Keep on Figurin'

Recently, I received compliments about my girlish figure and questions about how I achieve it. 

My natural body shape and your natural body shape are probably different, so what works for me may not work exactly the same for you. My natural body features B cup-sized breasts (44B in the bra department) and womanly hips (when I reduce my waist size). My natural body lacks a shapely derriere – it is as flat as a pancake. I am 6 feet 2 inches tall and weigh 190 pounds. With all that to work with, here is how I work with it.

About a year ago, I wrote about how I achieved my figure. Since then, being quarantined gave me a lot of time to experiment with new things, so almost all the shapewear I used a year ago has changed.

From top to bottom, I wear a bra, corset and padded panty and over it all that, I wear Spanx. These are the exact items I wear with links to my favorite lingerie store, Amazon:

👗 Playtex Love My Curves Feel Gorgeous underwire full coverage bra 

👗 frawirshau satin lace-up boned underbust corset

👗 Rago Style 915 high waist padded panty with soft control

👗 SPANX Oncore open-bust panty bodysuit

Getting dressed, I put the corset on first. It reduces my waistline by a few inches and reveals my womanly hips that were hidden by male disguise. 

Next, I put on the padded panty. Its “soft control” flattens my belly and its rear padding adds shape to the flatlands of my butt. It also provides coverage for the corset’s hardware. 

I tuck my boy parts as I slip on the padded panty. Sometimes, the padded panty keeps the boys at bay, but sometimes it doesn’t, so I usually wear an undersized pair of high waist panties for added security.  

Previously, I wore a longline bra to help flatten my midsection, but that is overkill while wearing a corset. So now I wear pretty bras like the Playtex Love My Curves or Victoria’s Secret Bombshells that I currently own. 

Over everything, I wear the SPANX. It has a front cut out to expose whatever bra I am wearing. Meanwhile, it smooths out any uneveness that may occur between the bra, corset and padded panty. And like the padded panty, it helps to hide the corset’s hardware.

Voila! That is how I achieve my girlish 44-36-44 figure.

With that achievement under my belt, I often wear tight, body-con dresses (“if you got it, flaunt it”) and I never worry about my shapewear giving away my secrets to success because it is invisible.  

Wearing Bebe

Tallulah Bankhead with three chorus “girls” in the play The Garden of Eden, circa 1927
(Thank-you, Mikki)

What Else I’m Underwearing

I realized that my previous post was incomplete after receiving this comment: “No hip pads?”

In addition to the longline bra, corset and padded panty, I wear a SPANX Oncore Open-Bust Panty Bodysuit to smooth and sculpt my body, i.e, to put the icing on the cake that my other shapewear had created.

Also, to be complete, I usually wear Berkshire thigh highs. Occasionally, I will substitute the thigh highs with No Nonsense sheer-to-waist pantyhose if my hemline is very short or if I am wearing a romper or shorts. HUE opaque tights are another leg wear option.

Getting back to the hip pads comment, my response was “No hip pads. The foundation garments I wear reduce my waistline so that it appears I have hips and a 42-34-42 figure, more or less.”

My “more or less” equivocation haunted me all morning. I had not taken my measurements in years – certainly not since I lost weight, nor since I began wearing the current combination of shapewear. 

To sate my curiosity, I slipped on all my shapewear, took my measurements and took them a second time because I was surprised by my initial measurements. Turns out I was little more voluptuous than I thought – my measurements are 44-36-44.

Wearing Boston Proper

Carl Switzer femulating in a 1937 Our Gang comedy Mail and Female

Putty in My Hands

My body is like putty. With my large collection of shapewear, I am able to mold my "baby fat" into a reasonable facsimile of a feminine figure.

When I was more weighty, I had a pretty good handle on what shapewear to use to rearrange the furniture, but now that I am quickly approaching my goal weight, what worked before no longer works as well when I was a full-figured gal. Twenty-five pounds makes a big difference, so I have been experimenting with different combinations of bras, girdles, corsets, waist cinchers, Spanx, etc. to create a female figure out of my less voluptuous bod.

I don't want to lose much more weight because then I will have too little fat to mold. I will probably settle with losing two or three more pounds and then maintain my weight.

By the way, it has been interesting how my body lost weight. It seems that most of my weight loss was in the trunk of my body, so now I look leaner and my wife has taken to calling me "skinny." On the other hand, the size of my breasts has not changed and my girls still fill a B or C cup depending on the style and/or brand of bra that I wear. But with the weight loss of my torso, I can feel my girls bounce...  something that wasn't there when my torso was fuller. (And I love it!)

Wearing Unique Vintage (Source: Unique Vintage)

The always classy and beautiful Rhonda of Rhonda's Escape fame.

The Real Thing

As I wrote here on Monday, I bought a Spanx brand high-waisted brief online on Black Friday.

I mentioned that I have purchased a number of Spanx clones in the past, but never the real thing. Therefore, I was anxious to find out how it compared to the clones, so when the mailman delivered my order, I wasted no time stripping off my clothes to try on my Spanx.

The reason I had purchased the clones in the past was because they were less expensive than Spanx. Well, with regard to Spanx and its clones, you get what you pay for. Simply stated, the clones work, but the Spanx work better at smoothing and sculpting my body.

Comparing the construction of Spanx to the clones, there is more to the Spanx (a front bonded panel for a flatter stomach and side panels for "squeeze-free slimming and easy movement"), so I assume that is why it works better.

It also has a feature that I have not seen in any of the clones I have purchased: it is lined at the gusset with a hook-and-eye closure to allow you to relieve yourself without having to remove the Spanx (something I would dread doing in the tight confines of most ladies' room stalls).

Anyway, I like the high-waisted brief so much that I ordered their Oncore open-bust bodysuit, too.

Wearing Michelle Mason blouse and A.L.C. skirt (Source: Intermix)

Joanna, a sister blogger and pretty woman

Black Friday

Thank you all for your comments and emails regarding our Black Thursday. I was overwhelmed by your support and it truly helped me get past that day.

Needless to say, we slept late Black Friday morning, which was no loss because we do almost all of our holiday shopping online and avoid the brick and mortars during the days leading up to December 25.

Leaving our troubles behind temporarily, I decided to do some online shopping for my wife and daughter at Macy's. One thing led to another, as it often does on the Internet and I found myself checking out the deals on Macy's shapewear webpage.

If you have been following along, you know that I am a big fan of Spanx clone shapewear. I own a about a dozen Spanx clones, but I don't own one genuine Spanx item. Now I do!

Perusing Macy's Black Friday sales, I found an excellent deal for a Spanx brand high-waisted brief and added it to my online shopping cart. Macy's has already shipped it and it will probably arrive shortly after this post appears. Then I will let you know how it compares with the clones.

Wearing Hanes (Source: Hanes)

Alan Cumming femulates in British television's The Runaway.

Old School, New School

I tend to be old school, but I am always open to new school and if the new school makes sense to me, I enroll.

Over the weekend, I was putting together outfits and in my opinion, the best way to see if an outfit works is to try it on and examine it in the mirror and/or take some selfies and see how the camera's eye views the outfit.

To get the full effect, trying on outfits necessitates wearing shapewear. So first things first, I opened my shapewear storage box to get out what I needed.

Lately, I have been wearing new school shapewear: Spanx clonewear (camis and briefs) over a waist cincher and Victoria's Secret bra. The bra and waist cincher provide the basic hourglass figure and the Spanx clonewear smooths out the bumps and bulges.

While my shapewear storage box was opened, I noticed two very old school high-waisted panty girdles that I had not worn in ages. Since the first outfit I was planning to try on included figure-hugging leggings, I wondered how they would look over the girdle.

So I tugged on a girdle (its waist was so high that I did not need a waist cincher). Then I slipped on a bra and a Spanx clone cami to smooth things out.

I mixed old school and new school and when I tried on the leggings and a top over the shapewear, I was very happy with the results. The old school-new school combination of shapewear improved my figure noticeably; my tummy was flatter and my waist was narrower than if I wore new school shapewear only.

What more could a girl ask for?

Professional Femulator Harry S. Franklyn, circa 1929

Wearing Chanel.

I'll Be Brief

My foundation wear these days consists of a Bali cami torset top, which is a cami with the front cut out to allow me to wear whatever bra I wish (usually something from Victoria's Secret). Below I wear a Bali high-waisted brief.

I have been very satisfied customer of these Bali Spanx clones, however, something new (to me) has appeared on the shapewear horizon. Bali has combined their cami torset top and high-waisted brief into one single piece of shapewear: the Bali Powershape Torset Body Briefer (see photo).

Avon has begun selling this new product and I ordered a sample. I will let you know how it works out as soon as I can.

 

Beneath It All

Circa 1963, my mother wore bras and girdles, so they were my foundation garments of choice when I began femulating. (I really had no choice; Mom wore bras and girdles, so that is what I borrowed when I femulated.)

When I mustered up enough courage to purchase my own foundation garments (in person at Frederick's of Hollywood and JCPenney), I stuck with bras and girdles (like mother, like son). However, since I was more Rubenesque than my mother, I bought longline bras and waist cinchers to supplement the girdles.

That combination of foundations suited me well for a very long time.

Then I discovered Spanx shapewear and its copycats. I packed away the girdles and waist cinchers and switched to a variety of Spanx-like shapewear, typically the Bali and Hanes brand knock-offs because Avon sells them and since I am an Avon rep, I can buy them at a discount.

In addition to losing the heavyweight girdles, I also packed away the longline bras because the Bali and Hanes shapewear permits me to wear regular bras like the cute, sexy bras sold by Victoria's Secret ("Hello, Bombshell").

Occasionally, I strap on my heavy-duty corset-like waist cincher if I think I will need a little extra curvature, but normally, Bali or Hanes and Vicky are all I need.

I'd love to hear what you all are wearing beneath it all. (Does anyone still wear a girdle or has everyone switched to Spanx?)