, but there are still certain clothing items that are considered appropriate for one gender- such as a tie. I feel like middle aged people still associate the tie as a purely male clothing accessory. However, I grew up in the shudders Avril Lavigne generation, where women can wear ties all the time.

I think that, as each generation has a wider range of gender-appropriate clothing, the ability to “pass” for transgendered people becomes harder. So, after awhile, is passing even worth it? Because the acceptance of nontraditional clothing in terms of gender should also represent a broader scope of gender in the minds of younger generations anyways. This is a generation of straight girls that can identify as straight but still really, really like to kiss/make out with other girls. Hell, thanks to Katy Perry, they have their anthem. Is this going to be a generation where it's okay for me to not completely pass one way or the other?