Swingin’ ’60’s Chick

In honor of our favorite holiday on Sunday, I am reposting past Halloween posts every Friday in October. The following is a repost from my old blog, dated October 2006.

Saturday was fabulous!

My makeup went on flawlessly. I think that after 40 years, I am starting to get the hang of it! I was trying to achieve that big eye look that was popular back in the late 1960’s and I think I did a good job of replicating it. False eyelashes were the key to achieving the look. I was very happy with the results.

Darn fishnets started tearing as soon as I pulled them up over my fanny, but the tear was in the crotch and did not spread, so I left well enough alone. After I put on the dress and the boots, I looked just like another swingin’ chick of the ’60’s!

I was ready to go at 5:30 PM, which was much too early for heading out to my support group’s meeting/party, so I decided to visit my friends Patty and Ron and let them see my costume. I called to make sure they would be home (they would) and then I hit the road.

I wanted to stop and buy some pastry for the party. I remembered that the local IGA’s have nice pastry, so I stopped at the IGA in Southington to shop for the sweets. Note well that with my go-go boots, I am about 6 feet 5 inches tall and dressed unlike anyone else in the store. I walked to the extreme opposite corner of the store where the bakery was located and I did not notice anyone noticing me, neither customers or store staff.

I picked up some strawberry and cheese mini-Danishes and proceeded to the cashier. There were two lines, each with about 4 or 5 customers. As is my way, I managed to choose the slow line and was stuck right behind an elderly couple who were taking their sweet time unloading their shopping cart.

A 30-something woman in the other line noticed me and smiled while checking me out intently. I don’t know if she was smiling because she liked my costume or because she realized I was male. I was hoping that we would leave the store at the same time and that she might say something, but with Ma and Pa taking their sweet time in front of me, she was long gone by the time I checked out.

As Ma was removing the last item from her carriage, she noticed me, gave me the once over, then turned to the business at hand, i.e., paying the cashier.

I was next. The male cashier asked, “How I was doing this evening?” and showed no signs that he knew I was crossdressed. I paid for the pastry and exited the store truly amazed at how anti-climatic it all had been.

I visited Patty and Ron and met their two bijon frise dogs. Everyone including the dogs, seemed to like my costume.

Then, I headed up to West Hartford for the party. There was a nice crowd... about 15 to 20 people, most in costume. It seemed that almost everyone brought some goodies to eat. It was quite a sweet spread!

I received a number of compliments for my costume and makeup. That was nice!

I guess most everyone had a good time because the meeting/party did not break up until after 11 PM, which is the latest I have ever seen a support group meeting break up.

Wearing New York & Company

Couple crossdressed for Halloween

Saturday Shorts

Peter Scolari, who played Hildegarde on the crossdressing television series Bosom Buddies, died yesterday from cancer. He was only 66 years old!

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In her Friday post, Rhonda (of Rhonda's Escape fame) cited an article that explains how the Femulation Nation’s national anthem, Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” was inspired by crossdressers.

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See the “60 Best Halloween Costumes for 2021” at BestProducts dot com including a few that you can put together from items already in your and your loved one’s closets. 

Wearing Isabel Marant

Tom Hanks and the late Peter Scolari femulating in the television comedy Bosom Buddies.

My Traditional Halloween

In honor of our favorite holiday on October 31, I am reposting past Halloween posts on Fridays. The following repost is from October 2009.

My Halloween “costumes” in 1983 and 2017

When I attend a civilian Halloween event, I dress like a woman on the street (and I don’t mean a street-walker). For example, when there was a Halloween costume contest at work, I dressed in like an office girl trying to emulate how women typically dress for the office.

On the other hand, when I attend a trans Halloween event (like a support group Halloween party), I dress in a costume that a woman might wear on Halloween. For example, for my support group’s past Halloween parties, I dressed as a school girl, Marilyn Monroe, Jacqueline Kennedy, French maid, bat girl and Playboy bunny, among other things.

Why?

For trans Halloween events, the answer is easy.

I dress in a costume a woman might wear because in the trans world, I normally dress as a woman. As a result, a “woman on the street” costume would not be a costume (unless I dressed like a street-walker).

For civilian Halloween events, the answer is more complicated.

I could dress in a costume a woman might wear for civilian Halloween events, but I never have.

Like many of us, my first forays in public en femme were on Halloween. Just dressing as a woman among civilians was a major accomplishment and the thrill of a lifetime of anticipation.

Dressing like a woman on the street rather than say a Playboy bunny, I might get fewer of those knowing looks that imply that I crossdress more often than just October 31. But I always femulate too well, not like the average guy in drag on Halloween, so I get lots of those knowing looks anyway, but I’m not sensitive about it. If someone confronts me, I come right back with, “Normally, I only crossdress on weekends” and they don’t know what to say.

So dressing like a woman on the street for civilian Halloween events does not buy me much with regard to fooling anyone about my proclivity to crossdress. However, the comment, “who is the woman (referring to me) not wearing a costume” never gets old.

I guess that dressing like a woman on the street for civilian events has become my personal Halloween tradition. That’s my story and I'm sticking to it!

Piotr Gawron-Jedlikowski femulating C.C. Catch on Polish television’s Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo (Your Face Sounds Familiar). You can view this femulation on YouTube.

My Flapper Costume

In honor of our favorite holiday later this month, I will repost past Halloween posts on Fridays. The following repost is from October 2009.

I attended a Halloween party last night hosted by Sue Nagle at her Joy of Nails Salon & Spa in Waterbury, Connecticut. There were about 25 trans girls and some of their spouses in attendance. About a third came in costume, as did I. The rest wore little black dresses (costumes, LBDs or little orange dresses were required attire for admittance). There was a ton of food and we had a ton of fun.

Beforehand, I stopped at a local grocery store to buy a dessert for the party. The store was busy with after-work shoppers. One female customer checked me out closely (I figure she was trying to figure out my birth gender), another female customers said “hello” (I figure she thought I was a genetic female), and the high school-aged cashiers seemed bemused and/or amused (they knew).

The costume came together nicely and I received a lot of compliments. The gold sequins tunic was an Avon clearance item that I purchased last year for $20, the fishnets were from Hue*, and the shoes came from eBay. The accessories (beads, headpiece, boa and garter) were from one of those Halloween stores that open up in abandoned storefronts in the strip malls every year.

The shoes were a pair I obtained for a Marilyn Monroe Halloween costume I put together back in 2001. Despite their 3-inch heels and pointy toes, they were very comfortable and I could have worn them forever.

Just a word about the Hue fishnets. I am a big fan of Hue tights, so I decided to try their fishnets. They get my seal of approval because they are the first pair of fishnets that I ever wore that did not tear during their first wearing. It is not that I was more careful than usual; no, I was just as clumsy as usual, but the fishnets held up very nicely.

Anyway Happy Halloween to all of you out there in the blogosphere. And don't eat too much candy!

* An Amazon Associate link

Wearing Venus

Harry S. Franklyn, 1920’s professional femulator