Have a Wild Weekend*

Source: Vaunt Magazine

Check out Vaunt Magazine.

"Vaunt is the world’s first publication celebrating the most beautiful androgynous males from across the globe. Our daring photo shoots crush gender boundaries and offer a new vision of beauty, glamour, elegance, sensuality and fashion sensibility. From the shores of the Far East and cities of Europe to Latin America and across the USA, Vaunt shines a light on the amazing depth and breadth of androgynous male beauty that exists."

* * *

Also check out "The One Thing You're Doing Wrong When Tweezing Your Brows" over at Pure Wow dot Com.

The method described in this article is exactly the way I have been dealing with my brows for quite a awhile.

"It’s all about perspective." From a few feet back, no one will notice those tiny strays you didn't pluck! Honest ― they won't!

* * *

Metisu is a new-to-me online merchant of womenswear (see example below in the Femulate Her slot). They have a nice selection of reasonably-priced clothing in big gurl sizes.

I have not made a purchase yet, so I have no opinion on the quality of their merchandise, but I may take a flyer soon.

Daniel Ferreira (Source: Vaunt Magazine)

Wearing Metisu.

A 21st Century Femulator (Source: Pinterest)

* While you still can!

The Amazing Androgyn Beauty

I have been following the fascinating blog of Androgyn Beauty for years.

…because of my passion for the fashion and visual arts, I made this blog as a legitimate struggle against the fashion stereotypes and, implicitly, against the mandatory regime regarding the gender division of people: “that is masculine, the other is feminine, you cannot mix them.”

So, mainly I’m here to show you that, when it comes to fashion, nothing is strongly set as masculine or as feminine. The men and the women have the right to adopt any look they want to, and there is no ‘reasonable motif’ to censor (or to mock) their wishes. The choice should not interfere with any of the moral or legal laws, in the real life.

Androgyn is a Spanish beauty who is living his life according to his philosophy and not according to a pigeon hole created by society. I admire him for that, but I also admire him for his fashion sense (if I were 20-something, I would be femulating Androgyn).

I’m adopting an androgyny look simply because I like it, not because I want to send a sexual orientation message (I’m straight, by the way, with the normal dose of homosexuality that resides in everyone’s sexuality), or because I try to step in front of everyone. For me, wearing formally female made clothes is completely normal, they are just pieces of tissues that were cut and sewed in some forms that have no relativity with the sexual gender of the wearer. To wear make-up is similar to wearing a tattoo.

Remember, there are no rules for judging your appearance, there are only closed (small) minds, too afraid of everything that breaks down the formalism, the conservatory views, in any aspects. The future looks forward, not backward. Be part of the future.

Androgyn’s androgynous style is decidedly feminine according to today’s pigeon hole and is certainly worth femulating (especially of you have the legs to carry it off). With that in mind, I proffer Androgyn as the first male to be a “Femulate Her Him” model.

 

 

 

Androgyn Beauty

 

 

 

Actors Brandon Alexander III and Dudley Beene in the 2013 film First Period.
(Thank you, Zoe)

Juxtapose

Juxtapose – isn’t that a great word?

The juxtaposition of today’s Femulator and Femulate Her images below reminds me of a scene in the film Trainspotting.

Sitting in a nightclub checking out the clientele, which seems to include straight, gay, trans, and androgynous folk, the character played by Ewan McGregor muses, “The world is changing. Music is changing. Drugs are changing. Even men and women are changing. One thousand years from now, there won't be any guys and there won't be any girls...”

Although the boy in the Femulator image is wearing items from milady’s closet as well as makeup and a feminine hairdo, he is not really femulating (“Look Ma, no boobs!”). Rather, he is presenting as androgynous.

Similarly, the Femulate Her model is wearing an androgynous outfit that is influenced by menswear. But that is nothing new; girls have been borrowing from the boy’s closet like forever. Well, it seem like forever because girls have been wearing boy’s clothing throughout my lifetime. But boys borrowing girl’s stuff is a relatively recent fashion/social phenomena. And it is a growing trend.

Visit websites like Juan’s The New Male Fashions for the Alternative Man to see what’s going on. Juan not only shows what the fashion designers are hoping boys will wear, but he also shows photos of real life boys actually wearing the new fashions.

And then there is my little corner of the world.

In the recent past, I would see males carrying handbags that could be mistaken for computer bags; you know the kind – big, black, utilitarian and ugly.

Lately, boys’ handbags have gotten more – do I dare say “dainty.” They come a variety of shapes and colors, have thinner straps and handles and are smaller in size. Boys handbags will never be mistaken for computer bags again.

Whereas boys of the recent past quietly wore cosmetics, recently I overheard boys conversing about makeup and moisturizers rather than quarterbacks and grand slams.

At the rate things are going, it will not take one thousand years for there to be no guys nor girls. It’s happening right before our eyes!  

 

Modern male.

 

Wearing Alice + Olivia.

Conferencing and Femulating in Boy Mode

Rhonda asked, "Have you ever thought of coming down to the Keystone Conference in Harrisburg, PA? You should. I went first time to a conference this year and loved it. What T-girl conferences have you gone to?"

Since Harrisburg is nearby (about 4.5 hours on the Interstates), I have considered attending the Keystone Conference.

In the past, I attended Fantasia Fair three times in Provincetown, First Event three times in various locations north of Boston, IFGE Convention twice in Philadelphia, and Transgender Lives Conference once in Connecticut.

My first First Event was memorable because it was the first time I attended a trans conference. Fantasia Fair is the best because of the location (I love P-Town) and because of the friends I see and make attending the Fair.

Pat asked, "Do you wear women’s clothes even when you’re in boy mode? Such as jeans, shorts, shoes, etc. Oh, and panties!"

Occasionally, I dress androgynously, but usually my boy mode attire is strictly from the guy's aisles of Walmart. On those days that I do include girl attire in my boy mode outfit, nobody has ever said anything about my wardrobe.

Funny story: One day when I was en femme leaving home in my car, I passed one of my neighbors coming from the opposite direction in her SUV. She knows my car and I am 99% sure that she saw me behind the wheel that day.

A few days later, I was walking the dogs and I ran into her walking her dog. We chatted for a few minutes and then she remarked that I was wearing women's nylon hosiery.

“Not today," I replied as I hiked up the cuff of one of my jeans legs so she could see that I was wearing beige-colored socks that could be mistaken for nylons if you do not look too closely.

"Oh," she said and we went our separate ways.

 

  Professional femulator, Harry S. Franklyn, circa 1928.

 

Wearing it very well.

Friday Femulations

from Smashing the Binary

Bopping around the Internet this afternoon, I came upon a couple of websites that femulators and gendernauts like you and me might find interesting. (I certainly did!)

* Smashing the Binary

* Van Burnham

By the way, a few of you have mentioned that McAfee SiteAdvisor considers Femulate to be risky. (I would have preferred "frisky," but what can you do.)

So after snooping around trying to figure out what was wrong, I determined that McAfee considers that some of the links listed on the right side of the blog are "risky" because McAfee has not tested them. It assumes the worst, i.e., there is the possibility of a risk even though there may not be any risk at all!

McAfee stands alone on this. I used a variety of other tools to test the website and Femulate received a clean bill of health from every one.

So go figure,

Play Ball

The baseball season is underway and I am finally catching the baseball bug again after swearing off the game last fall.

Watching Moneyball the other night got me in the mood and I took a break from doing taxes to watch a few innings of the Red Sox game on Sunday. I am also looking forward to the festivities surrounding the 100th anniversary of my favorite baseball venue on Friday.

On the baseball femulation front...

I loved playing baseball as a kid --- I could hit the ball a mile, but I threw "like a girl" and I ran so slowly you'd think I was wearing a tight skirt and heels.

I'd like to wear a tight skirt and heels to a game someday.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on the lovely lady in the accompanying photo; she is Mickey Mantle's nephew, Kelly Mantle.

The Wall

This is Max.

See how Max is knocking down the "wall dividing male and female fashions" at The New Male Fashion for the Alternative Man.

Fall Femulations/Androgynations

This just in from the The New Male Fashion for the Alternative Man blog, Andrej Pejic modeling Apropos womenswear for the fall.

For more, go here.

My life as a man in a skirt

I've worn women's clothing and cosmetics since the age of 16 -- but that doesn't mean what you might expect

Yesterday, Salon posted this article, which "is an adapted excerpt from Jon-Jon Goulian's memoir The Man in the Gray Flannel Skirt, available from Random House on May 17."

I read the article and identified with some of the things the author wrote, but not everything.

And so it goes.

Andrej Pejic: New School Male or Old School Female?

Juan at New Male Fashion For The Alternative Man blog has featured some amazing images of Andrej Pejic during the past few weeks (that's where the image accompanying this post came from).

Andrej seems to look more feminine in each new photo shoot. Has he permanently switched sides and joined the other team yet?

Anyway, here are links to those recent Andrej image postings on Juan's blog:

• Pejic for Dossier

• Andrej's Roles

• Pejic for Izzue 2

• Gypsum Boy

• Pejic in Polish

• Wouldn't It Be Loverly?

• Pejic Undercover

In the Wouldn't It Be Loverly? post, Juan wrote the following about Andrej:

I know that a few of my readers won't approve of Andrej Pejic being called a New Male. At least not in this editorial... starting with the title. "There's not much left of a male here", they might argue. "He's way more than wearing feminine stuff: he's unmistakably portraying a feminine character". "He's even wearing a breast-enhancing corset". "He's definitely in drag", they will say.

On the other hand, I'm sure that most of you people, like myself, will simply delight in his wonderful good looks. After all, for many decades now women fashion magazines have been promoting the "boyfriend's look", or "androgynous fashion" for the ladies. Isn't it time for the "girlfriend's look" for us?

What's more: aren't some of you dying to show up to a party in any of these getups? Be honest: Wouldn't that be lovely? But... would you look just as gorgeous?

My thoughts exactly!

Wednesday Wonderings

I read today where a Florida male high school student got in trouble for wearing high heels.

According to the report, Tampa Riverview High School principal Bob Heilman feared that the boy was being bullied and convinced the student to remove the heels for his own safety.

"The high heels didn’t violate any particular dress code, the principal conceded.

"While some of the high school students agreed with the principal, others felt that the student should just be allowed to wear what he likes."

Another boy wore a dress on Monday, according to Heilman.

"After we chatted, he decided not to do that. I was concerned about his safety."

(Photo source: The New Male Fashion For The Alternative Man)

---

To work Tuesday, I wore a flowing long-sleeved vee-neck burgundy tunic with a hem just covering my derriere over tight black jeans and black flats. No one commented on my outfit.

Also, I have been wearing a red-tinted lip balm since my recent bout with a cold. I started wearing the lip balm because my lips were getting chapped.

I so liked the look and feel of something lipstick-like on my lips (a little daily feminine touch) that I have continued wearing lip balm after recovering from my cold. 

---

I continue to use the ANEW Lash-Transforming Serum from Avon. I only apply it once a day --- in the morning before I moisturize --- rather than twice per day as I did when I started using it last May. My eyelashes continue to grow and fill out.

My eyelashes are a light shade, so I have to look closely to notice the change in boy mode. But apply some mascara and Wow! --- the change is spectacular!

---

Lately, my wife has been referring to me as “she.”

I am not sure why.

She seldom sees me dressed en femme. In deference to her, I do not dress en femme around the house; I only dress en femme at home to go out.

Am I so womanly now that I don’t need female clothing to throw off a female vibe?

I Wore A Dress To Work Today

Well - it isn't actually a dress. It is a long sleeve green and blue plaid tunic with a hemline that falls just below my derriere. I am wearing it over jeans.

Kind of androgynous --- most people probably won't notice, but in my mind, it is "girly" and that is what counts.

I wonder if any women will notice?

Speaking of women at work...

Last Friday, I met with the head of HR to bitch about my review. She made me feel better about it and when we were done discussing that, she asked how things were going on the transgender front.

During that discussion, she mentioned that she had not told anyone about my coming out to her last spring, but she said that if I thought anyone else should know, she would inform them if I felt uncomfortable about doing it.

I admitted that I thought she might have informed the other HR rep because it was her duty to share that kind of information (what do I know about HR). She assured me that she would not tell anyone without my permission.

I thought about it over the weekend and figured it would be good to have as many HR people in my corner as possible. For example, if something came up while the head of HR was away, it would be nice to have a backup who knew about my situation. So early this week, I asked the head of HR to inform the other HR rep and she said she would.

So now I am officially out to three women here at work.

Random Thoughts on a Freezing Friday

Thank Goddess It’s Friday

Here is an idea for a new American restaurant chain. Call it “Thank Goddess It’s Friday” and staff if with male waitresses like they do in Japan.

Fly Me, I'm Stana

Which brings up the story, blogged about here a couple of times (1) (2), about the new Thai airline, PC Air, hiring transwomen as flight attendants.

PC Air made a big deal about being the first airline to hire transwomen as flight attendants “in an effort to promote equal opportunities for what's called the 'third sex in Southeast Asia.”

Maybe they are the first airline to openly hire transwomen as flight attendants, but I think it is likely that other airlines have hired transwomen (in stealth or not) as flight attendants in the past (and did not publicize it). I have no proof for that assertion, but transwomen are everywhere and I'm sure they are in the stewardess ranks, too.

This story tears me.

On the one hand, PC Air did a good thing, but on the other hand, they soiled their good deed by forcing the trans flight attendants to wear special badges so that civilians can differentiated the trans from the non-trans attendants. WTH? If they were really interested in promoting equal opportunities, PC Air should have had the trans flight attendants wear generic badges and let them blend in with the non-trans attendants.

Androgynous Andrej Pejic... Not!

IMHO, Andrej has moved up the gender spectrum from androgynous to transgender. Welcome to the "girls'" club, Miss Pejic!

Football Player Chorus Girl Mystery

While shopping at Ocean State Job Lot yesterday, I noticed shelves of designer postcards on sale, ten for a dollar.

Being a postcard collector, I was in heaven. Being a femulator, I was elated to find the postcard (pictured above) among the hundreds that were for sale.

The description on the back of the card reads, “Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs (‘Wooly Bully’) with football players dressed as chorus girls.”

The source of the image was a mystery.

I saw Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs perform live in concert back in the mid-1960s and I can assure you there were no football players dressed as chorus girls fronting the band.

I thought that the source of the image might be a Hollywood film, so I searched IMDB and discovered that Sam and the Pharaohs appeared in a 1965 opus titled When the Boys Meet the Girls with Connie Francis, Harve Presnell, Louis Armstrong, Liberace, and Herman's Hermits (Wow!).

I did not find the football player chorus girls image on the Internet, but I did find other images of Sam and the band from the film wearing the same outfits performing on the same stage, so I'd say “mystery solved.”

Here Comes the Male Bride

This femulation is so amazing that words escape me, so I will let Pedestrian TV do the talking, "The expeditious career trajectory of Australian man-model Andrej Pejic has reached rock star status in the fashion industry after he closed Jean Paul Gaultier's show - in a tulle-ensconced bridal gown no less! - at Paris Couture Fashion Week yesterday."

Feminization of Male Fashions

Last week, androgynous fashion model Andrej Pejic walked the runway in a men's fashion show wearing an outfit that included a belted fur dress, high heel pumps, stockings, jewelry, makeup, and a Veronica Lake peek-a-boo hairdo.

In case you missed it, I'll repeat it: he was modeling this decidedly "feminine" outfit in a MEN'S fashion show!

What's going on here?

Does this mean we will soon find dresses and high heel pumps on sale at our favorite men's boutique?

Or is this just another anomaly in the fashion world, which is chock full of anomalies?

During the past few years, fashion designers have been pushing the envelope in the men's fashion arena by showing skirts and dresses for males.

In the more distant past (the last half of the 20th Century), showing masculine skirts and dresses grabbed headlines, but few customers.

Things have changed and males are buying and wearing skirts and dresses today. Not a lot, but a few. You likely will not see a guy in a skirt on the streets of Podunk, but visit some place more cosmopolitan like New York City and you will occasionally see a male wearing a masculine skirted garment.

Masculine skirts and dresses are one thing, but the outfit that Andrej Pejic modeled last week was a horse of a different gender; the only thing masculine about it was the fact that a male was modeling it.

Does this very "feminine" male outfit mean that designers have pushed the envelope so hard that has broken wide open?

It depends.

The designer breaking the envelope is Jean Paul Gaultier, and he has been playing with traditional gender roles in his shows like forever. So it is no surprise that Gaultier would show the "feminine" outfit that Andrej Pejic modeled.

Was Gaultier seriously proffering total feminization for males or was he playing gender games again using a very pretty androgynous model?

Maybe a little bit of both.

Anyway, I promise to keep doing my part.

Andrej Pejic Femulates in Men's Fashion Show

Paris — Androgynous fashion model Andrej Pejic walked the runway yesterday in Jean Paul Gaultier's men's fashion show wearing a dress, heels, and other accoutrements usually associated with females.

Amazing! Isn't this a great time to be a femulator!

designer makes unisex clothes because everyone is born unisex

Androgyny was at its peak on the Rad Hourani catwalk yesterday. Both the male and female models dressed in tights, high heels, bike shorts, and layers of black on the runway. "Unisex is my main focus," Hourani told us. "All my pieces are unisex so you can wear it feminine, masculine, a guy can wear it, a girl can wear it, at any age, anytime, anywhere."

…it's not a matter of men dressing like women, or vice versa. "I don’t like to put limits to gender," the Canadian-born designer explained. "I think everybody is feminine, and everybody is born unisex." Not physically, of course. "I don’t believe in making differences between women and men. I think we’re born just, like, a human on the planet and it’s just the way we’re conditioned that we create desire."

Read the whole story here.

genderfork and the boy-chick

I came upon Genderfork a few days ago and added it to my blog list.

Genderfork announces that it "explores androgyny and gender variance through artistic photography and other neat stuff."

And it is definitely "neat," but what interested me even more is that it is youth-oriented, more so than a blog like Femulate, which seems to attract a more mature crowd (not that there is anything wrong with that).

Genderfork provides an outlet for the young gender variant crowd, which I think is absolutely wonderful.

I am a little jealous because when I was young, there were no outlets for gender variant kids like me. For all I knew back then, there was something very wrong with me, so I kept my "problem" closeted for a very long time.

I wonder where I would be today if I was able to openly express my gender variance when I was young. Maybe I would have become a professional female impersonator. Maybe I would be living as a female 24/7. Maybe... maybe... maybe...

Anyway, I am very happy for today's kids. They have opportunities I never had and hopefully, they will use those opportunities to live their lives as they desire, not as society desires.