Younger Folks and Classic Crossdressing

[francxs]

Not sure if my title captures my question but I am curious about something and am feeling a little sheepish about asking it.

I see a number of young queer men wearing female clothing but not wearing makeup, padding of any kind, shape-wear, or wigs. They also frequently do not shave (body or facial hair). A number of the trans/queer activists do this.

Let me emphasize, I have no issue with this at all. As a matter of fact, as my profile pic makes clear, I prefer not to shave my beard off. But I do like the effects of shape-wear and padding. I also admit I have a weakness for heels. When presenting femme I tend to be pretty conservative in my clothing choices but I do like looking femme in that perhaps more old-school kind of way.

I am suddenly feeling self-conscious as I am trying to be more out. Am I being an antique in the way I present (excepting the beard of course)? Are fashions of queer presentation shifting over the years? I know it shouldn't matter, and people should just accept me as I am, but I am curious.

[Leena]

Perhaps more young people feel more free to experiment with different things though how one feels comfortable presenting is a highly individual thing. I personally did not feel comfortable at all wearing most clothes from the women's department when I had a beard or any visible stubble.

Fashions just are going to shift over the years as well. I think they have changed a lot less in a general sense this century so far compared to last century where each decade seemed to have major shifts.

[francxs]

Sept 8, 2023 10:51:44 GMT 8 Leena said:

Perhaps more young people feel more free to experiment with different things though how one feels comfortable presenting is a highly individual thing. I personally did not feel comfortable at all wearing most clothes from the women's department when I had a beard or any visible stubble.

Fashions just are going to shift over the years as well. I think they have changed a lot less in a general sense this century so far compared to last century where each decade seemed to have major shifts.

Makes sense. And I totally get it. To be honest I'm a little afraid of how I might feel if I shaved it all off and did a full make up. I wonder if it might be one of those one-way doors! As a result, it's a bit of a struggle for me too.

But I look ten years older without the beard and it horrifies me. (I know. Vanity.) Still I don't feel like I should sacrifice that for some ideal I didn't make. So on one level I'm totally happy with the shift in fashion and an explicitly gender-queer presentation.

[Ativan Prescribed]

I think each persons sense of crossdressing is based a lot on their age and at what point in life they started to become attracted to clothes, as in what was the current fashion trends at the time and then later.
For some it becomes a sort of fetish when it comes to lingerie in this sense, when and what was going on at the time when it became something you desired to wear?
For those who lack any kind of fetish sort of thing and solely want to have a feminine look, it can be time dependent as well or not and just what is current, everyone is different, its fashion trends and where you are in terms of that.
It's really no different than say like people who get into different time period looks, like renaissance fair people, or old military looks, or pirates or anything like that its usual for them to start out with their first look that attracted them to it.
But like most things, people will change it up until they find that thing that works for them, for whatever reason, just the overall effect or what works for them to feel like its a completed look.
I think its not any different than people wearing a specific logo/brand to have a certain look, its expression just like freedom of speech, we also have a lot of freedom of fashion as well depending on where you are and in your own space, its always freedom.

[francxs]

Sept 9, 2023 10:56:05 GMT 8 Ativan Prescribed said:

I think each persons sense of crossdressing is based a lot on their age and at what point in life they started to become attracted to clothes, as in what was the current fashion trends at the time and then later.
For some it becomes a sort of fetish when it comes to lingerie in this sense, when and what was going on at the time when it became something you desired to wear?
For those who lack any kind of fetish sort of thing and solely want to have a feminine look, it can be time dependent as well or not and just what is current, everyone is different, its fashion trends and where you are in terms of that.
It's really no different than say like people who get into different time period looks, like renaissance fair people, or old military looks, or pirates or anything like that its usual for them to start out with their first look that attracted them to it.
But like most things, people will change it up until they find that thing that works for them, for whatever reason, just the overall effect or what works for them to feel like its a completed look.
I think its not any different than people wearing a specific logo/brand to have a certain look, its expression just like freedom of speech, we also have a lot of freedom of fashion as well depending on where you are and in your own space, its always freedom.

Yes. I think you are totally right that it is time and culture dependent but also a matter of personal development.

Part of the reason I was asking was that my eldest has moved back home to go to school. Although they’re queer I’m feeling self conscious about my more dramatic expressions. Since I asked the question here, I’ve gotten over myself and started dressing as I want. My “kid” has been great as I would have expected.

[Ativan Prescribed]

Thats why I said based on... it pretty much stems from your life as you lived it and the fashions of the times in your life.
Younger people have less life experience in things like fashion and so their looks tend to be more narrow but are not limited by any means.
It's one thing to see older fashions in vids and pics and then quite another as seeing or at least living in the times of those fashions.
It's like what young person drools over a '57 Chevy, or as '69 Road Runner, the Trans Am from Smokey and the Bandit,.. before more efficient engines and suspensions came into being, those cars are great but are nothing compared to the cars of today.
Fashions and technology plays a huge part in how we perceive the world and if you are a 'boomer', then things like rotary desk phones were the only phones until they 'invented' a wall mounted rotary, the very idea of cell phones was to futuristic for us as kids.
But kids today have the total advantage over us in not having their tech clogged up with old tech like we did and do, they are far less set in their ways as far as seeing something new and being able to more than adapt, they are better at improvising with it.
In the late '70's and early 80's I was working in R&D and was typically 7-11 years ahead of release of several products that became significant in our lives, but compared to today, if you are working in most R&D then you are only months away from release of the product.
Not only are things moving faster, but it takes the clean slate of the younger minds to adapt and then improve on what is the current technologies.
So in respect, fashions and trends move at this kind of pace as well, older people think trends are way to fast but for the younger people, what was trendy a month ago is a long time ago, so our fashion choices might be steeped in years of the same old same old vs last months.
I mean think about it, what is considered a retro look lasts only a short time compared to what that look was good for back in its time.
Changing looks for the younger generations is not a surprising thing for them at all and if we change our looks, it has very little surprise to them from their point of view, lucky them its about the person and not the presentation that matters.