I have been looking for women's pea coat for weeks. Ever since I saw and tried on two leather ones at Goodwill. The two I tried on at Goodwill that day, were too small. But since then, I have visited over 10 other Goodwill stores in metro Atlanta, and could not find another pea coat I like.
So, Thursday night, I decided to go to a few department stores to find a coat. I went to Kohls first. I did not know a wool pea coat cost so much. The ones I liked were listed at $150+. They were on sale at 50% off, buy even at $75+, they were over my budget.
I saw one I liked, but at $90 (sales price), it was over my budget.
I liked this coat because of its color and style. I wanted a double breasted coat that flared at the hips and the hemline stopped just below the belt. I tried it on and the large size fit perfectly. The arms length was long enough and I loved it. But hated the price, so I moved on.
In another section of the store, I found a nice coat.
It was a creme color coat with a diagonal zipper. It was a fur trimmed hoodie, which I like as a casual jacket. If the weather gets bad, the hoodie will cover my head. The sleeves were long enough with an elastic wrist band. The price was right at $24 and it matched my current outfit.
So I bought it. But I still wanted a wool pea coat.
So, I went to Belks. I saw another black wool pea coat I liked. It was on sale for $70. It fit perfectly, but was over my budget. I thought hard about it. But I decided that since I was going to be out all day Friday, I will check other stores for one I like at a lower price. If I do not find one, then I will come back and get this one, if its still here.
My main goal Friday was to find that pea coat. I went to Ross and TJ Maxx, but could not find one I liked. So I went to Burlington Coat Factory. If I could not find one there, then it was back to Belks. I even tried the same Goodwill store where I saw the original two black leather coats. No luck.
Burlington was crowded. I found the women's coat section and took my time looking for "that" coat. While browsing, when I made eye contact with another women, I smiled and looked her in the eyes. All the woman I made eye contact with smiled back and some said high as we passed. I returned the hi in a soft voice. No one jumped at my voice and I am sure they know I am not a women.
As I was zeroing in on a few coats, the lady next to me complained that even with the large number of racks she could not find what she was looking for. I said the same thing, as I had been through 6 racks with no success. She complimented me on my new Kohls jacket I bought last night. She liked how I matched it with a grey and white turtleneck. I thanked her and told her I bought it a Kohls yesterday.
Then I found it. A white and black pea coat in my size at $50. I tried it on and it looked great.
This pea coat was double breasted wool with a belt. The sleeves were long enough and it cut in at the waist and flared at the hips. The belt added to the hourglass look.
Once I took my coat off and put on this new one, the lady next to me stated that to jacket looked great on me. I went to the mirror to check for myself and I agreed with her. All my hunting paid off. She stated that she hopes she finds one that fit and looked as nice on her as mine did. I smiled.
As you can see, its not 100% black but the color and design will go with my black, grey and blue jean leggings. I can not wait to wear it. I walked out of the story happy that I bought this coat and my interaction with my "neighbor" at the coat rack.
This came after my experience with at Payless. I was just "floored" at how people were treating me. The most I hope for is that people ignore me. But they are actually interacting with me.
A good think about going out as a femboy is that I do not care if I pass. Its about infusing femininity and feeling comfortable. Learning how to interact with women in public is my priority. I want to be able to go anywhere (as long as I feel safe) without a second thought. Just like I do in boy mode. Of course safety is a higher priority and I am aware of that all the time. There are things I do in boy mode that I would not do in femboy mode. For example, where I park as it gets dark and making sure I have my car keys in my hand when I leave the store.
This is the second of five or six posts about my Thursday-Friday femboy day. After buying this coat in a crowded store....oh one more thing.
I had to wait in line to pay and three young teenage girls were in front of me. Twenty years ago, I would not have waited in that line. I would have browsed around the store until those girls had checked out. Because back then pre-internet days, pre-teen and teenage girls were the toughest to deal with. They naturally watched women and seemed to have radar when it came to identifying crossdressers. In the 1990's, I was called out on two separate occasions by groups of teenage girls, as a guy in a dress or a crossdresser. I knew of others who had the same experience with groups of young girls.
But this time, nothing was said, no whispers, no looking back and no stares. I thought about it and realized, the internet brings transgender people to them all the time. Now these young people probably have transgender friends online and/or maybe in person. Or at least they see them online or on youtube. So its not a shock and its not unique. I did not know other crossdressers (older term) were out there until the early 80's and The Phil Donahue Show.
After buying this coat in a crowded store, I knew I could tackle the world.