Photo Memories: My First Makeover

As I wrote here Monday, before they deteriorated, I scanned nearly 300 photos from the 1990s for preservation. I had not viewed most of the photos in years and they brought back a flood of memories that I will share in this and future posts.

By January 1995, I had been regularly attending support group meetings for over 5 years, but I was still closeted, that is, not going beyond the safe confines of the support group’s meeting place.

A few gurls in my support group attended First Event, an annual transgender convention held in the Boston area and recommended it to me as a way to expand my horizons. I was ready, so I registered for the convention and when the big day arrived, Elaine, another ham radio gurl who I knew as a ham long before I knew her as a gurl, drove us to the convention hotel in Natick, just west of Boston.

After settling in, I began exploring the hotel and here I am in the photo above, trying out the catwalk that was set up for the First Event fashion show. Wow, my hemline is short! I guess some things never change!

Later that day, I sat in and watched Hollywood makeup artist Jim Bridges perform a makeover on another First Event attendee. The transformation was amazing. I was so impressed that I made an appointment for a makeover late Saturday afternoon, so I would look my best for the Saturday night banquet.

It was my first makeover and I was a little nervous going in. How would I look? Would I be disappointed?

Jim's transformation of me was as impressive as the transformation I witnessed earlier. I literally did not recognize myself when he was finished. "Is that really me?" I wondered when I looked in the mirror for the first time after the makeover.

After the makeover, I returned to my room to get dressed for the banquet. I was anxious to show off the new me and when I finally made my grand entrance, my friends and acquaintances did not recognize me either… in a good way.

Wearing ML Monique Lhuillier.

Singer Jordan Gray

Acceptance and Rejection

At the 2015 Transgender Lives Conference

There are two conferences in the Spring that I try to attend and present at: True Colors Conference and Transgender Lives Conference.

There was a call for workshops at these conferences in the fall and I submitted proposals to both. My proposed workshops were basically the same for both conferences.

True Colors Conference accepted my workshop proposal soon after the deadline for workshop submissions had passed.

Transgender Lives Conference rejected my proposal long after the deadline had passed. The reason given for rejection was that my workshop “didn't fit in with health and law.”

Last year, my workshop didn’t fit in with health and law, but it was accepted. A good time was had by those who attended and the workshop “got good reviews.”

Needless to say, I am upset and very disappointed and I will not attend the conference.

Wearing Ann Taylor.

Alex Lutz and Bruno Sanches in French television's Catherine et Liliane

Polaroids and Kodachromes

1990, The Big Hair Era

A few days ago, I happened upon my collection of film photographs (as opposed to digital photographs).

I noticed that the 40 or so Polaroid SX-70 photographs in the collection were starting to deteriorate, that is, the white frames surrounding the images were coming apart. So I decided to scan all the Polaroids before they deteriorated further.

Then I noticed that the color was fading in some of the Kodachromes in the collection, so I decided to scan all the Kodachromes, too.

I finished the job on Saturday scanning almost 300 photographs in all.

I have not looked at most of these photos in ages and in my opinion, they confirm the old saying “youth is wasted on the young.”

I was in my late 30s through my late 40s in those photos and "Damn!" I look good in those old photos. I can see how my femulating skills improved over the years, but even early on, I could have safely gone out as a woman amongst the civilians, but did not because I thought my height would give me away. What a waste!

I was 39-years-old in the accompanying photo taken at the first support group meeting I ever attended (Connecticut Outreach Society). It was also the first time I had ever left home as a woman that was not Halloween-related.

I recall feeling awkward and very nervous and as a result, sweated profusely at the meeting. I thought that I did not belong with these men in dresses and I swore I would never come back. But I did come back… again and again and again.

Wearing Catherine Malendrino.

Alan Cummings

Number Nine

Nine is the number of years that I have been blogging Femulate.

(Friday was the blog's 9th birthday, but I was so busy the last few days that I forgot about it until now.)

What can I say?

The blog is as popular as ever (averaging over 5,200 hits per day during the past month). I receive lots of e-mails everyday related to the blog.

About once or twice per week, I receive an e-mail from a girl saying that the blog motivated her to get out of the closet and experience the world as the woman she really is.

That makes it all worthwhile!

Lena's Favorite Photos (of Lena!)

Hi again to Stana from Australia. My alter ego name is Lena or Lenni. A reason for the two photos being among my favorites is they are among the first to be taken in my garden at the front of the property. Behind me are trees and bushes etc, which shield the property from the passing public parade either on their way to the shops or the beach.

Like many other people who read your blog, wish to again say how much I enjoy it. Appearing as convincing as possible is so important and then being accepted for who we are. Emulating females seems to be a high priority in crossdressers' lives around the world. As you are still asking for ''best'' photos, I have many favorites and the two herewith were taken late last year at my block of units that I own. I don't think I look too bad for a 77 year old!

Calling all girls! My open invitation to post your favorite photo along with the story behind it and the reason it is your favorite photo still stands, so don't be shy, send me your fave foto. ― Stana

Stockholm street style

Womanless beauty pageant contestant Number 7 might have shaved
her legs if she knew she was going to be today's Femulator.

Online Womanless Competition

Being a contestant in a womanless beauty pageant is something many of us aspire to, but may never achieve because womanless beauty pageants are not a common occurence. You can't win, if there is no place to play.

However, I just learned about a place where all of us can play. It is online and is not really a beauty pageant. Rather, it is a style contest being run by Sister House and sponsored by Choies.

Why a Style Contest?

"Because," according to the Sister House announcement, "We want to highlight those women in the transgender and crossdressing community that represent a stylish and elegant modern day woman. You don’t need to be Caitlyn Jenner to be stylish. Our own Stylish Crossdressers better represent our community than most headliners in the daily news, and better understand who we are."

The contest deadline is February 28, so read the rules and e-mail your entry as soon as possible.

Good luck!

And yes, I plan to enter.

Wearing Metrostyle.

Xuso Jones femulates Britney Spears on Spanish television's Tu Cara Me Suena.

Transfamily

There are transwomen and transmen. May I now suggest the "transfamily."

If being trans is a natural occurrence rather than a nurtured development, doesn't it make sense that it might be genetic, too?

I have an acquaintance who is a closeted crossdresser (don't ask how I know, but I know) and I am aware that his son crossdressed on occasion in his youth. (The son moved across the country, so I don't know if he is still crossdressing or not. All I know is that he is now in his 40s and still unmarried, which may or may not indicate anything trans-wise.)

And I am sure you have heard about crossdressing siblings, crossdressing fathers and sons and crossdressing mothers and daughters.

Now with more and more people coming out as trans, more families are discovering that crossdressing within a family is not a solo occurrence ― it can be a family affair.

Wearing Cushnie Et Ochs (dress), Kenneth  Jay Lane (earrings) and Sergio Rossi (shoes).

Femulating at Downey, California, High School in 1995.

Womanless Pinterested

Womanless beauty pageant winners, Sulphur (LA) High School, 1987

Please excuse my lack of blog posts the last few days. I had two freelance projects to do, which occupied most of my free time the last four days.

I finished the projects yesterday and now I can get back in the groove and return to writing posts for my favorite blog!

Regular readers of this blog may recall the huge collection of womanless pageant images that Starla clipped from online high school yearbooks.  She sent her findings to me on a regular basis and I mentioned them here, then posted them on flickr.

I have not heard from Starla since July 2015. I miss her and you probably do too if you are a fan of womanless beauty pageants.

Stan Jones has stepped in and taken Starla's place clipping images from online sources and every day or two, Stan posts a half dozen or so new images on his School Womanless Beauty Pageants Pinterest board. I find it amazing that Stan keeps discovering new images from the last century, but he does!

Follow Stan's Pinterest board to see what you've been missing.

Wearing Brahmin.

Rhyan, fashion model.

Susan's Favorite Photos (of Susan!)

These pictures are from my one-week stay in Hilton Head, South Carolina. I stayed at my weekly timeshare in both 1994 and 1996. I spent the whole week as Susan King. I did not bring any male clothes.

It was my 1996 vacation that I enjoyed the most. The main reason was that I joined the Internet in 1995 followed by joining a "crossdressing" message board. I found a group living in Hilton Head and began to communicate with them.

I left Atlanta traveling to Orlando on Thursday, May 23, 1996. I stopped by to visit my parents for a few days. My mother wanted to take me shopping to buy a few items for my vacation. On Friday, my mother took me to a local department store and we spent a couple of hours shopping for a few female summer outfits. It was so much fun and something I always wanted to do.

I left for Hilton Head, South Carolina, on Saturday May 25, 1996. On my way, I stopped at a nail salon and had a set of acrylic nails put on. It was the first time I had a set of nails. At first I felt apprehensive and the tech had to tell me to relax my hands. But she did such a great job and I enjoyed those nails all week.

Over the week, I met with a few other "crossdressers" who lived on the island. We had a great time shopping, having meals together and touring the island and the neighboring city of Savannah.

These pictures are from the first full day of my trip. One of the friends I met took a few picture of me. I loved the casual outfit. I bought a white hair band to hold my hair back and away from my face.
When I look at this picture, I find it interesting that I am wearing stockings during the warm Hilton Head weather.

I will always have fond memories of this vacation. I knew, after that trip that I wanted to transition.
Now I am finally transitioning. But I needed those past 20 years to build my business and raise my children
.
I would like to thank Stana for making some of those past 20 years easier by living through her experiences discussed in this blog.

Calling all girls! My open invitation to post your favorite photo along with the story behind it and the reason it is your favorite photo still stands, so don't be shy, send me your fave foto. ― Stana

Wearing Badgley Mischka.

Singer Serban Copot femulating on Romanian television's Te Cunosc de Undeva.

Femulating Over There

The New Girlfriend DVD is now available with English sub-titles from Netflix. This 2014 French film tells the story of a closeted crossdresser, who explores his female persona more fully after his wife dies.

I watched the film Tuesday night and there were a lot of "been there, done that" moments, so it felt authentic from my perspective.

The DVD includes some extras: trailer, deleted scenes, and a short documentary, Romain Duris: "Portrait of an Actress," which goes behind the scenes concentrating on the actor (Romain Duris) who portrays the transwoman in the film.

I thought it was interesting that Mr. Duris admitted that his sister would constantly dress him up when he was 8-years-old. "Every time we went to dinner with friends, she'd dress me up."

By the way, the film was educational, too. I learned a simple (and logical) tip for applying mascara: hold the mascara wand in your left hand when you do your left eye and switch to your right hand when you do your right eye.

Aunty Marlena e-mailed me about The Switch Drag Race, a Chilean reality/talent show. It is basically Chile's version of RuPaul's Drag Race, so it s more drag than femulation.

I tried to view the videos that are available on the show's website, but I was informed, "No videos for you." YouTube was more accommodating.

Bye & Rønning is a Norwegian comedy team, who present as the opposite gender in some of their comedy bits. Reader Jan alerted me to one such bit titled "Techno Artist Tine" that is on YouTube. After viewing it, I discovered another titled "Sweet Junior High" (see the "Femulator" image below).

My Norwegian is not very good, so I dunno how amusing Bye & Rønning really are, but their femulations are very good.

Wearing Brahmin.

Bye & Rønning femulating on Norwegian television.

Happy Birthday, Donna Reed

What young femulator of a certain age didn't want to be Donna Reed when they grew up?

11 Million

Femulate just passed another milestone: 11,000,000 hits according to the hit counter!
On average, 5,100 visitors viewed the blog each day during the past month. By far, the most popular of the blog's 3,570 posts  is "feminine skirts and dresses for men" with nearly 300,000 views and over 200 comments!

The USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Australia, Russia, India, France, Spain and Netherlands, in that order, are the top ten countries where this blog's readers live. Femulate must be giving Google Translate a workout!

The success of this blog still amazes me as its 9th anniversary approaches. I guess I must be doing something write.

In the Log

In addition to the six trans hams who left comments to Monday's ham radio post, I also received emails from three trans hams in response to the post.

What impressed me was the willingness of the commenters to include their call signs in their comments. The times must be changing because I don't think many transwoman would  go public with their call signs a few years ago.

By the way, my call sign was in Morse Code at the end of that post. I used Morse Code to fool the robots trolling the Internet, but I guess I could have used WA-one-LOU or somesuch to accomplish the same thing.

Wearing Hayden & More.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Grayson Perry, CBE