Various Topics of Interest

I wear clip-on earrings, but they are getting harder to find. Avon stopped selling them and last time I visited the mall shopping for them, I came home empty-handed. 

A few days ago, while placing another Amazon order, I thought that since Amazon sells just about everything, maybe they sell clip-on earrings, too. A quick search revealed that they do sell clip-ons and I ordered two sets (these* and those*).

They arrived today and I am happy with y purchase. A nice feature is that unlike the clip-ons I already owned, the clips on these are tiny and look like pierced earrings.

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I was very surprised to learn that Virgin Atlantic Airways announced updates to its gender identity policy that include allowing staff to wear gender pronoun badges and eliminating the gendered uniform requirement. Now, Virgin staff can select which uniform they want to wear. (Source: LGBTQNation)

To add icing on the cake, Virgin Atlantic job applications doubled after they allowed women to wear pants and men to wear skirts. (Source: LGBTQNation)

Wow! I think I would feel very comfortable flying en femme on Virgin Atlantic!

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My good friend Ann Onymous, commenting on yesterday’s post, wrote, “We need a photo of Stana in the dress...”

A photo of me wearing the Venus cocktail dress appears to the above right. I was a little hesitant publishing it because after viewing it, I thought it would look better if I was wearing dark sheer hosiery rather than the black opaque tights.

And so it goes.

* These links go to Amazon.

Wearing Boston Proper

Virgin Atlantic flight attendants wearing his/her uniforms. You can view Virgin Atlantic’s short video introducing the new uniform policy on YouTube. 

The Care and Feeding of Clip-On Earrings

By Amy

Today, our regular contributor, Amy, writes about clip-on earrings.

I have not pierced my ears, but may yet find the courage to do it someday. I can rationalize lash extensions, Botox, dermal fillers and long hair for every day, but just haven’t taken this step. Go figure.

Clip-ons can be maddening as some are too loose, some are too tight, while seemingly few are just right. I have a couple pair that cause my ear lobes to scream after a full day of wear.

Those earrings that are too tight often get taken off when I am in the car and placed on my lap as I drive, while I rub my ear lobes! Then I forget where they are, jump out of the car and they go bouncing across the parking lot, sometimes unseen and lost. I often walk into my destination and discover my ears are bare!

But I get along pretty well with clip-ons. If I find a pair of post earrings that I just have to have, I can usually get them made as or converted to clip-ons when I order them. Alternately, after the purchase, I may take them to my jeweler for conversion.

Some jewelers don’t want to mess with this type of work especially if they are made with base metals and some won’t even bother with silver. Since most my earrings are not gold, I have found a couple of local jewelers who will fix whatever I come in the door with.

I found the Earring Doctor that has a great assortment of fixes for clip-ons and posts. The Earring Doctor has a good selection of pads that better distribute the pressure of the clip-on and also correct a heavy earring from sliding off – critical! They even have a wrench like tool for adjustments.

I just purchased a vintage pair of Chanel clip-ons, quite large with large pearls as drops. The weight of these really requires a sticky pad on the back of my lobe. I have a trick for heavy earrings; I use a broad pad on the back clip and a dab of It Stays skin adhesive on the back side of my lobe. This creates a really nice holding surface that lasts; you can forget about losing one or both earrings and enjoy your day.

Coco Chanel once said, "I always take off at least one piece of jewelry before I leave the house… to ensure that I am not overdoing it."

Good advice.

Wearing Jay Godfrey.

Boys and girls crossdressed at a Christmas party, circa 1935.

Signs

In response to my clip-on earrings post on Monday, Robin wrote urging me to get my ears pierced. She mentioned that if the pain of getting my ears pieced was the issue, I had nothing to fear but ear fear itself, because the pain "was nothing."

I replied that I usually get my teeth fixed without Novocain or whatever they use these days, so pain is not an issue.. Rather, my spouse is the issue.

She is not thrilled with the fact that her husband is a woman, but she realizes that I must let my girl out for air once in awhile. I appreciate that she is OK with me being the authentic me some of the time, but I don't want to rub her nose in it.

Everyday, she sees signs that remind her that her husband is a woman.

We share a walk-in closet and as she enters it, she encounters a rack now half full of her husband's dresses, skirts, blouses, and slacks. On the floor below those pretty things are countless boxes containing her husband's high heels. Next to the shoes are storage totes containing her husband's lingerie and hosiery. Next to the totes is her husband's cosmetics box. Still other totes contain her husband's jewelry and purses. And on the shelf above her tops and jeans is a tote containing her husband's coiffures.

If I dress as a woman when my spouse is home, I avoid my spouse so that she does not see her husband as a woman because she has often said, "I don't want to see you dressed as a woman." (On occasion, curiosity gets the best of her and she wants to see how I look, but I don't show her unless she is interested.)

My body has signs that may remind her that I am a woman. My hairless arms, legs, breasts, shoulders and back are the most obvious signs.

Less obvious are my neatly maintained eyebrows (eyeglasses hide how neat and feminine they actually look).

She never mentions the stuff in our closet, nor my shaved body, nor my feminized eyebrows --- out of sight, out of mind.

But if I had my ears pierced, there would be no way to hide that from her. It would be a constant reminder that I am a woman, so I let it be.

 

 

 

Wearing Light in the Box.

 

 

 

Femulating British sailor, circa 1910

I’m All Ears

As an Avon lady for over 18 years, I have seen a lot of Avon jewelry come my way. And whenever that jewelry includes clip-on earrings, I almost always make a purchase because my Avon lady discount makes the price just right.

I do the same thing when I am out shopping en femme. Clip-on earrings are such a rarity that I often buy what I find.

As a result, I have bought a lot of earrings that I never wear. Instead, I wear the same favorite clip-ons over and over again. So it makes sense to stop buying earrings I don't wear and buy earrings like those I prefer to wear, that is, vintage-style clip-on earrings.

Try finding vintage-style clip-on earrings. Antique stores have them, but they are expensive. I bought two pairs at a Provincetown antique store last time I attended Fantasia Fair and the price was right because it was the dead end of the season. The price is not right most of the rest of the time.

Then it occurred to me to try shopping where I have found many bargains in the past: eBay.

A quick search on eBay turned up a truckload of clip-on earrings including the kind I like. I placed some bids and succeeded seven times for a total cost of $16.95. Two pairs of earrings were $6 each, while the remaining five pairs were 99 cents each. Shipping was free on the $6 pairs and only $2.01 for the remaining five pairs, which were one bundle from one seller.

The accompanying photo show the seven pairs I won on eBay. The $6 pairs are the dangly gold strands (lower right) and the gold squares (bottom), which actually have faux mother of pearl, not gold centers.

 

 

 

Wearing Robert Rodriguez.

 

 

 

Actor Julian Eltinge femulating in the 1917 film Countess Charming.

I’m Transitioning

I’m transitioning pierced earrings to clip-on earrings using the converters that Avon sells. After some trial and error, I have the transitioning procedure down pat.

Step 1. Bend the post of the pierced earring 90°. To avoid snapping the post off the earring, use a small pair of needle nose pliers to grasp the post at its base and slowly bend the rest of the post 90° with your thumb.
Step 2. Using a glue that will bond metal, apply a dab of glue to the bent post with a toothpick.
Step 3. Insert the post into the tube of the converter.
Step 4. Position the earring at a 90° angle with relation to the converter. Let the glue dry thoroughly.

You can skip using the glue, but soon the post will loosen inside the tube of the converter. Then the earring will flop around and fall out of the tube. The glue stabilizes the post inside the tube and I recommend using the glue.

UPDATE: It is early, but I have already received comments and e-mails suggesting that getting my ears pierced is preferable to using clip-ons. My reply is that if I was living as a woman full-time (or nearly full-time), I would consider getting my ears pierced. But since I am part-time and have a big investment in a large collection of clip-ons, I will stick with the clips.

 

 

 

The femulating French Lolita.

 

 

 

She is reputed to be a femulator, but I don’t know for sure.
Nevertheless, I love what she is wearing.