All in the Family

Wearing Carla Ruiz (Source: Carla Ruiz)

Alexander Khanin, male womenswear model

Women's Dresses

Some of you girls sent me this eBay link where a photo of Chris Lemmon is available for sale.

The actor (Jack Lemmon's son) is dressed as a Vegas showgirl for two episodes of a 1989 television comedy Open House. I had been looking for a photo of this femulation for years and I thank you readers who sent me the link.

The photo does not do Lemmon's femulation justice – he looks like a man in showgirl drag.

I saw those episodes when they were originally televised and in my opinion, he looked a lot better than the photo's depiction. In fact, he looked so hot that his TV wife got very excited about his appearance, started making out with him/her and suggested that he dress as a woman more often!

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I dunno about you, but whenever I see an ad like the one Macy's emailed me today that reads "Women's Dresses," I always wonder why are they being so specific? Do they also sell men's dresses?

Wearing Ann Taylor (Source: Ann Taylor)

André Claude, professional femulator, circa 1960

Hot As Sun

In honor of the hottest day of the year in Downtown Femulation City, I am passing along some movie trivia from IMDB and elsewhere about the hottest femulation film of its time, Some Like It Hot.

Tony Curtis's voice as Josephine was dubbed by Paul Frees (according to co-writer I.A.L. Diamond). Curtis confirmed it by stating the voice you hear as Josephine is a combination of his voice and Frees'. Curtis says he had trouble maintaining a high-pitched voice for an entire take.

Supposedly when Orry-Kelly was measuring all three stars for dresses, he half-jokingly told Marilyn Monroe, "Tony Curtis has a nicer butt than you," at which point Monroe pulled open her blouse and said, "Yeah, but he doesn't have t*ts like these!"

Upon its original release, Kansas banned the film from being shown in the state, explaining that crossdressing was "too disturbing for Kansans."

A cabaret dancer (a man who played women on stage) tried to teach Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon to walk in heels. After about a week, Lemmon declined his help, saying he didn't want to walk like a woman, but a man trying to walk like a woman.

When Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon first put on the female makeup and costumes, they walked around the Goldwyn Studios lot to see if they could "pass" as women. Then they tried using mirrors in public ladies' rooms to fix their makeup, and when none of the women using it complained, they knew they could be convincing as women. There is a scene on the train recreating this moment.

In 2008, a Californian man who found a little black dress in his closet was stunned when appraisers for U.S. TV series Antiques Roadshow determined it once belonged to Marilyn Monroe. The frock - which Monroe was sewn into for Some Like It Hot, was estimated to be worth $250,000.

One of the few American movies ever given a "Condemned" rating by the Roman Catholic Legion of Decency.

I remember the first time the film appeared on television in the early 1960s. As a budding young femulator, my eyes were glued to the television set while simultaneously trying to feign disinterest so that no one would suspect my affinity for feminine finery.

Jack Lemmon’s son Chris Lemmon appeared in Vegas showgirl drag in an episode of a 1989-1990 television series titled Open House. His femulation was very good, but I have never been able to track down a photo of that femulation.

Be cool, Honey Bunnies!

Wearing Net-A-Porter (Source: The Zoe Report)

Gender swap on Croatian television's Hrvatski's Top Model.

The Girls of Autumn

The "boys of summer" become the "girls of autumn" when they return to school and volunteer to don dresses and high heels for their high school's next womanless event. Whether it be Gender Bender Day, a womanless beauty pageant, Opposite Day, a womanless fashion show, a Cinderfella pageant or even Halloween, there are gurls in civilian clothing willing to put on their frillies for whatever cause comes along, just as Mark Ruth (above) did for the "Miss America" pageant conducted at Wynnewood (Oklahoma) High School in 1974.

Miss Ruth's photo is one of 160 new photos of the girls of autumn uncovered by Starla from online high school yearbooks. I uploaded Starl's new images to flickr where you may view them in two ways:

Method 1: Open one of the Yearbooks sets (A through Z) and you will find the newest uploads at the end/bottom of the set. (The oldest uploads appear at the beginning/top of the set.)

Method 2: Open my photostream and you will find the newest uploads at the top of page 1. The uploads get older as the page numbers get higher with the oldest uploads on the last page.

The contents of the Yearbook A through Z sets are organized according to school name, for example, the photos from Sacred Heart High School would be in the Yearbooks S set.

I hope you enjoy the view. Meanwhile, I am going to slip into a bikini and work on my tan.

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Sylvester portrays a female impersonator in the 1979 film The Rose.

Got Mod?

Being a retro kind of girl, I like the styles ModCloth sells. Yet, I have only purchased one item from them mainly due to size issues (some of the items I liked were not available in my size).

As luck would have it, the ModCloth dress I did buy was a little too big, but not so big that I had to return it. I have not worn it since I lost weight, so it is probably way too big now, but I liked it a lot and may have it taken in once I reach my goal weight.

It seems that I am not the only gurly girl who likes ModCloth as evidenced by this image I found on the Internet recently!

Wearing ModCloth (Source: ModCloth)

Luz Violeta, professional femulator

Fear of Flying

Thank you for the advice and encouragement you readers provided regarding my plans to fly rather than drive to St. Louis in September.

To tell you the truth, I don't need much encouragement to fly as a woman. It is on my bucket list and is something I wanted to do for a long time.

I have no fear of flying, however, I do have a fear of packing for flying.

I am familiar with Big Brother's rules about how to pack, so that is not an issue. The problem is how to pack economically as a woman.

When I go to Hamvention, which is five days en femme, my Subaru is full of luggage... typically, a large suitcase, small suitcase, garment bag, cosmetics toolbox and computer bag. Taking all that on a flight would just about double the cost of my ticket with most carriers.

I could eliminate the cosmetics toolbox by just taking what I really need and I could eliminate the computer bag by carrying my laptop, iPhone and accessories in my big handbag. But how do I compact a large suitcase, small suitcase and garment bag into one piece of luggage weighing less than 50 pounds?

There's the rub.

Wearing Diane von Furstenberg (Source: Diane von Furstenberg)

The boys of Marshall High School in Marshall, Arkansas, 1986 (Source: Starla)

Christian Sharia: GOP House Bans Sleeveless Women

Christian Sharia: Modesty police in the the Republican controlled House of Representatives are enforcing a new dress code for women.

The Christian puritans are at the helm, and the bare arms of women must not be seen in the U.S. House of Representatives.

According to a report filed by CBS, sleeveless dresses and blouses worn by women are no longer acceptable attire in the House chamber and the Speaker’s lobby, a location where reporters often wait for lawmakers in order to conduct brief interviews.

A senior GOP source told CBS News that House chamber security and the House Sergeant at Arms are enforcing new rules regarding proper attire for women entering the House chamber and the Speaker’s lobby, effectively becoming modesty police for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Under the direction of Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the Republican controlled House of Representatives is enforcing a new dress code for women. No doubt the Taliban would approve.

(Source: www.patheos.com)

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Source: "Piranha Club" formerly known as "Ernie" (Courtesy of Meg)

My Store is Closing!

In March, I opened Stana’s Femulate Boutique, an Amazon aStore, where you could purchase items on Amazon that I use and recommend. This was in response to readers who asked how they could support the blog monetarily.

Amazon recently announced that they will be phasing out the Amazon aStores and by the end of October, all the aStores will be gone including mine.

To tell you the truth, business at my aStore was slow and after initially investing a lot of time and effort into the business, I was so disappointed in the results that I stopped wasting my time with it.

Although my aStore is closing, my blog posts will continue to have links to Amazon. If you click on one of those links that takes you to Amazon and you make a purchase, the blog receives a percentage of your payment.

Anyway I want to thank the few who did support my aStore and thus, my blog. But it was hardly enough to give me the incentive to continue much longer.

And so it goes.  

Wearing Iro jacket, ALC top and shorts, Jimmy Choo sandals and Carrera sunglasses (Source: Intermix)

Throwback Thursday – Eve and Marie – When a "Flight Attendant" was a "Stewardess"

Up in the Air

I started writing this post early yesterday morning before our cookout began. I assumed I would be able to finish the post after the relatives left with full tummies.

Remember the Saturday Night Live skit about the guests who would not leave? It was not quite that bad — we were all having a good time and the cookout did not break up until well after dark.

Being a meticulous housewife, I do not relax until everything was clean and put back in its right place. By then, it was time to slip into a negligee and go to bed. (For the curious, here is a photo that approximates the negligee I wore last night.)

So here I am writing today's post today instead of yesterday, but such is life!

I missed Hamvention this year, but I plan to go to my group's annual conference in September. This year, our conference is in St. Louis. That's 16 hours as Stana drives and when I mentioned the roadtrip at the cookout yesterday, everyone thought I was crazy to drive that distance and that I should fly instead.

I know things have changed dramatically since I the last time I flied a dozen years go. But since I assumed I would not be flying anywhere soon, I have not paid attention to the details. So I began to get detailed and in the process, I found this article on the Fabulous After 40 blog about what to wear for air travel. I also revisited Kim's comprehensive article about flying en femme.

Looks like I will have to adjust my wardrobe for flying in September.

Wearing The Kooples bag (Source: Vogue)

His and her bridal lingerie (Source: Carltheriault.com)

Short Shorts

Don't forget:

Independence Day falls on the 4th this year!

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Eddie Izzard: It took me 30 years to deal with coming out as transgender!

I can sympathize with Eddie and you can read the whole story here.

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Fly Me!

Patty O knows I have an affinity for flight attendant drag, so she sent me this photo of Dustin Izzat at Seattle Pride.

A "stewardess" by any other name!

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Troupe L’oeil: Ooh La La!

My newest gurlfriend, Rhondsocks, wrote, "I wanted to give a strong endorsement for a new fashion designer: Bunker Bradley. His website is Bunker Bradley Couture. A former car designer from Detroit now located in Las Vegas, his designs are really cool. The dresses he designs are  transgender friendly as the prints on the dresses actually make you look thinner by utilizing the troupe l’oeil technique of drawing your attention to parts other than where a bit of fat may show. His partner, Roselynn Poon, is the business person and is so very transgender friendly, going out of her way to make sure I was able to wear their beautiful dress at a transgender gathering in May called 'Wildside.'"

Rhondsocks wearing Bradley Bunker

Wearing Nine West (Source: Nine West)

It's a bull market for femulators. (Source: Rain Dove)

Cathy's Initiation

Hi everyone, I'm Cathy from Los Angeles, and I'm so happy to share some of my story, along with photos recently found by my sisters while cleaning out our parents' home back in Pennsylvania.

This first photo is me on the back stoop, dressed up by my older sisters, Donna and Debbie.  It has "Sept 1960 - Willow Rd" written in pen on the back, so I'm two and a half years old (Donna 7, Debbie 5) and a younger sister, Dee Dee, was seven months. Along with our single mother, we lived with our twice divorced Aunt Catherine at her house where four kids shared bedroom.

Our very quirky mother, raised during the Depression, saved everything! So all the girls' old clothes were in two large steamer trunks in the basement. It was those dresses, lacy socks, panties, camis, slips, tights, jumpers and sweaters that introduced me to love all things girly and feminine.

It started as a private dress-up game, but then our mother saw me and passively allowed it, while our Aunt actively encouraged it and participated with my sisters in my femulations. What began as once or twice a week for maybe an hour each time, turned into four, five and six days a week and for an entire morning or all afternoon, even all day and into the evening when they switched me into baby doll PJs or a red plaid flannel granny nightgown with pink fuzzy slippers.

In this photo, they tried a barrette in my short hair, but over time our mother allowed my hair to grow longer, which made looking like a girl even easier.

More to come.

Wearing Express (Source: Express)

Actor Dylan Sprouse femulates in an 2005 episode of television's The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.