Outfitting Friday

Too chilly for these pants?

Twenty inches of snow piled up in my yard yesterday and it isn’t going anywhere fast as the temperature hovers in the mid-20’s today.

Conditions will not improve much for the next few days according to the National Weather Service and as a result, when I go to UConn on Friday to attend the True Colors Conference, I might be forced to do something I almost never do: wear pants . (The “high” temperature forecasted for Storrs on Friday is 34 degrees!)

I do own dress pants, leggings, jeans and even a pair of skinny jeans. I could pair a pull-over sweater or a long tunic sweater with my pants. Or I might tough it out and wear a green sweater dress in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

Storrs is notoriously windy this time of year, so I definitely will wear my long fake fur coat over whatever outfit I put together.

And so it goes!

Wearing Theory blouse and pants and Zero+Maria Cornejo pumps.

Adam Fidusiewicz femulates Samantha Fox on Polish television's version of Your Face Sounds Familiar.

I'd Wear This

I'd Wear This (if I was 29-years-old), but I
could be persuaded to wear this Now! LOL

If you visit my Pinterest page, you will notice that among the 16 boards I have created, there are three named "I'd Wear This." The three boards differ according to age... "I'd Wear This (if I was 16-years-old)," "I'd Wear This (if I was 29-years-old)" and just plain "I'd Wear This," which is short for "I'd Wear This (Now)," that is, at my current age.

Ignore the 16-years-old board because I just started it and it only includes one pin. But if you compare the 29-years-old and Now boards, you will notice that the main difference between the two are the hemlines. The 29-year-old hemlines are thigh-high, whereas the Now hemlines are knee-centric, although there are some thigh-high numbers among the Now hemlines, too.

In reality, the hemlines in my closet are almost equally divided between knee-centric and thigh-high.

So what's with the short hemlines, Stana?

Two reasons:

1. I like shorter hemlines because I have shapely legs and like to show them off.

2. But as I have said in the past, "My skirt's not too short – my legs are too long!" and there is a lot of truth to that because at my height (six feet two), most hemlines will be short on me because they are intended for women who are six inches (or more) shorter than I am.

So I am stuck buying skirts and dresses with short hemlines. (Poor, baby!).

  



 

Wearing Theory sweater and skirt.

Jerzy Grzechnik femulates Florence Welch on the Polish television version of Your Face Sounds Familiar.

UConn Show in the Snow

These boots aren't made for slogging!

After a mild January and February, winter has decided to go out with a bang a few days before the first day of spring. Weather people are predicting 16 to 26 inches of snow to fall here by Wednesday!

I hope they are wrong because Friday, I will be at UConn and I don't look forward to dealing with snowy and icy sidewalks. I do own a half dozen pairs of women's boots, but they are more fashionable than practical, so I may have to resort to wearing boy boots to slog around campus.

The reason I will be at UConn is to attend the True Colors Conference where I will be presenting a workshop titled "Makeup Basics for Trans Females." The Conference guide describes my workshop thusly, "Putting on your face can be a cosmetic calamity if you don't have a roadmap. This workshop provides guidance and tips for the transgender female on how to successfully navigate the world of cosmetics so that she can start looking like the female she really is."

Last year, I had over 40 people in attendance for that workshop, so I am looking forward to the Conference, but not the weather.

Wearing Otte bag and Sacai earrings.

Vitalij S, male womenswear model

Old... Not

Some things never get old.

After doing my hair and makeup, that first reflection of a woman I see in the mirror.

Being referred to as “she” and “her” while I am out among the civilians.

Wearing high heels.

Hearing the click of my high heels.

When a gentleman holds a door open for me.

Touching up your hair and makeup in the ladies’ room.

When a civilian female engages you in conversation.

Smoothing the back of my skirt as I sit down.

Carrying a purse.

Taking my compact out of my purse to touch up my makeup.

Being called "Ma'am."

Even better... being called "Miss."

When a complete stranger stops to say, "I like what you're wearing!"

Shopping.

Dangly earrings.

Wearing lipstick.

Admiring glances.

Realizing that while I am presenting as a woman, it comes so naturally that I don’t have to think about it.

Wearing Lulus.

British soldiers femulating on stage in Forces in Petticoats, circa 1952.

We will all be women soon!

The future is female, so as my blogging friend Juan once said, "Gentlemen, put on your skirts and high heels, fetch your purses, and head to the future."

We may not all be women soon, but I believe that in the future, being a male woman will be as acceptable as being a female woman. The following Pinterest photos of male and female women indicate that that future may be sooner than we think. 

To Survive On This Shore

Gloria, 70, Chicago, IL

To Survive On This Shore is a project by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre that documents the lives of older transgender people using photos and interviews.

"Representations of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture and within artistic realms, and those that do exist are often one-dimensional. To Survive on this Shore combines photographs of transgender and gender-variant people over the age of fifty with interviews about their life experiences in regards to gender, identity, age, and sexuality and provides a nuanced view into the complexities of aging as a transgender person. By combining our experiences working as a photographer and social worker within the transgender community, we hope to create a project that is simultaneously highly personal and socially relevant.

"Ultimately, we desire to provide visibility to a community that is often overlooked, both because of their age as well as their gender, and to encourage empathy, understanding, and dialogue."

I love the photos and interviews that have been collected for this project. I think Femulate readers will like them, too. And if anyone is interested in being part of this documentary, the team is looking for additional participants.

(Thank you, Aunty Marlena, for the heads-up about this project.)

Paris street style, March 2017

Femulating during Carnaval.

Take It Off!

Obviously, you want to be as beardless as possible when you femulate.

I have tried various methods to achieve the best beardless state including using hot shaving cream, a shaving lubricant in place of a shaving cream, cold shaving (icing the face, then using ice cold water to rinse the blade as you shave), dry shaving (no shaving cream or lubricant), etc. Some people swear by these methods, but I did not find that the results were any better than the old tried and true method, that is, using a shaving cream or gel, razor, and hot water.

The products I use for shaving are more important than how I use them. I use a shaving gel (like Edge or its copycats) instead of a shaving cream because I found that I get a better shave with a gel.

Also, I use Gillette's Fusion razor (the manual version, not the powered version). Fusion is the best razor I have ever used, by far. The powered version might be better, but I have never used it, so I dunno, In either case, if you are prepping for an outing en femme, I recommend using a new blade or at a minimum, a blade you have used only once or twice, to get the best shave.

I shave in the shower. The steamy environment of the shower softens your whiskers, so they are easier to remove. Also, when you are done, it is easier to shower away all the shaved whiskers. By the way, I shave in the shower without a mirror and never nick myself; it takes practice, but not much.

By the way, the image above was from the cover of the March 1965 issue of Esquire magazine. For years, I thought Marilyn Monroe was the model shaving her face in that photo, but I was wrong. Although Miss Monroe was asked to be the cover girl, she turned down the offer. Instead, Italian actress Virni Lisi happily to pose for the cover.

Paris street style, March 2017

"Shave in Sydney" is how I named this photo when I saved it on my computer after finding it somewhere on the Internet five years ago. I have no clue about its significance, but I am pretty sure that there is some femulating and masculating going on!

Monday Mishmosh

Approaching my ideal high heel height!

Whenever I mention that I lost some weight, someone asks what is my regimen for weight loss. I have described my regimen a number of times in the past (as recently as January), but I am happy to repeat it for those who missed it.

My dieting method is not ground-breaking. Cut out sweets, reduce my bread intake and don't eat in between meals. I seldom drink alcoholic beverages, so for me, there is no gain in avoiding booze. On weekends, I often eat only two meals instead of three. And I walk at least one mile per day.

I am approaching my all-time lowest weight as an adult, which I achieved back in the summer of 1970. I hope to equal or break that low point by the True Color Conference on March 17.

💃💃💃

Thank you all for the congratulations on my impending semi-retirement. I am still sorting out what I want to do when I semi-retire. 

I mentioned being a trans fashion consultant (helping trans girls get the girl in gear) and being a saleswoman at a woman's clothing store (I already got the green light at a local Dress Barn if I choose that path).

But number one on my list is doing Trans 101 training for businesses and organizations seeking such training. There may not be a big demand for such training, but I would be happy with one paying gig per week along with some pro bono work. 

I asked a long-time acquaintance in Human Resources how viable this career choice would be and she is researching it for me.

💃💃💃

Abby at Vivian Lou wrote in her weekly e-mail, "Why is it that some women are most comfortable in kitten heels or low wedges, while others feel right at home in 4 inch heels?

"Dr. Emma Supple, a London podiatrist, says it’s all in the structure and flexibility of your foot.

"When relaxed, your foot has a natural incline. This is the position in which your foot feels most comfortable.  It is also your ideal heel height according to Dr. Supple.

"Using this natural incline theory, the ideal heel height is the length between the bottom of the heel and the ball of the foot (where the foot bends when wearing heels)."

Find out how Abby measured her ideal heel height here.

For what it's worth, I performed the test and accordingly, my high heel height should be 6 inches!

Paris street style, March 2017

Drag Net – Los Angeles police femulated in 1960 to catch purse snatchers.

Got Serious

In the past, when my only outings en femme were support group meetings and Halloween parties, I was not fooling anybody, so there was no need to make an effort to pass.

Not that I looked like a guy in a dress – I have always been a perfectionist, so I learned how to apply makeup, style wigs, and dress to impress. Yet, passing was not important because my public forays were next to none, so what I did then worked.

However, as my outings en femme increased, I realized that I had to do better. What worked at a support group meeting would not work on the streets of Gotham City.

My weight has always been on the heavy side with 20 pound swings from one year to next.

I decided to end the roller coaster ride. I lost a dozen pounds and two dress sizes. For the past few years, I have managed to avoid the 20 pound fluctuations and have lost even more weight since then.

Now, there are 2 or 3 pound fluctuations and they set off an alarm to alert me to watch my diet or my figure will suffer.

In addition to a smaller dress size, losing and maintaining a lower weight had some other benefits.

Gone are the uncomfortable heavyweight foundation garments. Comfortable and lightweight Spanx-style support is all I need these days to create the semblance of a girlish figure.

Also, my toes got thinner! Before I lost weight, the fourth and fifth little piggies on my left foot were not getting along. They overlapped, which caused friction, discomfort, and severe irritation. It was so bad that I planned to see a doctor about the problem.

After I lost weight, the toe problem went away. I assume it was a combination of thinner toes and less weight pressing down on those toes.

Whatever – my feet are happier in heels these days!

Wearing Bebe.

Andrej Bičan femulates on the Slovakian version of television's Your Face Sounds Familiar.