On My Feet

Tanit commented on my photo in the Femulate Illustrated post, “Very nice - show us the shoes!”

Her wish is my command, so here are photos of my new shoes.

Nine West Bliss pointy toe pumps in a metallic paint snake print (these are “killer” heels and they will require some breaking in before I will feel comfortable wearing them out):

JustFab Sophie peep toe pumps in natural (these 3.5-inch heels are very comfortable and very cute – love the tiny gold padlock):

And I just ordered these from Nine West, their Beck ankle-strap pumps in ivory:

Wearing Venus

D is for Davis (Louisiana) High School in 1968, where we find today’s “Not a Civilian?” Runner up is a Downey, California miss, who has appeared in this blog in the past.

Wearing JustFab tweed high-waisted shorts and crop jacket and JustFab Sophie peep toe pumps for my May 6th photoshoot

Go West, Young Woman

Since the demise of the Payless shoe store chain, I have received emails asking what do I do now to put new shoes on my feet.

I miss Payless. Their prices were very reasonable, they had stores everywhere and they carried shoes in larger sizes to fit ladies like us.

On the other hand, their sizes were inconsistent. I recall trying on shoes at a local Payless and finding shoes that fit me in three different sizes! That is not a big deal if you shopped in the store, but that made shopping online a crapshoot. Luckily, they had an easy return policy – you could ship returns back to Payless or return them to a local store.

Those days are gone with the wind. So, I took Horace Greeley's advice: Go West, young woman! That is, Go Nine West to be specific.

Actually, I have been purchasing shoes from Nine West for years; just not as often as Payless.

Nine West has a couple of things going for it. The quality of their shoes is very good, whereas the quality of Payless shoes occasionally failed. Their sizes are very consistent – I never had to return a Nine West purchase because the shoe size was unfit (or for any other reason). And like Payless, they have shoes for ladies with larger feet.

On the other hand, they have few, if any, local stores. (There was a Nine West store in a local mall, but not anymore). Also, their prices are higher than the Payless experience. But, they always have sales and I just wait to purchase that shoe to-die-for until it goes on sale.

And so my feet go.

Wearing Nine West

Massimo Bellinzoni (left) in the 1992 Italian film What A Night (Nottataccia).

Shoe Shopping

My latest Amazon purchase: Nine West "Epiphany" slingback pumps for $39.99

I love my shoes.

Shoes are the last item I don when I get dressed. And when I slip on my high heel pumps, it's as if my fairy godmother waves her magic wand and I suddenly feel absolutely marvelous.

I own a lot of shoes. My favorite brands are Payless and Nine West. Both have shoes in my size (12). Although Payless shoes are less expensive than Nine West shoes, Nine West's are better quality and usually real leather.

Payless will be history soon, so that leaves me with Nine West.

The local Nine West brick and mortar store never has size 12s, so I order online. Nine West prices being what they are, I only order when they have a sale. Even then their prices are typically higher than Payless normal prices, but what's a poor girl to do?

"Go to Amazon," is what a poor girl should do.

I recently discovered that Amazon has lots of Nine West shoes for sale at very attractive prices. Unless I missed something (which is possible because I often miss something), this is a recent development because when I looked for Nine West shoes on the "Big A" in the recent past, there was only a small selection.

The only catch is that the Nine West shoes on Amazon do not necessarily match what is currently available on the Nine West website. The Amazon selection is older than what you will find on Nine West online or in their brick and mortar stores, but that is OK by me. The savings, quality and real leather make up for it.

Wearing Nine West (Source: Nine West)

Brian Deacon femulates in the 1973 British film The Triple Echo.

Monday Meanderings

Shoe Horse Dept.

Some may call me a "clothes horse" and I won't deny it, but when it comes to shoes, I plead guilty to being a "shoe horse." I stopped counting, but I own well over a hundred pairs of women's shoes. On the other hand (or should I say "other foot"), I own about a half-dozen pairs of men's shoes.

Anyway, I absolutely fell in love with this pair of pumps that I saw in the daily email ad from Nine West. And it comes in my size! And with the online discount, I can save 30% off the list price. But I need another pair of shoes like I need another hole in my head and I am trying to resist buying them.

Be strong, Stana, be strong.

Promises Made, Promises Broken Dept.

In last Wednesday's post, I promised to catch up with answering my mail. Stuff kept happening and I broke my promise, but I hope to catch up before this post appears. 

Tooting My Own Horn Dept.

Actually, Joey tooted about me and the blog yesterday and I am just passing it along to you in case you missed it. (Thank you for the kind words, Joey!)

Vote Early and Often Dept.

Voting en femme is on my bucket list. Can't do tomorrow, but someday...

Anyway, be sure to vote tomorrow!

Wearing Ann Taylor (Source: Ann Taylor)

Tina, not out but dressed for Halloween 2017
(Send me a photo of your all-time favorite Halloween femulation and I will post it here, too.)

Wear Me

As a youngster, I became fascinated with female impersonation when I saw advertisements in the Daily News depicting glamorous women who were actually men performing at a nightclub in New York City.

One thing led to another and around age 12, I was home alone one day when I heard a voice call me. It came from my parent's bedroom ― specifically, the drawer of my mother's bureau where she kept her unmentionables.

Just like the bottle that invited Alice to "drink me" and the cake that invited her to "eat me," opening the drawer, the voice said "wear me." And just like Alice, I accepted the invitation and removed a pair of nylon stockings from the drawer. Then I sat on the edge of the bed, carefully slid the nylons up each leg, stood up and straightened the seams just as I had seen my mother do countless times.

I examined my legs in the full-length mirror, which was mounted on the inside of my mother's closet door. Since I was still hairless, I thought my legs looked nice, but something was not quite right.

With the closet door now open, I noticed the stack of shoe boxes on the closet floor. I removed the lid from the box on the top of stack to reveal a pair of high heel pumps that my mother had recently purchased.

I slipped them on and they were a perfect fit. Then I reexamined my legs in the mirror and discovered that thanks to the high heels, my legs were now shapely; they had become "gams" and looked as good as any pair I had ever seen on a real life high-heeled woman!

Ever since that first experimentation in femulation, high heels have been an indispensable part of my wardrobe. As a result, I own a lot of high heels ― probably in the neighborhood of 100 pairs and I am always on the lookout to add new neighbors.

Nine West just introduced their new arrivals for the fall and the "lavish T-strap pump" pictured above and below is inviting me to "buy me."

Wearing Nine West.

Actor Kevin Rahm (left) femulating in a 2010 episode of television's Desperate Housewives.

My Shopping Sites

On Tuesday, Paula left the following comment: Love your style; please share your secrets with us and post your favorite on line shopping sites!

I answered the first part of her request yesterday (my secrets) and will answer the second part of her request today.

Since I prefer to try on items en femme before I purchase them, I use the websites to scope out what is currently available at the brick and mortar stores before I go shopping en femme. I almost never buy anything online from a store that I can visit in person, but I almost always check out their websites beforehand.

One problem with that strategy is that the brick and mortar store may not have everything that is online, but when that occurs, I usually find something else that is just as nice.

On the other hand, there are websites that do not have brick and mortar stores where I do purchase items without being able to try them on first. My success rate with these online-only stores is about 50%. Either the item does not fit correctly or I do not like the way the item looks on moi.

Although, many of these websites make it easy to return items (sometimes for free), I have been buying less from these websites lately because of the lack of success rate and the resulting return issues.

These days, my go-to online-only stores are Avon, ideel (formerly ideeli) and Nine West.

Avon - Yes, the Avon lady people sell very nice clothing at reasonable prices and I have been buying more from them lately. And my success rate with Avon is very high, probably around 90%. By the way, I am an Avon lady and receive a discount on items I buy, but no so much so that the price sways me to buy stuff I would not buy otherwise.

ideel - ideeli sold nice close-out clothing at bargain prices and I purchased items from them frequently. Then they got bought out, changed their name to ideeli, increased their prices and beheaded their models. Since then, I have bought little from them and have a $60 credit that has been sitting there for months, but I still visit their website frequently hoping for the best.

Nine West - They have a vast selection of shoes and their sizes are consistent, but their prices are high, so I only indulge when they have a sale, which is often. By the way, Nine West does have a local brick and mortar store, but they only stock sizes smaller than my size, so their brick and mortar store is useless to me.

As for brick and mortar stores I check out online before I show up in person, they are Dress Barn, Fashion to Figure, Nine West, and Payless. I also check out Macy's and JCPenney, but their inventory is so huge that what I see online often does not match what is in the store, so I usually don't bother unless I am looking for something special.

DressBarn also known as DressBarn - This is one of my favorite clothing stores. Their styles are working girl oriented, but their sizes are a little inconsistent, so I always go to the store to try on what I see online. And, by the way, they are very trans friendly!

Fashion to Figure - This is my other favorite clothing store. They specialize in larger sizes and their styles are younger and sexier than DressBarn. But like DressBarn, their sizes are all over the place, so an in person visit is recommended.
 
Payless - This shoe store has a nice selection of reasonably-priced shoes in the larger sizes that I require. However, their sizes are very inconsistent. I own Payless shoes ranging from size 10.5 to size 13 that all fit, so going to the store and trying on their shoes is a must in order to get the right size.

That's all she wrote. Again, if you have any questions, please ask (stana-stana at sbcglobal.net).

 

 

 

Wearing Rachel Zoe (dress), Eugenia Kim (hat), 10 Crosby (booties) and (ALC)bag.

 

 

 

Actor Stephen-Fry femulating in British television’s Jeeves and Wooster (1993).

Perfect Storm

Saturday night, I will attend One Big Event at the Connecticut Convention Center in downtown Hartford. The event benefits the Hartford Gay & Lesbian Heath Collective.

It will be my fourth time attending this event, which includes a cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing to a live band. The photo is me after dressing for the 2010 installment of the event. Last year, the Hartford Courant recorded my appearance with a photo in the print edition of the newspaper!

This is a dress-up affair; men in tuxedos and women in evening gowns and cocktail dresses. I plan to wear the $190 gold metallic brocade sheath cocktail dress that I purchased from Spiegel's Ultimate Outlet store for $10. My shoes will be the Nine West nude platform pumps that I just bought last week. I will wear a gold sequins clutch, but my jewelry accessories are still in the undecided category. I also am not sure how I will wear my hair.

Saturday night turns out to be a "perfect storm."

For some reason, the date of One Big Event was moved from mid-November to Saturday night. Coincidentally, Real Art Ways moved their Odd Ball from mid-March to Saturday night. Fantasia Fair also has their Gala Awards Banquet on Saturday night. And the Red Sox will be playing in the World Series Saturday night.

The Red Sox's World Series appearance was impossible to plan for and I did not go to Fantasia Fair this year, but I would have attended One Big Event and the Odd Ball if they were on different nights. I had to decide between the two and chose One Big Event.

And so I go.

 

 

 

Actor John Hurt in British television’s The Naked Civil Servant, 1975.

 

 

 

Wearing Metrostyle.

Catching Up in My Platform Pumps

Combine the holiday weekend with a goal of finishing my income taxes once and for all and everything else suffered including my blog and e-mail correspondence.

My taxes are done and last night I caught up with my e-mail correspondence. However, I believe that one or two e-mails slipped through the cracks and got trashed inadvertently. So if you e-mailed me last week and have not received a reply, please resend your e-mail.

The blog will resume its normally scheduled programming, too.

So let's talk about shoes.

I ordered two pairs from Nine West that showed up at my abode in early January, but I only had an opportunity to wear them in real life recently.

I wore my buff "Flute" peep-toe pumps (all leather upper, 4 1/2" heel and 3/4" platform) all day-long at the True Colors Conference. They were comfortable throughout the day and I only took them off and slipped on flats while driving.

But - and this is a big BUT – my left shoe kept slipping off my foot! I had to grip my toes when I walked so I did not lose the shoe.

After that experience, I invested in a pair of heel gripper inserts. I have not worn the Flutes since, so the jury is still out on how well the gripper works, but I hope they work because I love my Flutes.

The other pair I bought, the black patent "Love Fury" (pointy-toe platform pump with all leather upper, 4 1/2" heel and 3/4" platform) worried me because of their pointy-toe design. I prefer rounded-toe designs because they usually are more comfortable than pointy-toe, but this girl needed a new pair of black patent heels (wore out my old pair) and pointy-toes are in again, so Love Fury was my choice.

I decided to break them in while I was home doing my taxes. My tax routine is to wrestle with TurboTax for an hour or so, mumble something obscene under my breath in the direction of the computer, then take a break for a half-hour or so (get coffee, get rid of coffee, etc.). As a result, I am not sitting all day long, but am moving around occasionally.

Turns out my Love Fury pumps are very comfortable and unlike my Flutes, they stayed on my feet. Now I can't wait to wear them out!

Perfect Fit

The shoes I ordered from Nine West before Christmas arrived today. Like my two previous purchases from Nine West, they were a perfect fit.

Unlike purchases from other shoe sellers, the sizes of the Nine West shoes are consistent and I can depend on Nine West whenever I order shoes in my size.

Something I missed when I ordered the shoes was a silver "Love Fury" medallion located under the arch of the shoe (the medallion is visible in the accompanying photo behind the heel). The medallion adds a little blomng to an already attractive shoe.

Work, Shoes and Vacation

I wrote here awhile back that my manager, a male, was let go in the fall of 2009. A female replaced him and she reported to a male VP.

That male VP announced that he will retire December 31. His replacement is female.

As a result, starting January 1, I will report to a female who also reports to a female.

The boys' club is becoming a girls' club. Either way, I fit in.

***

The chatter about my Halloween day en femme at work has died down to zero.

Some blog readers commented that since I have done three Halloweens at work en femme, my co-workers probably suspect something is up.

I am sure that they do, but no one has said so out loud to me, although, one fellow made the following comment in a feigned sarcastic manner, "Yeah --- you just happened to have that outfit handy to wear." 

***

Nine West, my go-to shoe store, is having an excellent sale. I just bought a pair of $89 platform pumps for $48.

***

Starting today, I am on vacation until January 2. I don't expect that my time-off will affect the daily blog postings here, but if I miss a day, don't worry --- I am just vacationing and will be back real soon.

Leopard Skin Platform Pumps

The leopard skin platform pumps in yesterday's New York City Fashion week street style post caught my eye as well as one of the blog's readers, Lynn Jones. The more I looked at those shoes, the more I wanted them.

The source of the photo, New York Magazine's "The Cut," provided no clue about the shoes. I checked all the websites of my usual shoe stores and I found a reasonable facsimile, if not the exact shoe that graced the feet of the fashionista in the photo on the Nine West website.

It is available in my size, but the price is a little high ($109), so I will wait for a Nine West sale before I take the plunge.