I do not own a carry purse, although I've handled plenty.
My basic thought about carry purses is that they are generally a bad idea ... but enough other women
will not carry any other way except off body, that I think it often boils down to carry in the purse VS don't carry at all. You know and I know that that's a false dilemma, but the first hurdle is to get people to carry at all. To my way of thinking this is very similar to the mousegun VS real gun dilemma -- it's a real battle for some folks, it's unfortunate, and it's
unnecessary as there are plenty of options for those willing to look for them!
I've been carrying concealed for over five years now, every single day, every hour I'm awake, under normal women's clothing. I
did have to choose slightly different clothing, but my style didn't change as much as you'd think. Most of what I needed was already in my closet.
Here in the soggy Pacific Northwest, even in the middle of the summer on a warm day, few people around here look twice at extra layers of loose clothes. So I can always choose the lazy option of tossing a sweatshirt or windbreaker or loose hawaiian shirt over everything else I'm wearing. Folks in other parts of the country might not have it so easy, but I'm here to tell you that baggy cover shirts sure as heck aren't your only fashion choice if you want to carry a weapon!
I carry a Glock 26 in an IWB kydex holster with a tuckable option. Frankly I don't think it's really possible to easily and fashionably conceal a weapon without the tuckable feature, but that's probably personal bias. Of the women I know who carry every single day without exception, two carry in a purse (sigh), one carries on her hip in an OWB and while she keeps it concealed she really doesn't much care if the gun flashes (ah, rural life and the glories of being able to badge your way out of trouble...), and several carry like I do with an IWB tuckable.
One thing I did early on was take a trip to GoodWill and then to some garage sales to pick up really cheap clothes -- vests, loose button-downs, skirts, etc. These clothes weren't for my normal wardrobe; they were to give me a chance to try on various styles to see what would work and what would not. Having worked with them for awhile, I was then able to go to a regular department store and easily choose clothes that would work for me.
Though I ordinarily shopped in the Petite section, I found myself drifting over to choose blouses in regular sizes after I decided to carry. This gave me an all-important extra inch or two of length at the waistband. That extra inch is often the difference between "possible" and "not possible" in an outfit that works well otherwise.
I often wear a loose blouse, tucked in, with something tossed over the top simply to break up the outlines rather than to hide the gun. The gun is already hidden by the tucked shirt, so it doesn't matter if the cover piece is cutesy short or longer.
Prints work better than solids. Material with some body works better than thin or sheer stuff. Loose is better than tight -- BUT if you like tight, you can wear something tight underneath and a loose something over it. For instance, you can wear a tight tank top paired with a pretty, summery cotton vest.
In jeans and slacks, I wanted jeans with waists that didn't come too high so I kept shopping in Petites for those. Of course, it's hard to hide a gun under hip-huggers, so that fashion trend is going to have to pass you by unless you're very creative.
I'm fortunate to have an hourglass figure, because I've always had extra room in my waistbands and frankly my jeans fit better now than they did before I started carrying. But if room for the IWB is an issue, the men's department is perfect because the jeans there are slightly bigger in the waist (room for a gun!) but because they are cut for men's rear ends, they don't look baggy in the back when you get a size that's got room in the waist.
I've got a couple of skirts to which I've added wider belt loops, and carry with my normal belt & holster under them.
Dresses are more problematic. Fortunately, I learned a few things about dresses back in the days I was nursing babies, and those things stood me in good stead when I started carrying a gun. First, dresses that are slightly loose or blousy are more comfortable and more forgiving than are dresses that are snug. Second, dresses that have some sort of opening in the front are going to give you more options than ones that do not. And finally, while wearing a really fancy dress is about the only time I think purse carry is completely justified -- but have you
seen gun purses?? They sure don't go with fancy fancy clothes!
In any case, with a dress, a belly band is a girl's best friend. Move it around until it works, and get used to being slightly uncomfortable. Think of it as an extra corset, cinch it in a bit so you've got room for you & the gun under the dress. With an
unloaded gun, practice drawing until you know for sure how you're going to do it. Often the easiest method is straight down the front.
They make thigh holsters and those work very well under dresses for some body types. They do not work for me, but if I were built with a little less sand in the hourglass I'd have one for sure. You'll have to choose a tiny little gun to make it work, though -- a P3AT, an NAA Guardian, a .38 snubby.
The big thing is just committing to carrying a gun. Everything else follows from that. Expect to spend some money on clothes and on different holsters until you find the combination that works for you. And because you have a wide variety of outfits, expect that sooner or later you will want more than one holster type and more than one gun size. It happens to most women.
Oh, and the best site I know of which talks about how to choose a holster is
http://www.womensholsters.com/ Follow the link to "how to choose" and read it!
pax
Nearly every woman I've interviewed says finding a suitable holster falls somewhere between challenging and impossible. -- Gila Hayes
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