Pet Peeves

I hate clothing catalogs in print or online, that display clothing just hanging there in mid-air instead of on a model. In midair, you see how the clothing looks on a hanger in your closet, but on a model, you see how the clothing hangs on a real person.

I guess they can claim that by not using a model, they can pass along the savings to the customer, but I prefer models modeling clothing, not hangers!

And what about the catalogs that do use models, yet crop their heads in the catalogs? What's with that?

One of my favorite online clothiers, ideel (formerly ideeli), recently switched to cropped-head models and since they did that, I spend a lot less time perusing what they have for sale. A cropped-head model is a lot less attractive than one with a head on her shoulders.

And go figure why they go through the trouble of hiring a model to show the clothes and then crop her head?

 

 

 

Wearing Le Redoute.

 

 

 

Mrs. Vineeth, a femulator from Kerala, India

Glamazons

This time around, reader G Kunz contributed a bunch of new entries to the Famous Females of Height List, including two members of the Glamazons; a third member of the group, Dorothy Ford, was already on our list.

You can read all about the Glamazons here and here are all the additions to the list.

5’8” - Abbie Cornish - actress - film, Seven Psychopaths - Source: Stana

5'9" - Betsy Brandt - actress - television, Breaking Bad - Source: Stana

5’9” - Olivia Williams - actress - film, Rushmore - Source: Stana

5’10" - Chyna - wrestler - source: G Kunz  

5'11" - Betsy Brandt - actress - television, Breaking Bad - Source: Stana

5'11" - Christine Marzano - model and actress - film, Seven Psychopaths - Source: Stana

6'0" – Irish McCalla – actress – film & television, Sheena: Queen of the Jungle - source: G Kunz

6'0" – Helen O'Hara – actress – television, Richard & Judy - source: G Kunz

6'0" – Bunny Waters – actress – film, Dangerous When Wet - source: G Kunz

6’7” – Amazon Ashley – stripper - source: G Kunz

 

 

 

Actor Gaurav Ghera femulating in India television’s Mrs. Pammi Pyarelai, 2013.

 

 

 

Who wears Julie Brown better?

It is a great time to be a tall woman

I am over six feet tall, so I am a tall woman.

In my early teens, I became interested in tall women because they affirmed my existence as a tall woman, that is, I was not the only tall woman out and about in society. Few were as tall as me, but maybe there were enough out there so that I could blend in more easily as just another tall woman.

In the past, tall women tried to blend in with their shorter sisters, so they dressed down (pun intended); instead of celebrating their height, they tried to hide it (to appear less intimidating to men).

Also, tall women did not have a lot to choose from clothes-wise. Few clothiers catered to tall women, so tall women had to make do with what was available, which typically did not celebrate tall women's height.

Today, tall women are out and proud and celebrate their height. They have more clothing to choose from now that more clothiers recognize their potential as customers. They no longer dress down to hide their height. They wear high heels and leg baring skirts and dresses. They don't care if they are intimidating. They've come a long way!

It is a great time to be a tall woman!

To celebrate tall women, I maintain a list of tall female celebrities, my Famous Females of Height List. Here are latest additions to the list, including two Baldwins who are unrelated. However, the 6'2" Baldwin is related to actors Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin (she's their daughter).

5'8" - Emmy Rossum - actress - television - Shameless

5'9" - Emily Deschanel - actress - television - Bones

5'10" - Brooke Baldwin - news anchor - CNN (photo above)

6'0" - Ashlan Gorse - American entertainment journalist - E!

6'2" - Ireland Baldwin - fashion model

 

Andrej Pejic, fashion model.

 

Wearing Alice + Olivia.

Black Velvet (Not Friday) On My Mind Again

Remember the Black Velvet whisky advertisements featuring beautiful women wearing black velvet outfits (usually evening gowns).

"The first Black Velvet Lady, Patricia Victoria Miller, was introduced to the world in 1969 as an advertisement tool for Black Velvet. Since that time, such famous names as Christie Brinkley, Cybill Shepard, Kim Alexis, Cheryl Tiegs, Micah Wylde, and Kelly Emberg have all been Black Velvet Ladies." (Source:  Wikipedia)

Out of the blue yesterday, I received an e-mail from Stephen who wrote, "I recall reading that one of the models in a Black Velvet ad was actually a male. Is that true?"

That was news to me. I had never heard that urban legend and I wonder if there is anything to it. Stephen admitted that he did not recall the source of the story.

Does anyone have any information regarding this?

 

  

My friend Dianne from South Africa.

 

Wearing Parker (dress), Salvatore Ferragamo (bag),
Rachel Zoe (shoes), and Stella McCartney (glasses).

Follow the Money

On almost a weekly basis, Juan reveals yet another male womenswear model at his The New Male Fashions for the Alternative Man blog.

Reader Bill recently asked my opinion about this trend and I was happy to give him two cents' worth.

The oft repeated reason for using males to model female fashions is that the fashion houses want models who are tall, thin, and do not have much of a girlish figure, i.e., models who resemble boys. So why bother searching for girl models who resemble boys when you can hire pretty boy models to do the job at lower wages.

I suspect that there is more to it than that.

In addition to males modeling womenswear, the fashion houses have been showing menswear that borrows heavily from milady's closet.

This two-pronged attack on menswear is an attempt by the fashion houses to acclimate the general public to the notion that it is acceptable for boys to dress like girls. (Yay! Good for us!)

The peacock-phobic argue that there have always been designers who tried to feminize men's clothing. That they are an aberration and the feminized clothing never catches on.

I argue that it is no longer an aberration. It is no longer just one or two designers --- Juan's blog documents countless designers showing feminized styles for males.

And it is catching on. Celebrity and civilian males are wearing feminized menswear and in some cases, womenswear. (My visits to New York and Boston and college campuses in Connecticut confirm this; there are boys who are dressing feminine in public.)

Meanwhile, women are dressing less feminine. I cannot recall the last time my wife wore a skirt or a dress, much less buy one. My daughter is not far behind my wife in that regard. Same goes for the women I work with; they very seldom wear skirted garments. When I do outreach, the female college students often comment when they see me all dolled up that they don't own a single dress or a single pair of heels!

Since the sales of feminine items to females is weakening, the sellers are more than happy to sell feminine items to males to take up the slack in sales to women. So it is in their economic interest to encourage boys to dress like girls.

A dollar is a dollar is a dollar, whether it comes from a male wallet or purse.

 

Male model Vd Dolgolevets modeling menswear and/or womenswear.

 

Wearing Tibi.

Smells like Gender Role Reversal

While searching the Internet for something else, I found something interesting that is Femulate-related.

My find was a series of short video clips from America's Next Top Model, "a reality television series in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry." (source: Wikipedia)

The latest season has both males and females competing. In one of the competitions, the models had to act in a perfume commercial, in which the gender roles were reversed, that is  the male models play the female roles and the female models play the male roles.

Here is the link to the Top Model webpage that has all the video clips from that competition.

Enjoy!

 

Actor Régis Laspalès (right) femulating in the 2002 French film My Wife Maurice.

 

Wearing Rag and Bone (blazer), Equipment (blouse) and Tory Burch (skirt).

What’s going on?

I am sure you all are familiar with Andrej Pejić, the male model who more often than not models women's clothing.

I slowly came to the realization that Pejić is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of other girls like Tima Marso (above), who are modeling womenswear despite the fact that they are male. Check out Juan's New Male Fashion blog regularly and you will see a new male womenswear model featured on almost a weekly basis.

And the other shoe dropped recently: female models are now modeling menswear.

What’s going on?

The reason usually cited for males modeling womenswear is that fashion designers prefer female models who have thin boy-like figures. So some designers are just skipping the middle man (or should I say "middle woman") and are hiring thin boys to model their female offerings.

I guess that makes sense, but hiring a female model to model menswear needs some explanation. I assume fashion designers prefer their models to look like males when modeling menswear. That is not east to accomplish when your model is female.

Female-to-male crossdressing is seldom convincing because it's difficult to make a sow's ear out of a silk purse. On the other hand, thin boys can be made into pretty girls with makeup, hairstyling and body-shaping.

Something else must be going on.

Fashion designers may be trying to convince consumers that it is ok to wear womenswear or menswear whether you are a boy or a girl.

In truth, girls don't need much convincing --- they have been borrowing from the boys like forever. On the other hand, boys have just started borrowing from the girls and they need some encouragement.

If they are transwomen, they probably are crossdressing behind the scenes already. Now, the “Andrej Pejić phenomena” is giving them the green light to crossdress everywhere.

Mosey on over to http://imgur.com/r/crossdressing/ and you will be amazed by the number of young men experimenting with femulation. Some of them are already exploring the real world en femme, but most of the photos were shot indoors, not very far from the femulator’s closet. Perhaps encouraged by Miss Andrej and her sister male models, it won't be long before all these young femulators will be moseying to the malls wearing skirts and heels to shop in their favorite dress shops like Jos. A. Bank.

Anything can happen and probably will.

 

Andrey Gordychuk, male womenswear model.

 

Wearing Tibi.

Taller than Usual

Over two months have passed since the last Famous Females of Height update. Thanks to three readers' input and my recent spate of watching old movies starring tall female actors, this update is longer than usual.

Here are the tall additions to the list:

5'8" – Greta Gerwig  – actress – film, Lola Versus

5'8" – Bianca Kajlich  – actress – television, Rules of Engagement

5'9" - Alexis Smith (photo right) - actress - film, The Horn Blows at Midnight

5'10" - Haydyn Gwynne - royalty – Netherlands

5'10" - Princess Maxima - actress, UK - source Sarahjane

5'11" – Kate Bock – model – Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Rookie of the Year - source Joni Roberts

6'0" - Jessica Williams - actress - television, The Daily Show - source Meg

6'1" - Aimee Mullins - actress, athlete, model - According to Wikipedia, "She was born with a medical condition that resulted in the amputation of both of her lower legs" and she is "able to change her height between 5 ft 8 in and 6 ft 1 in by changing her (prosthetic) legs."

 

 

Femulator attending the Atlanta Cotillion, 2009.

 

Hedy Lamarr, actress and radio pioneer.

Models Crossing the Gender Divide

You already know about Andrej Pejić and Stav Strashko, the pretty male models who model womenswear.

Well, I just learned about a female model, Casey Legler (above left), who models menswear.

And a 72-year-old Chinese grandfather, Liu Xianping (above right), who models womenswear for his granddaughter's boutique.

Yes, Ray Davies was correct: boys will be girls and girls will be boys.

Top Ten TS Asian Entertainers

China.org.cn presented their picks for the top 10 transsexual entertainers in Asia (China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand). Their number one pick, pictured above, was Regine Wu, a 50-year-old (!) television personality from China.

For what it's worth, the short biographies of nine of the top ten mention that the transwoman being described has undergone sex reassignment surgery.

The bio of Kayo Satoh is the only one that does not mention surgery. "According to Satoh, she began injecting herself with hormones from 15 years-old, something she continues, and besides her injections, she hasn't undergone any surgery." (source Kotaku.com)

Six Feet Two, Eyes of Blue

It has been a long while since I added anybody to the Famous Females of Height List, so let me reiterate the purpose of the list.

I am over six feet tall, so when I femulate, I am a tall woman.

About the time I started femulating in my early teens, I became interested in tall women because they affirmed my existence as a tall woman, i.e., I was not the only tall woman out and about in society. Few were as tall as me, but maybe there were enough out there so that I could blend in more easily as just another tall woman.

In the past, tall women tried to blend in with their shorter sisters, so they dressed down (pun intended); instead of celebrating their height, they tried to hide it (to appear less intimidating to men).

Also, tall women did not have a lot to choose from clothes-wise. Few clothiers catered to tall women, so tall women had to make do with what was available, which typically did not celebrate tall women's height.

Today, tall women are out and proud and celebrate their height. They have more clothing to choose from now that more clothiers recognize their potential as customers. They no longer dress down to hide their height. They wear high heels and leg baring skirts and dresses. They don't care if they are intimidating. They've come a long way!

It is a great time to be a tall woman, or a tall femulator.

This time, there are two new additions to the list and both women are over six feet tall!

6'1" swimmer Missy Franklin (source: Linda Marie Daniels)

6'2" model Robyn Lawley (see photo; source: Chrisio)

I See Girly Boys

I refer you two videos featuring males who are so feminine that it makes a femulator want to trade in her Jimmy Choos for Birkenstocks.

The first video features model Stav Strashko wearing a string bikini in a Toyota commercial. I recommend reading Mary Elizabeth Williams' commentary that accompanies the video.

The second video features model Andrej Pejic in interview mode. It is four months old, but I just discovered it a few days ago. I originally viewed it with the sound off and was very impressed how feminine Andrej's mannerisms seem to be. View it with the sound off and perhaps you will agree.

***

Before I finalize my plans for attending simultaneous conferences in Atlanta next month, I am trying to figure out how to divide my time between the ham radio conference and the transgender conference (Southern Comfort).

Should I stay in the ham conference hotel or trans conference hotel? The conferences are 25 miles apart on opposite sides of Atlanta, so I have to choose carefully.

***

Just a thought... Monday I have jury duty. Should I go en femme?

***

I just moderated a comment on a July 2007 post titled "feminine skirts and dresses for men." Would you believe that that post has 172 comments? By far, that post has received more comments than any of the other 2,271 posts I have published here in 5-1/2 years.