Dressing for Androgyny: A Guide for AMAB People

Hey guys, gals and non binary pals and welcome to another blog post. Today we’re going to be talking about androgyny.

The Merriam – Webster dictionary defines androgyny as the quality or state of being neither specifically feminine or masculine, the combination of feminine and masculine characteristics, the quality or state of being androgynous

This basically means dressing in a way that doesn’t fit either gender role.

Typically, androgyny is associated with AFAB non-binary people and butch lesbians. It’s very rarely associated with AMAB people or with masculine identifying people. But androgyny is something that’s open to literally anyone. Even cishets.

Androgyny is just a way of expressing yourself and your gender. You get to define what is masculine and what’s feminine, so androgyny has no real definition of the right way of doing it. However, today I’m going to give you a rundown of how to dress androgynous based on typical gender stereotypes, as far as clothes come in.

In order to avoid confusion, I’m going to split this post into AMAB and AFAB. If you are neither of those, just chose the one that more closely resembles your body shape.

Today’s post will be the AMAB one and a post either next week or the week after will be the AFAB one.

So, for AMAB people, the most important thing is not to have too many sharp lines in your clothing. AFAB people generally have wider hips than AMAB people, so you want to hide the fact that you don’t.

Skirts are always a good way to do this, especially loose ones that flow a bit at the bottom. They can create lines that aren’t there, creating a shape that’s more androgynous.

Especially since skirts are so closely associated with femininity, this can really help in your quest for androgyny.

The same goes for dresses.

By the way, if you’re looking for AMAB androgyny inspiration, the best place to look is House Of Alexzander. Alexzander is a transwoman, but very early in her transition, she presented as a feminine man, often stating that she did it to confuse men who were objectifying women. That’s where all of these photos come from.

So, if you’re a bit too apprehensive to go full on with skirts and dresses or anything like that, try something like this:

Feminine shirts can go a long way to change people’s perceptions. Especially if they have an interesting neckline, they give you a more soft appearance which is typically associated with femininity.

Other than clothes, the most important thing is makeup and jewelry.

Rings are wonderful because they make your fingers look longer and slimmer which are typically AFAB traits. Acrylic or painted nails also help to do this.

Makeup is also a good idea for androgyny. Even if you dress as masculine as you can, a good face of makeup will always bring a ton of femininity to the outfit. Learn to do a good face of makeup though, otherwise, you’ll just look like a drag queen.

Start simple, foundation, mascara, eyebrows and maybe a little bit of lip gloss.  Try watching beauty gurus such as James Charles or Manny MUA, since their make up is tailored a bit more to a masculine shaped face. Take their make up with a pinch of salt though, because they do seem to go a little heavier than is necessary for everyday makeup. But if you’re into that, feel free.

The whole point of androgyny is freedom and expressing yourself so that you feel comfortable. If you don’t want to do any of the things on this list because they don’t make you comfortable, then don’t. You get to decide how you express yourself and what androgyny means to you.

So, I hope you’ve enjoyed this. If you want to send me your androgynous pictures on Instagram or Pinterest, I would love to see how you make androgyny work for you. As I said, there will be a guide for AFAB people for you very soon. If you want to be notified when that happens, you can click the follow button at the bottom, you don’t even have to have a WordPress account. Also, hit that like button and leave a comment if you feel like it, I always love hearing from you. Have a great week!