Widely-available women’s clothing is made to fit cisgender women.
What about trans women?
Shoulders- trans women may have broader shoulders, which can make it difficult to find shirts that fit
Chest- may be wider and/or have smaller cup size
Waist/hips- cisgender women tend to have wider hips and a higher natural waist (hourglass figure)
Height- transgender women tend to be taller (on average) than cisgender women
Shoes- many women’s shoes do not come in large enough sizes
Everyone is different. Some trans women may not have the resources to physically transition, and some may not want to.
Everyone deserves to feel beautiful in the body they have.
Willow was kind enough to be my model for this project. She came out as trans fairly recently.
In its current state, the dress is mostly complete, but I need to do one last fitting, and Willow is not currently available.
Willow
(she/they)
Ideation
Here I looked at the differences in typical men’s and women’s silhouettes.
I identified places that distinguish these body shapes and used the design of the dress to make some parts appear more or less prominent than others.
Prototyping
The pins in this picture are allowing me to sketch out features that create the appearance of a more “feminine” figure.
Some of the garments I found during my market research required layers of padding to simulate hips and breasts. I didn’t want this dress to require a whole set of undergarments that imply that the wearer has to change her body to fit an aesthetic. Clothes should just fit.
The first draft of the pattern, establishing the rough shape.
This is a later draft of the dress pattern.
Here is the partially-assembled final dress. There will be updates on this project in the future.
