Friday is for Femulating!

I See Nothing, I Know Nothing Dept.

Victoria kindly sent me this link at The Pegasus Archive, which contains hundreds of POW images in its Photo Gallery. The Gallery is arranged by country, camps and topic. Search the "Theatre" topic for possible femulations (like the one in today's "Femulator" slot below).

Glamulate Dept.

This week's glamulator is Alana, who recently underwent a glam makeover using the online app "Your Face on a Glamorous Magazine Cover In Seconds!"

What's Up Doc Dept.

I am going to a new (to me) doctor for a physical examination next week. If he sees the shaved parts of my body that males don't normally shave and asks why, should I admit I am trans or should I lie like a president?

Wearing a skirt or dress is not always a safe option for a crossdresser, but wearing manly garb like a pair of pants should not cause much concern. And if someone complains, just hit them with your purse. (Source: Pinterest)

A womanless wedding at Stalag XXIA (Copyright Michael Turnbull)

Glad I Went

Sunday afternoon, I attended GLAD's annual "Justice for All" reception in Hartford.

I showered and shaved and began doing my makeup at 10 AM. I was done in 40 minutes and got dressed. Standing in my unmentionables, I stared into my closet trying to decide what to wear.

Days ago, I had decided to wear my Albert Nipon silk floral suit. It is a beautiful outfit, but I thought it's shoulder pads were too much.

Unlike other shoulder pads I have encountered and removed with a couple of snips with scissors, these shoulder pads were sewn into the lining of the jacket and their removal would require major surgery by a professional seamstress. So I began trying on other outfits, but none of them had the going-to-Easter-Sunday-Mass look that the silk suit had.

So after wasting 15 minutes switching outfits, I gave up, slipped into the suit and my heels, grabbed my bag and drove to Diana's house to pick her up. I was early, so we hung out awhile at Diana's abode, then proceeded to Hartford arriving at the venue right on time.

Folks were arriving and we got in queue to check in. While we were waiting, a young woman from the GLAD staff greeted me and then remarked, "Wow! What broad shoulders you have!"

I'm joking. She actually said, "You look gorgeous," which was an auspicious way to start!

State politicians and the makers and shakers of the local LGBT community were in attendance. Overall, they were a very friendly bunch. Wherever I turned, there was another friendly face sticking out their hand to introduce themselves to me.

One of the first people I met was Jennifer Levi. I was familiar with Jennifer because she is a professor at the law school where I got my juris doctor and I also own her excellent book (Transgender Family Law: A Guide To Effective Advocacy).

The Governor was not in attendance, but the Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman did attend along with a handful of state legislators who were LGBT allies. Of course, the person who GLAD was honoring, State Comptroller Kevin Lembo, was present. Thanks to Diana for asking, he agreed to pose for photos (as seen in yesterday's post). He was very friendly and outgoing and his speech was inspiring. He gets my vote next time he runs for office.

Diana and I drank a little and ate a little (hors d'oeuvres) and schmoozed with the other attendees. It was mostly a gay crowd and there were a lot of same-sex couples. So I was not surprised when someone asked me if Diana and I were a couple. Don't know if they thought we were a lesbian couple or a transgender couple, but nevertheless, we are friends (18 years and counting) and not a couple.

I want to thank Diana for inviting me to the reception. I had a wonderful time!

Wearing Rebecca Vallance (Source: Vogue Patterns).

Edgar Allan Guzman femulates on Filipino television's Maalaala Mo Kaya.

Christmas in Women's Underwear, Part Seven

Christmas in Women’s Underwear, Part Six

Christmas decor in the lobby of City Place in Hartford.

As I wrote in the previous two posts, I went out with my girlfriends Wednesday night to celebrate the holidays. Our celebration included dinner and a show in Hartford.

I drove to Diana’s house to carpool to Hartford. Since my Subaru’s clutch is not functioning properly after only 140,000 miles, Diana drove to Hartford.

Our reservation for dinner at Max Downtown was 5:30 PM. We arrived five minutes later and found Arlene, Maryann and Robin already seated.

The food was excellent as was the conversations with my friends. The restaurant staff treated us as we deserved to be treated, pleasantly acknowledging our womanhood and referring to us as “ladies” throughout the evening.

Although Max Downtown is one of Hartford’s “classiest” restaurants, I noticed that its female clientele preferred to wear trousered outfits. The only skirts I saw were those worn by the women seated at my table. That fashion trend continued when we went to the show after dinner. The temperature was hovering around 32℉/0℃, so that probably had a lot to do with the lack of skirts, but the lack of holiday glam was a little disappointing nonetheless.

As we retrieved our outerwear at the entrance to the restaurant, a group of middle-aged guys entered the restaurant. While I struggled with the zipper of my coat, one of the guys began conversing with me. I smiled and acknowledged what he was saying, but I did not file it away in my memory because we were anxious to get out of Dodge and move on to TheaterWorks before the show started.

We were going to see the same show we saw last year, Christmas on the Rocks... Christmas Eve in a rundown local bar where the bartender finds himself mixing drinks for a parade of surprising guests - children from your favorite Christmas specials and movies - now all grown up! Tiny Tim, Susan Walker, Charlie Brown, Ralphie Parker and a ballerina from The Nutcracker Suite pour out their Christmas woes in this delightful parody.

The theater is small and the seats were narrow. Last year, I was very uncomfortable the whole time and it took away from my enjoyment of the show, but this year, I was more comfortable and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Shedding 14 pounds made a difference.

After the show, we exchanged hugs and season's greeting outside the theater and went our separate ways. At home, I turned back into a pumpkin at 10:30 PM with memories of an excellent girls' night out.

Wearing Eloquii.

Detroit area gurls femulate the Jingle Bells Rock scene from the film Mean Girls.

Christmas in Women's Underwear, Part Five

Dinner with Stana

As I wrote briefly in yesterday’s post, I went out with my girlfriends Wednesday evening to celebrate the holidays with dinner and a show in Hartford.

I started getting ready at 2 PM in order to leave at 4 PM. All was going well until I applied my eyeliner.

For years, I had been using a black eyeshadow applied with an eyeliner brush to line my eyes, but I recently switched to a gel eyeliner (Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil). One eye finished, I attempted to sharpen the pencil to a point before doing the other eye.

Sharpening a gel eyeliner pencil is easy when the gel is cold, but after being in my hot hands for a few minutes, the gel was now warm. Instead of coming to a point, the tip of the pencil turned to mush when I tried to sharpen it. Running the pencil under cold water to try and cool things off did not work. I now had wet mush!

As an Avon lady, all my makeup is backed up with a big collection of Avon produce. So I dug into my tackle box and found a black Glimmersticks eyeliner pencil and did the other eye trying to approximate the gel eyeliner application on the other eye. Close up in the makeup mirror, it was not a perfect match, but standing back about six feet, I could not see a difference and was good to go.

On paper, that does not sound like a big deal time-wise, but that ate about 15 minutes off the clock and I began to worry about getting out later than planned.

With makeup done and wig in place, I got dressed.

I lost another ten minutes putting on my watch. It is impossible to explain in a thousand words or less, so I will just state that the clasp of the watch did not clasp properly (it was jammed instead of clasped) and it took ten minutes to unjam it and then clasp it properly.

Now I was really worried about hitting the pavement on time.

And I almost left the house without my wallet, but remembered it when I noticed the void in my pocketbook.

I was on my way at 4:15 PM… a little late, but not a lotta late!

Stana’s Makeup Tip of the Day!

Put your wig on as soon as possible during your makeup application in order to get a better idea of what the results will look like on a woman with a hairdo, rather than a guy with a haircut. But be careful when you apply mascara. More than once, I have applied mascara to stray hairs of my wig.

Charles Demetri

World War I prisoners of war femulating in the 1937 French film La Grande Illusion.

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Happy Leap Year!

Wearing Wow Couture.

Crossdressed New Year's Eve party.

The Science of Bras

My favorite Ohio blogger, Cyrsti (of Cyrsti's Condo fame), penned an enjoyable post titled "The Science of Bras." I recommend it to all you brassiere wearers out there.

Just a memory... my mother usually called it a "brassiere," seldom a "bra." And on those rare occasions when she did call it a bra, she said it as if it was a dirty word! That's my Mom ― go figure!

And my answer to Diane von Furstenberg's famous quote, "Feel like a woman. Wear a dress!" is, "Feel like a woman. Wear a bra!"

Wearing Ann Taylor.

Actor Vince Gatton (right) in the 2006 stage production of Dorothy and Candy.