Thrift Store Madness

Sometimes jealousy is a component of being married to a crossdresser.  I’m not talking your basic jealousy like, “Damnit all, he looks better in a skirt than I do!”, I’m talking about a very different, very hard to define sort of jealousy.  I’m talking clothes envy.

Ah, clothes envy, the bane of many a crossdresser’s wife.  It used to drive me absolutely nuts that my husband could buy size 2 clothing.  His thin, effiminate frame could easily pull off the sexy, slinky dresses my curvy, chunky body would never dare don.  What’s more, BECAUSE he was so skinny, buying clothing for him was no big deal.  Of course we went to the thrift store at every opportunity simply because – when you take it all into account – crossdressers adore shopping.  But those tiny scraps of cloth were on SALE in the thrift stores!

I used to be crushed.  It was difficult to find normal clothing in REGULAR stores that fit me halfway decently without spending an arm and a leg.  Even when I DID find something I’d usually have to fork over $100 for a complete outfit, a ridiculous amount it seemed at the time, just to have something nice for an interview.  But Melanie could waft into a thrift store and pick up a nice blouse for $2, a pair of slacks for $4, and a sassy blazer or lovely suit top for no more than $20.  Pair it all together with a set of chunky heels, one of my strings of pearls, and a nice gloss of makeup and she was clad for less than $50 all told!

Or, the most irritating part… without real breasts to burden her down, she could pick up any bra off the rack that fit her around the ribcage and walk out of the store with it without even having to TRY IT ON for comfort!  Unlike me, who is so large chested I have to SPECIAL ORDER bras because even nice stores like Nordstroms just don’t carry my size.  These bras start at $75.  The fact that Melanie could pick up a $3 Hello Kitty bra that I found absolutely adorable and would (at the time) have done anything to own was mind-bogglingly infuriating.

The indignity, I assure you, burned.

However, as time went on, I began to view the “Thriftstore Madness” in a new light.  While Melanie, bless her heart, did love her some thrifty shopping, I got to have NEW things with nary a concern as to who had worn them previously.  I didn’t have to worry about snagged thread or worn spots, when I bought something it looked good the first time AND there was never a concern about entering the dressing room.  Crossdressers, sadly, have a rough road there.  Unless they want to take their frilly things into the men’s room, they generally have to sort of eyeball an item and hope for the best (unless they’ve a kind soul in their lives who’s handy with a needle and thread).

Furthermore, while it’d be nice to pick up an armful of blouses and dive into the dressing room to only occassionally surface for air, I realized that I personally don’t LIKE shopping that much.  It’s a hassle.  Sure, being pretty is great once in a while, but I’d much rather spend my precious hours in the Borders or pawing through the toy section of the Toys R Us.  Shopping had ceased to be about ME, you see.  And I was able to step back and let her revel in her thrift store finds and applaud her would-be expensive taste.

Because if she’s buying at Goodwill, then she’s not buying at Macy’s.  And that, I assure you, more than makes up for the closet full of cute tops… all had for a dollar each.

Tags: shopping