I feel we can agree that the top half is tricky, but the bottom half is the worst when you’re a transguy. Because like I said in the beginning, my hips have not lied to me since day one. My butt and hip area is unfortunately prominent and unlike the chest area, there is no device to hide it. So if you’re anything like me, you understand when I say shopping for pants sucks. You either are wearing ridiculously baggy pants or really nice fitting pants at the leg but insanely tight at the waist. Sometimes, you even get a pair that fits well in the hip and the leg but has no room for a packer (unless you want the packer tumor every time you sit down). Bottom line is pants suck booty. But I’ve learned enough to work my way around them.
My personal solution to the pants dilemma is simply… don’t wear them.
Now slow down, I’d rather not see your boxers… what I mean is wear shorts.
All the problems encountered when shopping for pants magically vanish once you decide to just wear shorts. Specifically cargo shorts. If you can wear regular shorts and hide your figure then by all means do so but some of us are not so lucky.
Unfortunately, not many of us have super masculine legs, so we have to work around feminine legs. If your legs appear to be more straight, then plain shorts should work for you.
Loose around the leg, but exposes more thigh shape. If you have more meat or curvature in your upper thigh, then you want to fill in the gap that the bottom thigh leaves you with. Cargo shorts add weight to the bottom thigh which gives your thighs a more boxy appearance.
That being said, your hips will most likely still show through, so utilize the advice given from Clothes Pt. 1 and use your button down or jacket to hide your hips. Athletic shorts are similar to beanies in the sense that they may work for others and flop for some. Try them out every few months and see whether or not they work for you.
The beautiful thing about shorts is they rarely hug leg and are overall looser, but still look decent. As an added bonus, you get to show off your leg hair. Of course this is following a gender stereotype and whatnot but women don’t typically grow their leg hair out. When people see hairy legs, they assume you are a guy. And if they still assume you are a girl, look at them and then look down. This will cause them to look at your legs and realize that you are in fact, not a girl.
Additional important note about shorts lengths: if you are short, opt for 7″ length, 9″ maximum. Anything longer than that and you’ll get swallowed up in them. It took me wayyyy too long to realize my shorts were too long and THAT’S why I always hated how stubby my legs were. Shorts that sit just above the knee are great since they lengthen the leg and in turn, make us look a little less like a kid wearing his dad’s clothes.
Pants
As wonderful as shorts are, they aren’t appropriate for every setting. Do not go on your first date wearing cargo shorts, please. Take your date to the movie and then a nice dinner and WEAR PANTS, DUDE. I know pants suck but you need to have at least a few pairs.
If men’s pants fit you just fine then you don’t need to hear this, but for my thicker guys, Wrangler is your best friend.
Wrangler pants tend to remain on the wider side whereas Levi’s are tailored towards thinner guys. Every skinny guy I know wears Levi’s and I have never been able to wear a pair.
On the left are Levi jeans. You can see how much tighter they are and that’s not just the style. On the right are Wranglers. Right off the bat, you can see how much roomier the hip and thigh area is. As a transman, it is crucial that the hip and thigh area is looser while also still fitting in the rest of the leg. Too tight and we look like someone’s lesbian aunt, too loose and we look like an 8 year old tomboy.
“Cool I know what brand to invest in but what the hell do these numbers mean?”
I wear a 32×30. 32 is the circumference around the waist. 30 is the measurement of the inseam (inner part along your leg). My inseam is technically 26, but an altered (hemmed) 30 fits me better than a manufactured 26, if they sell it. Why? I have no clue, you just need to see what works. Clothes can be weird like that.
Here is a website that allows for you to find your size in women’s and find your waist size according to that: Size Explanation and Chart
A good way to tell whether or not a pair of pants is too large or too tight is by how much fabric you can grab from behind your thighs. A fist full and you’re in the clear. If you grab more than a fist full, then your pants are too large. If you can’t grab anything then they are way too tight. Additionally, you should be able to comfortably slide your hand flat into your waistband, if you can’t do that, it’s too tight. On the other hand, if you can fit a clenched fist in and the waistband isn’t taut, then they are far too large.
I’ve been using cismen as examples, so I’ll show you guys some examples on my own self.
^^This is too tight^^
^^This is too loose^^
^^This is perfect^^
When it comes to styles, same thing for cargo shorts applies here for cargo pants. If you need some added weight to your lower thigh, cargo pants will give you that added weight, just be cautious of the style of the pants. On that note, you should avoid these styles.
From left to right: The tapered look gives too much room to the thighs and narrows far too much at the ankle which doesn’t flatter the FTM body. Skinny jeans just simply do not look good on most guys. I know one guy who can pull them off and that’s it, and for transguys, it hides nothing and flatters nothing. High-waisted/”mom jeans” unfortunately do not work with most transguys (I know, they look really fashionable, it’s a tragedy). If you are tall and slender, then perhaps it may work, but for us thicker guys, we look again, like someone’s auntie.
Joggers are kind of controversial. Some people like them, some hate them. Some people can wear joggers and some people can’t. However, I feel that for most transguys, joggers actually work. It sounds contradicting since I just said that ballooning around the waist and narrowing at the ankles doesn’t work, but in this case, it actually works in out favor.
Most guys I see wearing joggers are pretty heavyset and if you have noticed, heavyset men has a similar lower body as transmen. The lower crotch gives less attention to the butt and doesn’t look like you have a full diaper. When combined with the right hoodie, this fit will make you pass AND looking pretty good. Just for the sake of yourself, make sure the crotch drop is not too low.
Still, a job interview or fancy steakhouse dinner calls for some regular old pants. The styles you should look for are straight, regular, or classic fit. If you are a bigger guy, then relaxed or loose fit may fit you better. If you are shopping in the kids section, then husky will fit you as it has more room around the hip area.
Shoes
I ain’t gonna lie, when it comes to shoes, you can pretty much do almost anything. I did get clocked in middle school for having pink shoe laces, but that is the only instance where my shoes stopped me from passing. Assuming you won’t have some pubescent 12 year old boy pointing at your shoes screaming “THAT’S A GIRL”, it’s insanely rare for someone to judge whether you’re a guy or not based off of your shoes (unless you’re wearing Twinkle Toes, flats, heels, or something obviously from the women’s section). I am a bit of a shoe guy, but I will try my best to wrangle it in and keep it simple for this section.
Every guy should have at least 3 pairs of shoes: one for everyday, one for going out, and one for formal events. And by all means, get a size bigger, but a size you can still fit. If you really want to, you can stuff your shoes. I’ve done theatre and at one point, I had to stuff my shoes cause those boots were way too big for my feet, so stuffing your shoes works, especially if insoles are involved.
Your everyday shoes should be just a regular pair of sneakers. These shoes should be flexible. You should be able to run, walk, jump, dance, whatever in these with little to no issue. Everyday shoes are just for going to school, getting groceries, hanging out, and what not. These are your default shoes. If you have the money, and you are in the unfortunate position where you can’t quite get shoes from the men’s department yet, New Balance carries plenty of unisex shoes that are mainly masculine by design.
Next are the shoes you are to outings. This includes dates, dinners, parties, basically places you want to look good, but not formal. Keep these shoes clean. If you want to keep it simple, some Vans or shoes of the like are fine.
Some guys can wear these everyday but I can’t. I run around and walk in places that don’t mix well with the flat bottom of this shoe. Also these do nothing for my height. Other than that, these are neat for outings.
If you wanna boost your height or just change it up, then consider combat boots like these.
To keep it short, these guys boost your height, give you a heavier step, and also a thicker foot. That heavy footing is important if you are still adjusting to walking more masculine.
If you want to look even more spiffy but still casual (you don’t see this in the south so bear with me here), you can invest in these Oxford type shoes.
These are more commonly used in richer places and understandably so, but some people like them so it would be unfair to neglect them.
Stemming away from that… if you are more of a casual or streetwear type of person, then some nice sneakers will do the trick.
While they might look like an everyday shoe (depending on the style), you actually need to make an effort to keep them clean and don’t let them look musty. Invest in some nice sneaker cleaner and make them worth it. New Balance has an amazing fashion/lifestyle line full of chunkier shoes that will definitely give you a bit of height as well.
Lastly are your dress shoes. If you don’t plan on many formal events, then one pair of black shoes are fine. If you have and plan on wearing a tux, then purchase shoes that appear like this.
These are the shoes you wear with tuxedos. Every guy I have seen wears these with tuxedos. You can even search up images with men in tuxedos and they are wearing these.
If you know you aren’t gonna wear a tux and just wanna be prepared for a formal outing then these are just fine.
Formal and simple. Keep in mind that the rounder the tip, the less formal it becomes.
Of course, for all the shoes listed, you don’t have to get name brand. That isn’t always in the budget, and that’s okay. Just as long as you get comfortable shoes that fit the general idea of sneaker, nicer shoes, dress shoes, you will be perfectly okay shopping for more affordable options. I grew up on Payless and discount store shoes, I know the struggle.
Underwear
Not much to say here since no one really sees your underwear. It’s all mostly up to what is comfortable to you. Some people hate tight stuff so they wear exclusively boxers, others prefer briefs. That’s all cool, but I will give you some heads up.
I’m not a briefs guy so I don’t have much insight there, but I have worn boxer briefs and plain boxers.
Boxers can work but you have to be aware of the bunching. When boxers bunch up, it doesn’t look good and will also add weight to your butt and hip area. If you pack, boxers and athletic shorts can be scary waters, especially if you are in any sports or performing art (dance, musical theatre, things like that). There is nothing really compressing your packer so your stuff is just swinging everywhere and squatting down is even worse. Your junk will show through your shorts. Boxer briefs are better in cases like that.
On a humorous note: I love to credit my own observational skills for keeping me stealth through high school, but it very well could have been my poor packing choices when it came to underwear. I did the packing pouch-boxer-athletic shorts combo and so my stuff was just swinging around. I guess no one can question you if you got your stuff just hangin’ out there in the middle of a dance number… that being said… don’t do that. It’s impractical and can set you up for worse problems if it looks odd. Do as I say, not as I did.
When it comes to boxer briefs/trunks, you have to be aware of The Butt Seam. The “Butt Seam” is basically a seam that runs across the butt and somehow warps the shape. I don’t know how it does this, but it makes the butt more accentuated. I barely noticed this not too long ago after trying to figure out why certain shorts looked good on certain days until I connected it to the boxers. Basically, the Butt Seam looks like this.
Goodfellow has amazing boxers but their boxer briefs and briefs are sad. Amazing fabric (that tears at the waistband unfortunately) but the waistband is too thick and folds over a lot. Not to mention the Butt Seam.
This pair doesn’t have the Butt Seam. These are what you want.
Maybe not exactly my old ass $10 Walmart boxers, but something plain in the back. A lot of boxer briefs don’t have the Butt Seam, but the nicer brands do, so be aware and make sure you aren’t getting anything that enhances anything we don’t want to be enhanced. Unless you wanna show your ass off, which I mean, I wouldn’t personally want to but to each their own.
There isn’t much else that I can say for the bottom half of your body so what now?
Well you still gotta swim right? Let’s talk about that next.
Handbook for the Self Made 