Chris rocks in striped shorts and white tights

Wearing Ann Taylor.

Mimi's French maid Halloween costume

More Southern Southern Comfort Conference

Sheila's Southern Comfort Conference Selfie

Long-time Femulate reader and regular commenter, Sheila, also is a regular attendee of the Southern Comfort Conference (SCC). With the change of venues from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, I was curious about this year's conference and out of the blue, Sheila sent me her impressions on this year's SCC.

I prefer the new venue in the Fort Lauderdale area. A logical reason for this is that since I live in Tampa, the drive is about half the drive time and much less stressful than driving north to Atlanta. The resort hotel and spa was originally a Grand Hyatt which is, I believe, the highest level of Hyatt hotels. So, it was quite nice. In fact, my room had a bidet as well as a toilet. When I first saw it, I was pretty sure it was not a drinking fountain.I had never actually seen one in person before. Although I did not use it, I did check out a couple of YouTube videos on how to use it.

The main building is quite large, although just one story tall. It has all of the restaurants, lounges, meeting rooms, banquet halls, the business center with desktop computers and printers, and other convention facilities. As you might guess, bring a Grand Hyatt, everything is very, very nice. There are two swimming pools. One is the main swimming pool and the other is a private swimming pool just for spa members. Apparently, the property is adjacent to a golf course. There are approximately eight or nine four-story buildings that contain all of the guestrooms. The rooms and suites are large and gorgeous.

The hotel property is approximately 10 to 15 miles west of Fort Lauderdale proper. It's close to the largest outlet mall in the United States. I did not go to the mall; it's name is Sawgrass Mills.

Jazz Jennings, a 15 year-old transgirl was there with her parents and older twin brothers. They are featured in the TLC television series "I am Jazz." She is adorable, gorgeous, and mature beyond her years. Her family is fantastic and supremely supportive.

Jazz spoke at one of the banquet meals. She sold 50 copies of her book (intended to teach children and teens about transgender people). They sold for a very reasonable $15 and she autographed each book and also took photos with each buyer. All proceeds from the sale of the book go towards Jazz's foundation to help transgender children.

The attendance was higher than last year's SCC in Atlanta. I don't know what the numbers are, though. A totally uninformed estimate on my part is somewhere between 600 and 800 attendees (at least for Friday and Saturday).

All in all, this year's SCC was excellent! I had a marvelous time. It was lovely being a woman full-time for three days.

∞ ∞ ∞

Don't forget, as Halloween approaches, show us what you wore for our favorite holiday recently. Send me your costume photo and I will feature it in the Femulator slot below.

Meanwhile, have a great weekend.

New York City street style, Fall 2015

Andee's showgirl 2002 Halloween costume

Life in the Femme Lane

Skimming some of my 5-year-old blog posts, I noticed the names of the folks who left comments in 2010 and realized that most regular commenters from back then no longer left comments and have not done so in a long time.

That got me curious, so I skimmed even older blog posts and found the same thing ― after awhile regular commenters stop commenting.

Why's that?

My guess is that they outgrew the blog; they no longer needed the "pearls of wisdom" I had to offer because they were out and about discovering for themselves about living life in the femme lane.

I can only hope that my blog posts helped them get out and about.

Wearing Chloe.

Michelle at work, Halloween 2013

I (we) of course don't need Halloween as an excuse to be out dressed anymore, not for a long time, but there does seem to be something special about going in to your place of business, isn't there? I suppose it's because co-workers, friends and acquaintances are seeing you as a woman, even (or maybe especially so) if you're not out. ― Michelle

First, the Bad News

First, the bad news: For personal reasons, I will not attend Fantasia Fair.

Now for the good news: There is no more news!

Wearing Avon.

Deerhunter, a rock band

Costumes You Probably Can't Wear To The Office

Following up on Monday's post "Chic Costumes You Can Wear To The Office," PopSugar proffers 37 "iconic" Halloween costumes. 

Whereas all the costumes mentioned here Monday could be worn to the office on Friday, the day before Halloween, many of today's suggestions are over the top. Depending on the culture of your workplace, they should only be donned for Halloween parties, although a few, like the Cher Horowitz costume pictured left, could work in the office, too.

As Halloween approaches, show us what you wore for our favorite holiday recently. Send me your costume photo and I will feature it in the Femulator slot below. To start things off, check out what I wore to the office last Halloween.

Boo!

My 2014 Working Girl Halloween costume.

How to Negotiate Stairs (and Avoid Stares)

When I put on my first pair of high heels over 50 years, I took to them like a duck takes to webbed feet. There was no break-in period; from the get-go, I walked in heels like I had been doing it all my life.

Truth be told, I had been doing it all my life. As a youngster, I walked on my tip toes and it took me years to learn to walk in a more manly manner. Since walking on my tip toes was natural to me, walking in high heels was easy. (God, I was so meant to be a girl!)

Fifty years later, I still walk in heels, but a woman's got to know her limitations, so I have given up walking in anything with a heel over 4 inches in height. (My equilibrium is not what it used to be and when standing still, I begin to sway if my heels are over the 4-inch mark.)

Although I am very adept at walking in heels, getting up and down a flight of stairs in heels is still an adventure. I prefer an elevator when I change floors, but sometimes that is not an option and I have to take the stairs. (And don't get me started on my battles with escalators! Given a choice, I will take the stairs rather than use an escalator.)

I receive weekly missives from Abby Wallker (of Vivian Lou Insolia insoles fame) and I was pleased to see that her subject this week is how to walk up and down stairs in heels. Here is the link to her informative instructions.

By the way, I swear by Insolia insoles and have a pair inserted in every pair of high heels I own.

Wearing Theory.

Blue High Heels

Chic Costumes You Can Wear To The Office

Halloween falls on a Saturday this year. This poses a dilemma for girls who usually go to the office in "costume" on that holiday since many offices are closed on weekends.

The solution is to wear your costume to the office on Friday, the day before Halloween. However, since Friday is not really Halloween, you may want to tone it down a bit. Leave the "Sexy Stewardess" costume at home and wear something more appropriate for the office.

So what to wear? Elle has come to the rescue with "6 Chic Halloween Costumes You Can Wear To The Office."

Personally, I am leaning towards Elle's first sugegstion, a Melanie Daniels costume, a style I often considered mimicing in the past. (I love the black suit Tippi Hedren wears at the beginning of The Birds!)

Whatever costume you choose, Have Fun!

Wearing Tahari by ASL.

Lily Blinz

In my dreams, 50 years ago...

Wearing A.B.S. By Allen Schwartz.

Victoria Elizabeth, British actor, magician and stand-up comedian.

I love this dress!

I love this dress! Can you see me wearing it?

Sweater weather.

Vincent McDoom on the red carpet, Cannes 2015.

Packing

Packing for Fantasia Fair is always a crap shoot. Over-packing is usually the result. The following excerpt from my book Fantasia Fair Diaries describes that dilemma facing a fashionista packing for a week in Provincetown.   

All I need cosmetics-wise (vs. all I over-packed!)

It was a dark and stormy night.

Actually, it was a dark and stormy week… at least the meat of Fantasia Fair week. Tuesday through Friday, a Nor’easter blew through Provincetown — not the best weather for strolling around town, but that did not stop the girls from getting out and strutting their stuff up and down Commercial Street.

I was prepared bringing an umbrella and three types of outerwear to keep me warm and dry throughout the week. I probably could have gotten by with just two types of outerwear because I only wore my black sweater coat once. Most evenings, I wore my white fake fur jacket and most days, I wore my blue trench coat.

The trench coat got rave reviews. My B&B owner, Chris, loved the coat and I received unsolicited comments about it (“nice blue”) from strangers while walking around town.

Over-packing, I brought the following items that I never wore: two sweaters, two tunics, one blouse, one corset, one pair of leggings, one pair of shoes and way too much jewelry. I also brought too much makeup and too many boxes of stick-on nails; the set of nails I stuck on Sunday afternoon survived the whole week. I relied on my iPhone for photos, so my Canon camera, its charger, tripod, and computer cable could have stayed home.

On the other hand, I left my light-up makeup mirror at home and missed it, but managed to survive using the mirror and lighting in my bathroom.

My schedule was very full because there were a lot of things that interested me at Fantasia Fair this year and I tried to take in as much as I could. About half the things were at the Boatslip Resort, which was a half mile from my B&B. The other half was at The Crown & Anchor, which was two blocks from my B&B.

For things at the Boatslip, I carried my heels and wore my 1-1/2-inch Payless wedges for walking and switched to my heels at the thing. For things closer to my B&B, I wore my nude or black patent Payless heels and carried my wedges just in case.

That shoe strategy worked for me most of the time. The only just-in-case times occurred after a couple of particularly busy days walking up and down Commercial Street — my feet could not even stand the short two block walk in heels back to my B&B.

Wearing Boston Proper.

Actor Zach Braff in television's My Summer as a Girl (1994).