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Clothing

Tigerfrog

I’m an adult, diagnosed a few months ago with autism. Does anybody else feel very uncomfortable in ‘dressy’ clothes? I have all the difficulties with labels, itchiness etc. I don’t know if this problem with anything other than casual clothes can be an autism trait too? I have a wedding to attend soon & im stressed about it. It would be good to hear if anyone else has the same issues. 

  • I have a problem with tight clothes. I cannot stand wearing anything tight. I hate the way that clothes nowadays are made to be tight. I'm a pretty big guy so I'm struggling more and more to find clothes that aren't made for guys that are very, very thin. I've found a few brands that aren't following this trend. I hate the way clothes are super tight by default now.

    I also hate dressy clothes. I have a 19 inch neck so dress shirts are a nightmare. I find that wearing a t-shirt under anything with a collar helps. I buy 10 at a time from Amazon for £22 and cut the labels out. I find certain fabrics unbearable. Wool is like wearing fibreglass and certain types of cotton shirts are like wearing cardboard. Leather jackets make me feel like I'm wearing a suit of armour. Far too heavy! I hate shoes that feel tight. So dress shoes are a nightmare, painful and I have problems with hypersensitivity in my feet. I have a problem with being hot too so I tend to dress with as few layers as I can.

    I have found my way around it all by finding brands that make more comfortable (in my opinion) clothes or print the labels inside the neck. To tell the truth when I'm at home I mostly wear shorts and a vest. I soak stuff in baking soda or white vinegar, it makes cottons much softer than fabric conditioner and doesn't make me itch. As for dress shoes I usually wear Clarks wallabies, stinsons, or desert boots. They feel like trainers basically. I also wear hats all of the time outside they help keep out the light.

    It's mainly been a long process of trial and elimination!

  • in reply to Tigerfrog

    Sorry, I keep assuming (wrongly) the sex of the person I'm speaking to! Everything about weddings is a bit of a nightmare: the forced interactions with total strangers, the competition and bitchiness over fashion choices, the clothes themselves, and the rictus smile that has to stay in place no matter what. I guess the one good thing is that the main focus of attention is the wedding couple themselves so, unless you're in the main wedding party, it's perfectly acceptable to stay in the background.    

  • in reply to Endymion

    Thank you. It's really good to know it's not just me. You describe it really well. Especially as a female I feel that like we're expected to compete in fashion terms. It's difficult enough just being there from a social point of view. 

  • I'm not sure if it's autism related either but I too feel uncomfortable in the types of overly dressy clothes that would be expected at a wedding. It's not so much about the fabric / labels of these clothes in particular as the fact that I just don't feel like me in them. Probably because we don't generally go about our daily lives dressed quite so stiff and formally. I think I just don't know how to act when I'm dressed like that, does that make sense? 

    As a female, wedding clothes involve the types of shoes that I would NEVER normally choose to wear, hats which I would never wear AT ALL, and a style that demands a more ... decorous and graceful walk, movement and action than I would be expected to deploy at work or on the supermarket run. I would imagine it's the same for men but I suppose it could be worse - you might be asked to wear a kilt!!