Observed

While taking inventory earlier this week, I made the following observations.

Bad Sizes

Sizes are all over the map. Not only are dress sizes inconsistent between labels, the sizes of dresses from the same label are inconsistent, too. I knew this before, but doing inventory affirmed what I already knew.

I bought a black sequins cocktail dress from a consignment shop a few years ago. The label was Dress Barn; the size was 14. I was wearing a size 16 or 18 back then and I was surprised that the size 14 Dress Barn confection was actually a little big on me (go figure), but I purchased it anyway because it was only $5. Needless to say, I was swimming in the dress when I tried it on this week and it ended up in the discard pile.

And although I am usually a size 12 these days, some of my old size 14's and 16's fit fine and were keepers.

Dead Brands

I own many nice dresses from labels that no longer exist: Newport News, Spiegel, Fashion Bug.

Back when I did all my womenswear shopping online, Newport News and Spiegel were my best friends. When I finally started shopping in person (in girl and boy mode), Fashion Bug became my new friend.

I miss my old friends.

Wearing Unique Vintage (Source: Unique Vintage)

Enrie Scielzo, male womenswear model

Taking Inventory

I just did something that I have been meaning to do for a long time: try on everything in my closet to see what fits and what doesn't.

Why? Two reasons:

1.  I have so much clothing hanging in my closet that everything is very tightly packed. Removing or adding anything is difficult. The clothing has no room to breathe (!) and whatever hanging there is becoming permanently pressed in whatever configuration it was hung.

2.  Having lost 25 pounds and keeping that weight off during the holidays has assured me that I will be able to maintain that weight. So I can free up closet space by removing the size 14's, 16's and 18's that are too big for me now.

Mid-morning Monday, I slipped into my bra, girdle and Spanx and began trying on the contents of my closet. I underestimated how long the process would take and after two hours, I was not even half way through, but I did have a pile of discards, so that was progress.

I broke for lunch and returned to the task in the evening, put in another two hours and clocked out at 8 PM. Another two hours Tuesday afternoon finished the the job.

While I was trying on clothing, I became ruthless on what I discarded. Initially, I only discarded clothing that was too big. And then I encountered some dresses that were too small in the bust — they did fit me at one time, but evidently my breasts have gotten a little larger as I have gotten older, so those dresses had to go, too.

Then there were those dresses that fit perfectly, but I did not like the way they looked on me. I wondered why I had purchased those items in the first place! They ended up in the discard pile, too.

On the flipside, there were dresses that I had not worn in a long time that now look amazing on my thinner body. It's as if I had just acquired new wardrobe to wear!

What am I going to do with the discards?

I will donate most of the dresses to the donation center in town that distributes clothing and household items to the needy in our area. The cocktail dresses and evening gowns are not donation center-worthy and may be eBay-bound.

Now my closet is so empty, I think it's time to go shopping!

Wearing Balmain (Source: Intermix)

Dad or Mom and sons dressed for Halloween. (Source: Pinterest)

Barbie Fashions for Real Dolls

Remember playing with Barbie dolls when you were a young girl?

I did not own a Barbie doll, but my sister did and occasionally, I would spend some girl-time playing with my sister's dolls. As a budding transvestite, I once dressed her Ken doll in Barbie's clothes. But just like in the real world, Barbie's clothes did not quite fit right on Ken, so I abandoned crossdressing Ken and stuck to dressing Barbie while dreaming about dressing myself in her high fashions.

Turns out, I can now dress myself in Barbie's haute couture. According to Parade, "Barbie’s celebrating the big 6-0 next year with a collaboration available now: Barbie x Unique Vintage, a new apparel line turning iconic 1960s Barbie outfits into real women’s clothing."

Even better news: Unique Vintage's Barbie line is available in larger sizes for girls like us. Also, Unique Vintage offers other retro style clothing from the 1920's to the 1970's with many items available in plus sizes. And for you California gurls, you can sashay down to their brick and mortar store in Burbank.

Personally, I think the Unique Vintage line of Barbie apparel looks nicer than the original Barbie clothing. And I hope to find out for myself as soon as I can make up my mind which Barbie outfit to purchase.

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

The always lovely Hannah McKnight

Weekends are for femulating!

Can You Hear Me Now Dept.

"Voice training for transgender women is about more than adjusting pitch: 'We’re changing how they express themselves'" is the long title of an interesting article from The Lily News about trans voice training in this day and age.

Bottom line is, as one trans woman put it, "Passing is a safety thing for transgender people, and the voice is part of that. It's not just for me to be comfortable, but to protect me."

Can You Read My Dress Dept.

Received an online advertisement from Eileen Fischer for their The Future Is Female Morse Code Collection. The clothing in the collection has a pattern of dits and dahs that spell "the future is female."

The ad mentions that, "Because we believe in the potential of the next generation, we're donating 10% of sales from this collection to Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that's helping young women build a future in tech."

As a ham radio operator, the Morse Code pattern caught my eye and I considered buying an item for my wardrobe until I saw the price tags. Most inexpensive item was a tee shirt for $88.

Wearing Intermix dress, Jimmy Choo pumps and Ulla Johnson bag (Source: Intermix)

Vesna Prague, a Czech Republic femulator

The Other Side of My Closet

Janie's blog post today inspired me to write the following.

One side of my closet is fresh and vibrant, the other side, not so much.

On one side of my closet, new items appear regularly and old worn-out items are replaced.

On the other side of my closet, there is dust on some items; old worn-out items are not thrown out unless absolutely necessary and are seldom replaced.

Guess which side of the closet is which?

The girl side of my closet is growing, while the boy side remains the same. It has gotten so crowded on the girl side that I moved all my special occasion dresses to an unused corner of my wife's closet.

My collection of shoes and bags is getting out of hand, too, and I am storing some of those items in my wife's closet.

I have not bought anything new from the men's aisles since late last winter and that was on the occasion of my regular undies purge in which I throw out all of my boy panties and camies and replace them with a fresh set.

Although the boy side of my closet is old and neglected, I buy new items for the girl side all the time.

It's like I'm getting ready to live as a woman full-time.

Getting Altered

My favorite blog in the guiding-us-to-be-better-women category is Ginger Burr's Enpowering Your Inner Beauty & Personal Fashion. She always has great advice and this week, she touched on a subject that hits home (mine for sure and maybe yours too). Here is the link to the post, "The Myth of Ready-to-Wear" in which Ginger discusses clothing alterations.

By the way, I avoid alterations by never buying anything that needs alterations (if I can help it). If it does not look right on me, I leave it on the rack outside the dressing room.

Online/mail order purchases are a little more problematical. Sending stuff back is a drag and I have had alterations performed on online/mail order purchases to avoid the return process.

If you are in the neighborhood (central Connecticut) and need someone to do alterations, I highly recommend Perretta's Tailor Shop in Wallingford. The tailor does great work and she has no problem working with girls like us.

Putting Your Closet on a Diet

Do you have items in your wardrobe that you are “saving” because they have sentimental value, are “too pretty to wear,” are timeless, or cost a lot of money? 

I don't know about you, but that pretty much describes moi to a T. As a result, my closets are overflowing and I can use help.

To the rescue, Ginger Burr wrote an excellent post on her blog that proffers three reasons to stop saving your clothes. You can read it here.

Wearing Out

I had some free time Saturday afternoon, so I decided to try on the outfits I planned to wear when I go out en femme the next two Tuesdays.

During the tryouts, I discovered that the shoes I planned to wear with both outfits did not look as good in reality as they did in my mind and that other shoes were a better match.

I discovered that a different pair of shoes matched up with a different outfit and looked better than both of the original outfits I had planned to wear.

My wardrobe discoveries continued like this for about an hour, when I finally decided to quit after completely confusing myself about what I will wear.

Nuts!

menswomenswear

Have you noticed this trend: feminine male models (above left) and masculine female models (above right) modeling womenswear alongside the typical feminine female models.

To whom are fashion designers trying to sell? Of course, they are trying to sell womenswear to women, but are they also trying to sell womenswear to men?

Are they using feminine male models to convince pretty boys that it is ok to wear womenswear? And are they using masculine female models to convince manly boys that it is ok to wear womanswear, too?

Is this just wishful thinking on my part?

Well, according to this article, the Mademe clothing brand has taken "a big leap with new womenswear for men."

Visit their online store and you will find that it "is genderless, with no department captioned for women or men."

Is this the beginning of the end of gendered clothing sales? Someday, you may walk into Macy's and discover that the "women's" and "men's" departments have been merged into an "adult" department where racks of trousers hang next to racks of dresses for both her and his shopping pleasure. 

By the way, it comes as no surprise that feminine male model, Andrej Pejic, is the face of Mademe's line of men's womenswear (or "menswomenswear").