The Perfect Dress

Ann Taylor has this striped dress on sale and I think it is a perfect dress for girls like us.

The vertical stripes on top create the illusion of narrowing our wide shoulders and the horizontal stripes below create the illusion of widening our narrow hips. The lack of sleeves may be problematical for some girls, but if your arms are thinner than the average gurl, then this dress may be for you.

Wearing Milano.

Fred Armisen (right) in a 2009 episode of television's Saturday Night Live. Between SNL, Portlandia and other TV and film appearances, Fred has probably femulated more than any other current actor or comedian.

50 Summers Ago

When I read A Year Among the Girls by Darryl Raynor in 1968, I was a high school senior and trying to figure things out about my gender. The book did not help me figure things out, but it did make me aware that there were more guys dressing as girls than I had originally suspected. (I originally suspected only me and my best friend Billy.)

Little did I know then that the book was based on the writer's experiences at Casa Susanna. As soon as I read Casa Susanna 37 years later, I suspected that it was the location of A Year Among the Girls. My suspicion turned out to be correct.

I have been collecting images of Casa Susanna ever since. Here are some of my favorites from those summers in Upstate New York long ago. I hope you enjoy them.

Wearing Eloquii.

Thunderballs, a James Bond spoof with a woman playing 007 and men playing the Bond girls.

My Vacation

Last week, I did not take time off from work and I did not go to some exotic vacation spot. My "vacation" was a vacation away from writing this blog. After writing a daily blog post for over 9 years, I just needed a break from blogging.

And I am in no hurry to start up again, so new posts may be few and far between this week.

Wearing ModCloth.

Adam Bailey plays Mary Sunshine in a 2013 UK stage production of Chicago.

Give me a break!

I am taking a week's vacation and will not post anything new during the break.

See you in a week!

Happy Father's Day!

Wearing Theia.

Kim Burfield (center) in television's Journey to the Unknown (1968).

Just another day at the office

Wearing Narciso Rodriguez.

Joie Tone, mid-20th Century professional femulator

Gamulating

Fashions come and go and then they come back again. If you are old enough (like me), you have witnessed it yourself.

My mother taught me to wear hosiery (stockings or pantyhose) whenever I go out, so that's what I have done all my feminine life.

I have nice legs, but they are not perfect and hosiery hides some of the flaws. Hosiery also helps keep my legs warm when the weather does not, so I have never considered going without knee-highs, thigh-highs or pantyhose.

But as I went along on my merry way, I did not realize that younger women were abandoning hosiery and going out with their legs bared. I guess if you got it, flaunt it, but until I read somewhere that pantyhose sales were plummeting, I had no idea.

But pantyhose may be making a comeback, thanks to Princess Kate. The Princess has legs to die for and she wears hosiery most of the time, so some women have taken notice of that fashion fact and are gamulating Kate.

Fashion writer Alison Syrett is one of those women and she wrote about her experiences for Good Housekeeping in an interesting article titled "I Tried the Secret Behind Kate Middleton's Flawless Legs."

The article confirmed my feelings about wearing hosiery, but if you are unsure about baring or adorning your legs, I recommend reading this fun article.

Wearing StyleWe.

Yes, she was a boy in Atlantic City in the mid-1960's.

out yesterday

I wrote the following over eight years ago. It is amazing how some things never change; then again, some things do!

I went out en femme yesterday.

I ran late, so I had to forgo my shopping plans and drove straight to the university where I did outreach at two Human Sexuality classes.

I want to look my best when I do outreach, so I usually dress up and yesterday was no exception. I wore my favorite dress (the leopard sash-tie wrap dress that I bought from Newport-News), favorite shoes (the Joy Baby Doll Pumps I bought at Payless), black tights, and my short white fake fur car coat. Needless to say, I was overdressed compared to most of the females (students and professors) on campus; I looked like a visitor on campus and that's what I was.

Females were in the majority in both classes; each class had about 25 students with two males in the earlier class and six in the later class.

Usually, the later afternoon class is less energetic, but that was not the case yesterday. Both classes were enthusiastic and asked a lot of questions. The second class even applauded us at the end!

Coincidentally, the two same questions that were never asked before came up in both classes:

One was, "How do you hide your genitalia?"

My answer was right out of my Wednesday blog: I wear a panty girdle to keep my genitalia in check. As I wrote on Wednesday, I tried a gaff, but discovered that it was very uncomfortable and that my male parts would escape frequently and required regaffing. The panty girdle did a much better job keeping those parts in place and was much more comfortable.

The other question was "Do you do hormones or have you had surgery?"

The answer was "no," but I assume the students asked because they thought I might do hormones and had surgery because they thought that it looked liked I had, which means I looked more womanly than the average guy in a dress. So, I took that question as a compliment.

After the first class, we walked to the Student Union for a bite to eat. I missed it, but everyone else commented on how another professor checked me out as we passed him in the hallway. I hate it when that happens and I miss it!

The women in the first class loved my shoes and after the class, a number of them asked me where I bought them. Also, the woman working the Dunkin' Donuts shop in the Student Union where I bought coffee and a flatbread sandwich complimented me on my retro necklace. I thanked her and pointed out my matching retro earrings.

I was tired by the end of the day, but surprisingly my feet did not hurt because my Baby Doll Pumps are so comfortable even with a three-inch heel.

It was another wonderful day out en femme and as always, I look forward to the next opportunity to be the woman I sometimes am.

Lucille Ball in 1941.

Julian Eltinge in the 1914 film The Crinoline Girl.

If Only...

Wearing Nicole Miller.

Lon Chaney (left) in the 1925 film The Unholy Three.