Today is Monday

Over the weekend, I finished Christmas shopping. I created, printed, addressed, postaged and mailed the Christmas cards. I wrapped all the Christmas gifts. I put up the Christmas decorations. I am late accomplishing these tasks because nursing my wife back to health ate into the time to get those things done. In fact, I was considering not doing the cards and not putting up the decorations, but my wife is much better this week and did not require as much attention, so it freed up time to do it all.

Helen’s Interview

I want to draw your attention to an excellent interview of Helen Boyd, my friend and author of My Husband Betty and She’s Not the Man I Married. The interview appears in Bluestocking Blue, a blog I was not aware of until Helen mentioned the interview in her own blog, En | Gender.

Vivienne’s Bluestocking Blue

Bluestocking Blue is written by Vivienne, a New Zealand girl, who bills herself as “a forty-something a married heterosexual male crossdresser.” The blog is well-written and very interesting; I recommend taking a look at it.

Monika’s Back

Back in August, I mentioned Monika Kowalska’s blog My Transgender Heroines, in which Monika interviewed well-known and lesser-known transgender women and girls from around the world.

Shortly after I wrote about Monika’s blog, it disappeared from the face of the Internet. Well, the good news is that Monika’s blog is back with a new name (The Heroines of My Life) and new URL.

The 2013 Christmas card of Howard Stern (left) and his wife, Beth Otrosky (right).  

Wearing French Connection.

Weighing Heavy on Harry's Mind

 

Lionel Ames, professional femulator, circa 1930.

 

Wearing Rebecca Minkoff.

Christmas Shopping Lila-Style

When I went Christmas shopping for myself at Sephora on Wednesday (above), it reminded me of  Tuesday's installment of The Meaning of Lila (below).

Actor Noel Fielding femulating in British television's The Mighty Boosh, circa 2006.

 

Wearing 10 Crosby Derek Lam.

I Was Out

I did not sleep well Tuesday night and when I rose Wednesday morning, I felt so tired that I considered cancelling my day out en femme. But since my day off from work was already approved, I stuck to my plans.

Shave, coffee, shower, coffee, makeup, coffee, dress-up, coffee --- all in slow motion. I wore my new DressBarn dolman sleeve hunter green sweater dress, Hue black tights, Nine West black patent stiletto pumps, and lots of colorful bling (see photo).

I was out the door at 9:45 AM and at the casino at 11 AM. The selfie accompanying this post was taken just minutes before I slipped into my coat and car and drove to Mohegan Sun.

There was not much traffic in the casino gaming rooms, so there was no problem finding unoccupied slot machines. I expected that the casino would be a little busier considering it was the holiday season, but I was wrong. The "crowd" that did show up was an odd mix: guys in their 20s and 30s and little old ladies with walkers. There also were a handful of women of various ages who were dressed-up, so I did not feel out of place.

The lighting in the Mohegan Sun gaming rooms is dim, so from afar, I look like a big blonde of the female gender. As a result, guys check me out and that was the case on Wednesday. I noticed some guys checking me out from afar and a few that made a close approach for a better look, but no one got any closer.

The slot machines were not very cooperative, so after an hour of putting money in and not getting money out, I took a break and did some window-shopping in the mall that connects the two huge gaming rooms.

I visited a few stores, but did not find anything of interest to gift to the occupants of my Christmas list.

I did buy some makeup for myself at Sephora and I had accumulated enough points to add some "free" makeup to my shopping bag. Sephora is my favorite makeup store --- the sales reps are very helpful and the young woman who greeted me on Wednesday stuck to my side until I found exactly what I needed. She also graciously accepted my request to take my photo.

I returned to the slot machines and had better luck in the afternoon, but overall, it was not a profitable day. And the lack of sleep was taking its toll, so I decided to make my exit at 3 PM.

When I got in my car, I realized that my gas tank was low and I might not make it home on what was remaining. So the last thing I did en femme on Wednesday was pump gas!

Any questions?

 

 

 

Actor Stephen Dorff femulates actress Candy Darling in the 1996 film I Shot Andy Warhol.

 

 

 

Wearing Maggy London.

I'm Out

I am spending a day out en femme today.

It snowed here yesterday and it is literally freezing today, but Mother Nature is not keeping this girl under wraps any longer. I plan to go to Mohegan Sun and spend the day Christmas shopping and playing slots. (I hope the latter covers the cost of the former!)

As usual, I will reveal all the details about my day out  as soon as possible.

Wish me luck!

Professional femulators Issan Dorsey aka Tommy Dee (left) and
The Party of Four troupe of pro femulators, circa 1957.

Wearing Chetta B.

A Leg Up

Unlike the laddies, ladies have many hosiery options (unless of course, you are a laddy who dresses like a lady).

I started femulating when ladies wore stockings with seams that were suspended by garters, typically, the garters built-into the girdles they wore.

That's how I started, but shortly thereafter, my hosiery supplier (Mom) switched to a new type of hosiery: stockings without seams. Since Mom switched, I also switched to stockings without seams, which were still suspended by "my" panty girdle ("my" because my girdle was "borrowed" from Mom).

A few years later, Mom switched again --- to a another new type of hosiery: pantyhose. I switched too and wore pantyhose for over 35 years.

About two years ago, I switched to thigh high stockings with built-in stay-up support. In general, I am very happy with the switch. During warm weather, they are cooler than pantyhose. In all weather, they are sexier than pantyhose and when nature calls, thigh highs are a non-issue unlike pantyhose.

My only complaint with thigh highs is that sometimes there is slippage and I have to find a ladies' room to pull them back up, although I do admit to sneaking a surreptitious thigh high adjustment outside the confines of the ladies' room if the coast is clear.

To prevent slippage, I bought a set of garters. Maybe I am taking coals to Newcastle, but I am willing to try the garters and avoid going back to pantyhose.

I am curious.

What type of hosiery do you girls wear when you are dressing up?

Leave a comment or e-mail me with your answers.

Actor Julian Eltinge (right) femulating for a performance by the Dominos Club,
November 25, 1935, chats with actors Pat Collins (left) and Edgar G. Robinson (center).

 

Wearing T. Tahari (jacket).

Inspirational

While waiting to wait on my wife, I sat down in front of the telly, smoothed out the skirts of my maid's uniform and turned on the set to see what I could see. I came upon Heartbreakers, a film about a mother and daughter team of gold diggers. It is an amusing film and features some delicious outfits worn by the gold diggers, Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt. And Ms. Weaver's rendition of Back in the U.S.S.R. is worth the price of admission.

Sigourney Weaver has always been an inspiration to me because we have some things in common.

She is two years older and two inches shorter than me, and like me, she is not exactly waif-like. Her measurements and mine are exactly the same proportionally when I am girded properly. And although she is a senior citizen like me, she does not dress like a senior citizen, nor look like one.

I know I will never be mistaken for Sigourney Weaver, but she is someone worth femulating for big girls like me.

Professional femulator Michelle DuBarry (left) poses with The Gream Imposters,
one of Toronto's original professional femulator troupes (circa 1970).

 

Wearing Wow Couture.

Mad Drag

This bit appears in the current issue of Mad (#525 - February 2014).  I was  very impressed that the usual gang of idiots knew their drag queens!

Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in Film

White Christmas, 1954.

High Times, 1960.

On the Double, 1961.

8 Million

Wow!

The blog's hit counter climbed past the 8 million mark Friday evening.

Thank you for visiting and I hope you will keep coming back.

My My My

My Wife

Many of you have passed along positive thoughts concerning my wife’s surgery. I thank you for that and wanted to pass along a progress report. She is doing very well and is transitioning from using a walker to a cane.

My Blog

Nursing her back to health has taken its toll on this blog. I barely manage to publish a new post every day. I probably missed a few days and would have missed more, but the always lovely Paula Gaikowski filled in and provided three posts where there might have been none.

My E-Mail

Responding to e-mails has taken a back seat and I am way behind, but promise to catch up as soon as possible.

My Favorite Womanless Beauty Pageant

In case you don’t read the comments to the posts here, I just wanted to pass along Tampa Sheila’s comment to the recent Miss Eng’g 2013 post in which she explains that you don’t need a Facebook account to view Facebook pages and images.

For example, click on this link to the Miss Eng’g Facebook page and when your browser opens the page, click on the Photos link to access individual photos and albums containing more photos.

Caveat Emptor: There are a LOT of photos on the Miss Eng’g Facebook page, probably numbering in the thousands.

My Sources

Readers occasionally suggest that I indicate the sources of the images I use in the blog.

If I know the source, mousing over the image will reveal the source. If I don’t know the source, “Femulate Archives” will appear as the source. Problem is that I have been collecting these images for nearly 15 years and the collection contains nearly 65,000 items, so please forgive me for not remembering where they all came from.

Actors Peter Capaldi and Craig Ferguson femulating as the Ugly Sisters, December 1981.

Wearing Halston.

My Little Fashionista

My son Cameron found me in the kitchen washing the breakfast dishes and began complaining, "Daddy --- look how Mommy had me dress today!"

I looked up from the sink full of dishes to see how my husband had outfitted our son.

A short-sleeve floral print knit skater dress with elasticized waist adorned his body and white skimmers adorned his feet. White tights encased his legs and his short haircut was brushed forward to give him bangs that were held in place with a pair of white barrettes. A white purse, slung over his shoulder, completed the outfit.

His eyes were lightly made up --- just a touch of liner and mascara and a hint of eyeshadow. Pink lip gloss highlighted his lips and he might have had a light touch of blush, too, but I wasn't sure. Either way, his makeup, as well as his whole presentation was befitting a 12-year-old.

"What's the matter, Cammi? You look very pretty," I replied.

"Thank you, Daddy, but I can't go to school dressed like this," he whined.

"Why not?" I asked.

"The other boys will make fun of me," he replied.

"I don't understand why they would," was my perplexed retort.

"White --- after Labor Day!"  he exclaimed anxiously.

Father and son, circa 1930.

 

Wearing Jump.