size 11 wide

female impersonator film star dead

From the Associate Press:

PARIS — French actor Michel Serrault, whose hit performance as a transvestite in the film and stage versions of La Cage aux Folles (Birds of a Feather) catapulted him to international stardom, has died. He was 79.

Serrault played female impersonator Zaza Napoli in the original French version of La Cage, which, in my humble opinion, was superior in all ways to the American version. He also played the same role in a less successful sequel and trequel of the film.

size 18 tall

all in the family

top femulator

I have a long list of women that I try to femulate. These are women, who epitomize (to me) what being a woman is all about. My list is very long because I have been compiling it all my life (and I am getting older all the time)!

I also have a list of femulators I try to femulate. These are the transwomen, who have their act together, who epitomize (to me) what being a woman is all about, yet they are male. As you would expect, this is a much shorter list than the first list and new additions to this list do not come as fast and furious as additions to the other list.

This past week, I made an addition to the shorter list: katesalehurst. This girl goes right to the top of the list. I discovered her on flickr and if you view her photo portfolio, I think you will agree with my estimation of her femulation.

transless New York, New York

I spent the day in New York City.

I saw lots of beautiful women and lots of beautiful clothes on display in the store windows (especially Bergdorf Goodman), but there was not a transgendered moment during the whole trip! Maybe the incredibly hot and humid weather kept all the transpeople inside (I can't blame them; it was a dog day afternoon).

I had a good time anyway.

mark your calendars

Here are the details of the fashion show in which I will be modeling. If you are in the area, please consider attending. It should be a great time!

BUSTED! is a fashion show organized by and for the trans and gender non-conforming community to give ourselves and our allies the opportunity to come together and celebrate how much beauty there is in our community. Get ready to have a great time surrounded by wonderful people!

Date: 9/14/07

Doors open at 8 PM

Tickets $10

Tommy's Restaurant, 825 Saybrook Road, Middletown, CT

Fashion show, music, dancing, drinks, and general merriment.

(Tommy's Restaurant is located about 1/3 of a mile off exit 11 of CT Route 9 in central Connecticut.)

"femulate this:" & "the femulated:" images are back!

I found a workaround to make the "Femulate This:" and "The Femulated:" images appear correctly, so they are back where they belong.

my first poll

The absence of "Femulate This:" and "The Femulated:" images in the right frame left a big hole, so I decided to try out a new feature offered by blogger.com: a poll.

Please vote.

missing "femulate this:" & "the femulated:" images

I apologize for the absence of "Femulate This:" and "The Femulated:" images in the right frame.

Something is amiss at blogger.com and I was unable to upload and display new images correctly. As soon as blogger.com fixes the problem, I will upload new images.

real high heels revisited

Yesterday, I mentioned a pair of shoes I was thinking about buying, but I was concerned because the shoe has a 4-3/4-inch heel! "...can I even walk in those skyscrapers?" I wondered.

Last night, I perused my shoe collection with a ruler in hand and discovered that the most comfortable high heels I own have a 4-inch heel. So, I don't think a 4-3/4-inch heel will make much of a difference.

real high heels

If you have been following along for any time now, you know that I love shoes. Let me be more specific: I love women's shoes. By my last count, I own 63 51 pairs of women's footwear and six pairs of men's footwear (and three of those pairs are sneakers)!

Perusing the Fall collection at Newport-News today, I fell in love with another pair of shoes: a patent leather-look platform pump with buckled ankle strap and crescent toe. Its picture should appear next to this text.

The price is right ($29), but when I reread the description, I started thinking twice. The shoe has a 4-3/4-inch heel and a 7/8-inch platform. Wearing those real high heels, I will be an outstanding 6 foot 6 plus. And can I even walk in those skyscrapers?

separate yourself from other men

I am at work.

I just took a break from writing a software user manual and checked my e-mail. For the umpteenth time, I received another e-mail reminding me to "separate yourself from other men."

Believe me, I try to separate myself from other men in ways that the average man never dreams of. Rather than using a "penis enlarge patch," I separate myself from other men by applying makeup, squeezing into a bra and girdle, slipping into a sexy dress, high heels, and blond wig.

Yes, I am at work writing another user manual for software that monitors and controls high tech equipment that only an electrical engineer would find interesting.

Boring!

I would much prefer writing womanly words, i.e., words about feminine finery, en femme outings, flirting encounters of the passing kind... you know, those girly things that will separate me from other men.

'trans'-forming corporate america

According to an article appearing at CNN Money today, "from General Motors to Google, more companies are agreeing to protect transgender people from discrimination."

Sadly, my company is not one of those companies. Maybe someday.

Read the whole story here.

10,000 customers served

This blog's hit counter broke the 10,000 mark overnight. Thank you for reading and a special thank you to my returning readers.

If you have any suggestions on how I can improve this blog or subjects you would like to see me write about here, please let me know.

a fashion model

I volunteered to be a model at a fashion show in September to benefit a local trans advocacy organization.

I always wanted to model clothes in a fashion show strutting my stuff in 4-inch heels down the catwalk. I had a couple of close calls, but always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

For example, a few years ago, I was shopping with my wife in Fashion Bug. She found something to buy, I did not. At the check-out, the cashier asked my wife if she would like to sign-up to be a model for an in-store fashion show. As an incentive, you got to keep one of the outfits you modeled.

I encouraged my wife, but she didn't want to do it. With a straight face, I asked if I could sign-up instead and with a straight face, the cashier said I could. I was joking and told the cashier so, but later I regretted it and should have signed up.

Anyway, this time, I am signed up and looking forward to modeling. I want to do my best, so I began researching the subject and found how to walk like a catwalk model on the wikiHow web site, and will begin practicing catwalking at home.

home alone with Catherine Hickland

I was home alone for a few hours, so I decided to try doing my makeup per Catherine Hickland's DVD Simply Gorgeous, which I wrote about here earlier this week.

I brought my portable DVD player into the bathroom and parked it next to my makeup kit. Then, I put the DVD on the turntable and followed along with its instructions (after applying beard cover). Despite stopping and replaying a few parts of the instructions, I finished applying my makeup in record time: 25 minutes, which is about half the time I usually need.

Ms. Hickland's makeup routine is minimalist, so that accounts for the faster than normal makeup application.

I can't believe that Ms. Hickland looks as good as she does only using the makeup techniques she expouses in her DVD. I have been experimenting with makeup for over 40 years and I see more makeup on her face then she puts on the clients on her DVD. Or she is one of the most naturally beautiful women in the world! (I doubt that.)

I just looked up Ms. Hickland's bio and she is only 5 years younger than I am, which puts her at the ripe old age of 51. Now, I am certain that she puts on more makeup than she puts on her clients.

After following her instructions, I was satisfied with the results considering the amount of time to accomplish my makeup application. I will definitely use her techniques when I do my makeup in the future, but at my age (and hers), I think I have to do a little more makeup work than Ms. Hickland recommends.

ADDENDUM:

I posted a post-makeover photo on flickr.

feminine skirts and dresses for men

[deleted] is a web site featuring skirts and dresses for men.

There are other web sites featuring skirts and dresses for men. Do a Google search and you will find a bunch.

Being a male-to-female crossdresser, the majority of men's skirts and dresses appearing on those web sites are too masculine for my taste. However, the skirts and dresses on the [deleted] web page are more to my liking. There I find styles that I would feel comfortable wearing in girl or boy mode.

Visit the [deleted] web site and see for yourself.

less plucking required

I plucked some stray eyebrow hairs this morning. It is almost a month since my previous plucking session and there was noticeably less plucking required today.

Does eyebrow hair grow slower in the warm weather?

Or has my repeated plucking killed off some of the hairs for good? (I hope so!)

female fingers

According to a study done by the University of Alberta, I have the fingers of a female.

It has been known for some time that there is a direct correlation between finger lengths and the amount of the male sex hormone testosterone that a baby is exposed to in the womb.

In women, the two fingers are usually almost equal in length, as measured from the crease nearest the palm to the fingertip. In men, the ring finger tends to be much longer than the index.

My index and ring fingers are equal in length, therefore, I have the hands of a woman. I guess I should shave them more often.

faith hill: photoshopped like a tranny

Read how Redbook photoshopped Faith Hill as if she were a tranny enhancing her image for a web audience.

I was most impressed with how they thinned out her arm!

leopard sash-tie wrap dress

I like this dress. It is a new fall selection from Newport-News. I think it would look fabulous on me and I plan to buy it if it goes on sale.

popular in Poland

These days, my blog averages about 200 hits per day. By far, my blog listing in the crossdressing.pl directory is the source for more hits than any other Web site (flickr is a distant second).

My blog is listed in other transgendered directories, but for some reason, my crossdressing.pl listing is the most popular.

I was born and raised in the US of A, but all four of my grandparents were born in Poland. As a result, I have an affinity for the motherland of my ancestors. So, when I discovered the Polish crossdressing web site, I asked its webmistress to list my blog in crossdressing.pl directory, which she did.

That explains why I am listed in their directory, but that does not explain why that particular listing is the source for more hits than any other Web site. I can't figure it out, so I will gladly accept my blog's popularity in Poland and send greetings to my Polish sisters:

Powitanie do mojego Polski siostry.

paris during fashion week

Rena posted the following question on the Connecticut Outreach Society e-mail list:

This is bit of a long one! Like OK if there was such a thing as a Magic Pink Pill that turned you into the most beautiful GG for a week, (anyone you want you choose) with endless finances to do anything you wanted. Who and What would you do with your week? Vegas? Hollywood? New York? Back to School? Volunteer at a Senior Center? You Won't be Graded it your Fantasy!

Here is my response:

Paris during Fashion Week.

Skip the Magic Pink Pill… I'd go as myself. Fly from JFK to Paris on the Concorde (oh, darn, the Concorde is no more!). Well, I'd fly First Class to Paris one way or the other. Get a spare-no-expense, head-to-toe makeover. Go shopping for some drop-dead outfits, then spend the rest of my time attending the various Fashion Week events in the City of Lights.

simply gorgeous

Recently, I received an e-mail asking me to provide step-by-step instructions on how I do my makeup.

I was flattered, but being a professional writer, I was not confident that I could quickly compose a set of instructions that would accurately describe what I do. Not to mention that my makeup regime is a work in progress; I am always trying out new techniques when I do my makeup.

An aside: As a writer, I have often thought about writing a crossdressing how-to book. I already have a title, Be A Babe, with the tagline, Instead of looking like "the Babe," look like a babe! The question is, if I write it, will people buy it?

Getting back to the providing step-by-step makeup instructions, I started researching sources for instructions and in my quest, I discovered a video titled Simply Gorgeous. It was highly rated, so I rented the DVD from Blockbuster.

Here is the product description from Amazon.com:

Actress and television personality Catherine Hickland (from ABC’s One Life To Live) is also one of the most sought-after beauty authorities in the country, and finally shares her makeover secrets. Put your best face forward with Simply Gorgeous, the new video that teaches you how to go from out-the-door beautiful in the morning to drop-dead gorgeous at night. A great gift for teens or that bride-to-be who wants a perfect wedding day. Simply Gorgeous will delight soap opera fans and makeup junkies alike. Get the inside scoop on looking as fabulous as a daytime diva in no time at all.

I don't watch soaps and I was not familiar with Catherine Hickland, however, her makeup instructions were very simple, but very effective. Ms. Hickland is gorgeous and using makeup to improve her looks is gilding the lily.

In order to prove the effectiveness of her technique, she performs makeovers on average-looking women and the results are outstanding.

Just add beard cover and I think that Ms. Hickland's techniques would be just as successful transforming average-looking crossdressers into passable women. I highly recommend this DVD to anyone who wants to learn how to apply makeup in a simple, yet effective manner.

a frivilous friday blog posting

Surfing the net, I came upon a blog that praised the wardrobe actress Claire Danes wore in the film Shopgirl. For what it's worth, I liked the film, I liked her in the film, and I liked the clothes she wore in the film.

Anyhow, the blog had photos of the various outfits Claire wore in the film, but was especially enamored with one dress, a "1950's-inspired Prada dress."

See for yourself (the dress appears on the right). The dress is to die for! The dress is me; it is a classic "Staci dress." I wish I owned it and I plan to search the catalogs for something similar for myself.

(If any of you readers find something similar in a Misses size 16 or 18 or Women's size 14 or 16, please let me know.)

dream analysis

I am trying to make sense of my crossdressing dreams. In that process, I have been researching dream analysis on the Internet and found a web site that I believe will help me.

The web site is Temple of Dreams. The lessons on their Teachings page have been very informative.

and now for something something completely different

When I awoke this morning, I remembered what I dreamed last night and it had absolutely nothing to do with crossdressing!

my endless collection of shoes

I am so like a woman in my love for shoes!

I own more shoes than I can possibly wear. Almost all are high heels of various styles (pumps, sandals, boots, etc). Some are so painful to wear, that I shouldn't, but I do anyway. (If that doesn't qualify me as a fashionista, I don't know what does!)

So, just what I need: a new shoe store has come online from the same folks who brought you Amazon.com. It is called Endless.com and after a quick perusal of their web site, I already have found new shoes that are to die for!

my dreams

I am on a roll! It happened again this morning. Like most mornings during the past week, I remembered a dream from the previous night.

All the dreams I have remembered recently are similar in the following ways:

• Each dream is transgendered/crossdressing related.

• In each dream, I am getting crossdressed.

• In each dream, I am getting crossdressed away from home, i.e., in a hotel room or in a bedroom that is not familiar to me.

• In each dream, I awake before I am finished crossdressing (which is very frustrating, by the way).

• In each dream, friends and/or relatives are present or nearby when I am crossdressing and they are encouraging, supportive, and/or approving.

I don't know much about the significance of dreams, but I am going to research the subject to try and understand why I am dreaming what I am dreaming.

new drug treatment for transgender kids

A new treatment for transgender kids puts puberty on hold so that they won't develop into their biological sex.

Read all about it here.

another trans dream

I had another trans-dream last night.

I remembered some of the details when I awoke this morning, but after attending a funeral on this very hot summer day, the details are lost now and all I remember is that I had a trans-dream.

By the way, it was so hot and humid that the only way I would crossdress today is by wearing an itsy bitsy, teeny weeny, yellow polka dot bikini.

missing underwear!

I remembered another dream last night and, of course, if I remembered it, then it must be a trans-dream.

I am in a room getting ready to attend a formal event. The room is not my home, but a bedroom in someone's home or in a classy hotel suite.

I remember exactly what I was planning to wear: a champagne colored babydoll cocktail dress.

I finish doing my makeup and start getting dressed, but I can't find my underwear. I am sure I packed it. In fact, I remember exactly where I packed it, but it isn't there. I search high and low without success. I keep looking everywhere, then the dream fades away.

separated at birth

I just noticed that the girls in today's Femulate This and The Femulated photos look alike. The Femulate This photo is a Spiegel model, whereas The Femulated photo is an Argentine transvestite entertainer named Florencia de la V.

right out of fictionmania*

When I was a kid in the mid-1960s, my mother worked in a discount department store that went out of business long before the arrival of Wal*Marts and K*Marts. Mom worked the 5 to 10 PM shift in the fabrics department, cutting yards of fabric for customers to take home to sew.

Everyday, my Dad, who worked 7 AM to 3:30 PM, would send us kids to bed around 9:30 PM and then drove across town to pick up my mother from work. During that drive, we were supposed to go to sleep. Sometimes I fell asleep, sometimes I did not.

On those nights I did not fall asleep, I would hear my parents come home and listen to them exchange stories about their day. I don't remember many of their stories, but I do remember a story concerning one of my mother's customers. Evidently, this woman was a regular customer, became friendly with my mother, and confided with her that all the fabrics and dress patterns she had been purchasing were for outfits she sewed for her son. The boy was about my age and preferred dressing as a girl; his mother willingly complied with his wishes. At one point, the woman brought her son to the store dressed as a girl and my mother remarked that he was a very pretty girl.

As you can imagine, this story impressed me. I wished I was that boy. I wondered if my mother would do the same for me.

My mother was a whiz at the sewing machine and sewed outfits for her and my sister. I am sure if I confided in her, she would have sewn a few dresses for me, too.

* www.fictionmania.com

"femulate this:" and "the femulated:"

The images on the right change on a daily basis (more or less).

In the past, I have received a few comments regarding the Femulate This: images and no comments regarding The Femulated: images. The comments regarding the Femulate This: images have been positive; the commenters like what they see.

The Femulate This: images have been on the blog since the get-go (or soon after the get-go), while I added The Femulated: images more recently.

I never explained the purpose of these images.

I think that purpose of the Femulate This: images is obvious, i.e., they are images of females to emulate. (I can dream, can't I?)

The purpose of The Femulated: images is to illustrate the attempts of others to emulate females. (Yes, the images portray males emulating females.)

happy independence day

The Fourth of July is just a reference to a calendar date. No matter how much they try to brainwash us with "Fourth of July," remember it is really Independence Day, the day that the colonists thumbed their noses at the British and said we will do it our way, not your way.

Independence Day was the precursor of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights that some of our current leaders and fellow citizens are trying to curtail (and have curtailed to some degree) to better fit their idea of what this nation should be: a nation under their "Christian" god.

Well, their Christian god is not mine. Their god does not have compassion for anyone that does not follow what they consider to be society's "norms." There is no room for transpeople, as well as the other segments of GLBT in the nation under their Christian god.

Our forefathers separated from Britain to get away from people like these so-called Christians and it is time we reclaim the real meaning of Independence Day here before it is just a fond memory.

And remember, Jesus Christ was a liberal, not a neo-con.

daddy got new shoes

Payless is showing their fall lineup of shoes on their web site (check out "New Arrivals"). The description for one of their new women's shoe style was interesting:



If it's a "menswear pump," shouldn't it be listed with the men's shoes, not the women's shoes?

I will be anxious to see what the guys will be wearing with their new menswear pumps this fall. Perhaps, a menswear pencil skirt and menswear pantyhose and, of course, a menswear pocketbook.

not that there is anything wrong with it

I naively assume that people are aware that if you are a crossdresser, you are not necessarily homosexual.

I think that assumption is wrong.

Surfing the Internet, I discovered the error of my ways. The average Joe and Josephine believe that if you crossdress, you must be gay. For example, read the comments following this blog entry on J Morgetron's blog Tres Bizarre.

The fact is that if you crossdress, you are not necessarily gay. I crossdress and I assure you that I am heterosexual. The majority of crossdressers I know or have known (and I have known hundreds) are in the same boat, i.e., they are not gay.

We crossdress because we enjoy emulating women, unlike some gay men, who use crossdressing as a means to attract men (for sexual encounters).

I admit that when I crossdress, some men have taken notice of me, so I assume I must be attractive to them. When that occurs, it affirms my ability to pass, i.e., I use it as a gauge as to how well I am crossdressing. If a man finds me attractive (and he is not a tranny chaser), then I must be doing something right.

no dreams to report

I awoke this morning knowing that I dreamed last night, but I have absolutely no recollection of what I dreamed about last night.

As noted earlier, all the dreams I remember lately are trans-oriented, so perhaps none of my dreams last night were trans-oriented and that is why I didn't remember them. On the other hand, for all I know all my dreams may be trans-oriented and I just remember dreams on a very intermittent basis.

another dream

Don't know why, but I remembered another dream. That is two nights in a row that i remembered a dream and it is another trans-oriented dream.

I am in an apartment where my recently deceased mother lived. The apartment in the dream is nothing like the one in which my late mother actually lived.

I am alone and I am sorting through her belongings deciding what to keep and what to throw out. Since I am alone, I decide to start trying on her dresses to see which ones to keep for myself. I tried on a few (none of them were anything she actually owned), then I was interrupted and the dream ended.

I need a haircut

I had a dream last night that I remembered. As I have written here before, I seldom remember my dreams. On those rare occasions that I do remember a dream, it is often trans-oriented.

For about a week now, my wife has been telling me that I need a haircut. My hair is kind of shaggy and needs to be trimmed, but it is not really long. Anyway, I will probably get it cut next week.

In my dream last night, my wife is telling me that I need a haircut just like in real life. I disagree with her and then I go look in the mirror to inspect my hair. When I look in the mirror, I am wearing a shoulder length dark brunette pageboy that is perfectly coiffed. Then, I take a comb and start combing my long hairdo.

That is all I remember.

I am not a drag queen

I am not a drag queen!

Yesterday, there was a "GLBT" pride celebration in Hartford. Today's Hartford Courant had no articles about the event, but the newspaper did publish one photo from the event, which it featured on the front page of the Connecticut section of the paper.

Guess what the photo showed?

Gay couples with their children in tow? No.

Appropriately attired transpeople taking in the event? No.

Over-the-top drag queens preparing to perform a number from Hairspray? YES!!!

You seldom see the media showing appropriately attired transpeople. That would be boring. The media prefers to show drag queens.

Some of my friends, relatives, and acquaintances know that I crossdress. They have never seen me crossdressed, but I am sure they have seen news reports about GLBT pride events and like the "report" in today's Hartford Courant, they almost always feature flamboyant drag queens. So, I have no doubt that some of my friends, relatives, and acquaintances think that when I crossdress, I dress like a drag queen, too, because that is all they know about crossdressing.