No Girls Allowed in 1970

There are numerous videos online depicting various womanless events – beauty pageants, fashion shows and weddings, in which males trade in their trousers for dresses and walk on the distaff side of street temporarily. Most of the online videos are contemporary, but there are a few vintage videos, too.

Zoe alerted me to one from 1970 featuring 28 members of a Boy Scout troop from Henry County, Virginia, who participated in a girl-less beauty pageant, which begins at approximately the 24 second mark of the video.

Don’t you just love the styles the “girls” are wearing? Reminds me of some of the outfits I was borrowing from my mother and sister back then.

Wearing Lands' End.

Miss David Bowie

Weekend Reconsidered

My original post was removed by Second Thoughts.

Actor Shawn Pyfrom femulating in a
2007 episode of television's Desperate Housewives.

Depression Femulation

Courtesy of Pat, here is a page from the 1934 Montgomery Ward catalog that femulators of the Depression probably studied carefully.

Item A, the “Inner-Belt,” was quite a contrivance – I wonder how well it worked!

By the way, a 1934 dollar equals $17.65 today.

 

 

 

 

Wearing Badgley Mischka.

 

 

 

Actors Patrick Page, Reed Birney and Gabriel Ebert
femulating on stage in Casa Valentina (2014).

Not-So-Vintage SX-70 Selfies

I bought a Polaroid SX-70 camera in 1974. The film was expensive: $7 for each film pack of ten pictures, which calculates to $35 in 2014 dollars! But I was young and single and could afford a film pack once in awhile.

I built my own remote control so I could take "SX-70 selfies" to document my dressing skills. Most of the SX-70 selfies were lost in the great purge of 1983 and I only have a handful of selfies that I took post-purge.

The camera bit the dust in 1985 and so ended my SX-70 photography.

A Christmas gift, a collection of postcards depicting vintage SX-70  photos, sparked my interest in the art of vintage SX-70 photography and I began perusing the Internet for samples. As a result, I discovered that a lot of people were way ahead of me and I found lots of vintage SX-70 photos online.

I wondered if anyone had tried using Photoshop to make current photos look like vintage SX-70 photos. Again, I discovered that a lot of people were ahead of me.

After checking out a number of online Photoshop tutorials, I chose one that  looked promising (Photoshop tutorial: Create the Polaroid effect for images by Ryan Boudreaux) and tried it with a recent photo of me taken in a hotel room. (How kitschy can I get?)

I was happy with the results and decided to share the final product with you (above).

 

 

 

Femulators being arrested for “masquerading and indecent exposure”
while attending a 1962 Halloween ball in New York City.

 

 

 

Wearing Nicholas (gown), Marc by Marc Jacobs (earrings) and Schutz (pumps).

Vintage Femulation Magazines

My previous posts about Lee Brewster and Drag magazine have spawned nostalgic  comments here and on Facebook about old magazines. For example, Pat commented, "If I could get my hands on a Drag or Female Mimics I would stash them and read them over and over again."

Vintage copies of these magazines occasionally show up on eBay, but the prices are exorbitant. A copy of Female Mimics Volume 1, Number 1 recently went for $34 and that is typical for that popular auction website.

But all is not lost. Using magazines from the 1950s, 1960s, and other decades as source material, Fetish Nostalgia has created digital, ebook versions (in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format) of a variety of periodicals and publications that are of interest to Femulate readers. The titles include Female Mimics, Female Impersonators, Drag Queen, Guys in Gowns, Letters from Female Impersonators, etc. The classic Female Impersonator's Handbook by Pudgy Roberts is also available.

The prices are very attractive ($3 to $5 for most of the femulation-related titles) and delivery is practically instantaneous: order on-line and within an hour you receive an e-mail directing you to a webpage where you can download your purchases.

I have ordered most of femulation-related titles over the past few years; I am a very satisfied with the service and highly recommend it.

 

Femulators socializing, circa 2006.

 

 

 

Wearing Pink Tartan.

When Wigs Were Wigs

I bought my first wig from Frederick's of Hollywood, how about you?

(As always, click on the image for bigger hair.)

When I Was A Red

Before I discovered that I was really a blonde, I thought I was really a redhead, as shown in this May 1995 photo.

My belief in my redheadedness goes back to when I was a baby. I don't recall it myself, but my parents always claimed that I was a redhead in my very early years. (Gradually my hair color turned brown, later gray, and still later thin.)

Anyway, when I was choosing a wig color, I figured red might work since I started here as a redhead. Turned out that I liked myself as a redhead and wore various shades of red for years.

By Popular Demand

Many of you sent positive feedback regarding my vintage photograph and asked for more. So, I went through my shoebox of old photos to see if there were any other oldies that were goodies.

I found this one from December 1994, in which I was all dolled-up to attend my support group's Christmas party.

I love that dress. I think I only wore it twice. I hope it is still in storage in the attic; if so, I think I can find an occasion to wear it again.

I also like the hair style. If I can find that length and style in a lighter color, I may be sporting a new hairdo soon.

Simplicity Male Dress Patterns (circa 1965)

vintage femulators

As a child of the 1950s, female fashions of the late '50s and early '60s left a big impression on my developing psyche. As a result, today I favor fashions that recall the styles of that era. I actually own some vintage clothing and have worn some of those items out en femme.

In addition to wearing retro and vintage clothing, I also like to view images of how femulators of that era dressed. The book Casa Susanna is a favorite source for viewing such images.

The book contains a collection of snapshots (like the one to the right) taken during the late '50s and early '60s at a safe house in upstate New York, where femulators met to dress and socialize en femme. Images from Casa Susanna appear on the Internet; a quick Google search will reveal a representative selection of those images.

Another source of images of femulators from that bygone era are periodicals. I have seen sample pages from a variety of femulator magazines on the Internet, but I do not own any because they are not easy to the find and are too pricey when I find them.

However, a publisher has recently been "reprinting" vintage periodicals and books from that era in Adobe .pdf format including long gone back issues of Female Mimics at prices that are a bargain when compared to the prices of vintage copies.

I have purchased all of their Female Mimics offerings and I am very pleased with the purchases. And making a purchase could not be easier: you order online, pay online, and a few minutes later, you download your purchase.

So, you go retro, girl!

he femulated gallery

By popular demand, I created a new web page, the He Femulated Gallery, that archives all the images that previously appeared in the "He Femulated" sidebar (left).

The archive also includes the "Crossdressed in the Past" images that I have featured here in the blog on occasion, as well as other femulation images of interest.

The new web page is a work-in-progress and I will probably break it up into multiple pages because of its length.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

his crowning glory

Click on the image to enlarge it.

scent of a woman

As usual, click on the image to see it better.

jacquard: one of my first loves in fashion

Back in the 1960's, Mom owned a dress very similar to the Dolce & Gabbana "Jackie" silk dress pictured on the left (item number 245437 for $3,550 at Nordstrom).

I dunno if Mom's dress was made of silk and I dunno how much she paid for it; in fact, she may have sewn it herself, but I do know Mom's dress looks a lot like the Dolce & Gabbana dress with a jacquard pattern atop a sleek white shift dress.

I loved Mom's jacquard dress and wore it often when I was crossdressing home alone. It fit like the proverbial glove and I loved the way it looked on me.

Ever since wearing that dress, I have had an affinity for jacquard patterned dresses, but I have had limited success in purchasing a jacquard dress for myself.

The closest I came to obtaining a duplicate of Mom's dress was a dress I won in an eBay auction. The dress (pictured on the right) is a white jacquard shift just like Mom's dress, but it is much shorter and a little tighter (smaller); so much so that I have never worn it out.

I don't mind the short hem so much, but I do mind the tightness. If I lose ten pounds or so, maybe I will wear it out.

femulated in the past

This unusual 1935 image of a femulator is a studio photograph taken by "Unity Studio - Theatrical Photographer -168 W. 46th St., N.Y. - Bryant 7279."

This image is "unusual" because she went to all the expense of getting photographed professionally, but does not wear a wig to complete the femulation. Go figure!

As usual, click on the image to enlarge it.

crossdressed in the past

This early 20th Century image of a femulator is a hand-colored studio photograph taken by "Rembrandt, 1364 B'way, N.Y."

As usual, click on the image to magnify it.

crossdressed in the past

Out en femme in the late 1920's. (I love the outfit the girl on the right is wearing.)

As usual, click on the image to magnify it.

very fond of Fonda's outfit

I viewed Sunday in New York on TCM, a 1964 romantic comedy starring Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor. I enjoyed the film because (1) it included many scenes filmed in my favorite city with (2) many women dressed in the height of fashion, the early to mid-1960s (my favorite fashion era). Ms. Fonda, in particular, wore some outfits to die for. My favorite was the dress she wore in the photos accompanying this posting. The photos don't do her outfit justice. You have to see the film yourself to see why I am drooling. As usual, click on an image to magnify it.

going vintage

Colleen e-mailed me yesterday to ask what I planned to wear to my support group's banquet tomorrow.

After going back and forth with Patty, my fashion consultant, this week, we decided that I should go vintage.

I have a dress that I bought almost 15 years ago that I have never worn out. The style of the dress invokes Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn in the early 1960s. Why I never wore it out is a story that I will keep to myself, but I am glad that I finally decided to wear it because it is a real knock-out.

When Patty saw it, she thought it won my dress competition hands-down when compared to the other dresses I was considering. Patty suggested my accessories; so I am all set for my big night out and all I have to do now is wait for it.

crossdressed in the past

A couple crossdressed to kill in the early 20th Century.