new fall fashions arrived (and returned)

Last week, I mentioned ordering three dresses and a pair of shoes from Newport-News' fall catalog.

The mail order business must be slow these days because I received my order yesterday... only five days after I placed the order. (Usually, I wait weeks for Newport-News orders.)

After dinner, I slipped into my girly undies and a pair of pantyhose to try on the new clothing.

The ankle-length batwing dress, which I ordered in scarlet, fit fine, but I did not like the fabric nor the way it looked on me. It goes back.

The poet dress, which I ordered in purple berry, was swimming on me. If you look at the model in the catalog, it is swimming on her, too, but it looks good on her, but not on me. It goes back.

The leopard sash-tie wrap dress, which I pined for in this posting, fit perfectly and as I predicted, it looked fabulous on me. It is a keeper and I can't wait to wear it out.

The patent leather-look platform pumps with a 4-3/4-inch heels, which I ordered in black and wrote about here and here, were amazing! I liked them even before I tried them on. I slipped them on and they fit like a glove or should I say "sock?" I buckled up the ankle straps and there was a lot of strap to spare, so I felt that was a good sign.

I stood up and immediately knew that these were not my mother's high heels. My feet sat in the shoes at an angle which was steeper then they are normally accustomed to even in heels. And I never felt so tall. I wear heels whenever I crossdress, but not this high and the added height was very noticeable.

After the initial shock, I began moving around and had no problem. I actually tried on the shoes first and wore them while I tried on and modeled the three dresses. After my personal fashion show, the shoes were still comfortable and they are keepers.

So, I scored 50% with my online mail-order purchases. Everything worked out well because I really wanted the shoes and leopard wrap dress, whereas I ordered the other two dresses on a whim.

nature's call

good news: shoulder pads coming back

I just read fashion news reports (here, here, and here) that shoulder pads are making a comeback.

That is good news for crossdressers, transvestites, and femulators, especially those of us who already have manly shoulders.

Next time you strut your stuff down Main Street, the fashionistas will be so jealous of you showing off your fashionably padded shoulders. Little will they know that the padding is natural.

And when you buy the latest fashion, make sure you rip out the shoulder pads because you won't need them.

(By the way, don't throw out those shoulder pads. I ripped out all the shoulder pads from my dresses and jackets the last time they were fashionable and I discovered that they look just like the pads used to pad bras, so I saved a few in case I ever had a bra padding emergency.)

feminine guys better for long-term love

LONDON (AFP) - Women see masculine-looking men as more unsuitable long-term partners but men with more feminine features are seen as more committed and less likely to stray, researchers said Wednesday.

Read the rest of the story here.

after you tie my apron strings...

Heelpolitik: The Power of the Stiletto

If you love high heel shoes like I do, then you will like this recent article by Christina Binkley in Wall Street Journal.

Look under many a powerful woman's desk and you'll find a serious pair of heels. Whether they're on her feet or tucked in a drawer, the shoes' key attribute is a three-inch spike that, if redirected, could put your eye out.

Here is the link to the whole article. Enjoy!

bad news, good news

Bad news is that I have to go on a boring business trip next week.

Good news is that I plan to go out en femme at least one evening during the trip.

name poll

If you haven't voted already, please vote in my Changing My Name poll.

Thank-you.

saw plametto extract

I bought a bottle of saw palmetto extract at Wally Mart today.

I popped three softgels with lunch and plan to pop three more each time I eat.

My goal is to completely fill the B cups of my bras with boobs instead of sharing the cups with empty air.

the little rascal in a dress

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of the Our Gang/Little Rascals comedies. (Would you believe that I am so old that I saw my first Our Gang comedy in a movie theater as a short inserted between the newsreel, cartoon, coming attractions, and the main feature?)

Anyway, after my first taste of Spanky and his gang on the big screen, I sought out the series on television and over the years, I probably viewed every episode at least once including the early silent episodes.

One silent episode left a big impression on me. I only saw it two or three times, but I will never forget it. For years, I tried to track it down without much success. Even the Internet was not much help.

I was surfing the net last night, came upon a reference to the Our Gang series and it occurred to me that I had not had a go at looking for that episode in awhile. So, I googled the subject and found an excellent episode guide for the series.

Using that guide, I quickly found the episode I sought: One Terrible Day. It was the first episode listed and the first episode to be released (way back in 1922). Here is the brief description from the tv.com web site:

A wealthy society matron treats the underprivileged kids of the gang to an outing at her country estate. The gang turns both the journey and the visit at the farm into a chaotic adventure.

That sounds innocuous: just your typical Our Gang/Little Rascals plot, but there was a sub-plot that made an impact on my very impressionable pre-teen mind.

A little girl lived with the wealthy society matron (she was a niece, granddaughter, whatever, I don't remember). She was a well-behaved, little lady, however, when the gang arrived, she convinced one of the male gang members to switch places with her and they crossdressed in each other's clothes. After the girl and boy switched clothes, the girl became aggressive and dominated the boy in the dress.

I will always remember seeing the boy in the little girl's short dress and thinking that he looked just like a little girl. Also, I will always remember how the girl in drag pushed around the boy in drag.

As a kid, I was not aggressive and other kids bullied me and pushed me around. Maybe my subconscious mind decided that since I acted like that little rascal in drag that I should wear a dress, too. And a few years later, my subconscious mind won over my conscious mind and I donned my first (in a long line) of dresses.

Who knows?

GLBT rights activist pulls back on the T

Robin Bodiford is not "The Man."

For one, she's a lesbian whose law practice almost exclusively represents gay clients. She spearheaded groundbreaking ordinances in Broward County to protect gay rights and allow same-sex couples to register as domestic partners. When the only county commissioner who voted against both ordinances, John Rodstrom, received an award from the Gay and Lesbian Community Center in Fort Lauderdale, she staged a one-woman walkout.

In other words, she has devoted her life and career to sticking it to the you know who.

But now Bodiford finds herself in the most unlikeliest of roles. As a small but strident band of activists lobbies to add legal protections for transgender people to the county ordinance, Bodiford is pulling back.

Read the rest of this sad story in today's Miami Herald.

new fall fashions

I have been buying clothes from Newport-News as long as I have been crossdressing. The very first dress I ever bought via mail order was from Newport-News, except that they were known as Avon Fashions back then.

I like their clothing and have bought a lot of clothing from their catalogs over the years. Their fashions are stylish, but affordable. I seldom return items unless there is a sizing issue. I am a happy customer

I am on their e-mail list and get something from them just about every day. Today, I received a 20% discount offer. I have been eyeing some of their new fall items, which are discounted for their pre-season sale. Subtract another 20% and I could not resist, so I went wild and ordered three dresses and a pair of shoes.

Here is what I ordered:




I ordered the dresses on the left in the colors as pictured. I ordered the dress on the right in scarlet red and the shoes in black. The shoes have 4-3/4-inch heels and should be challenging, but I am up to it.

Staci or Lana?

Please vote in my "Changing My Name" poll.

I explained why I am thinkig about changing my name in my long blog posting yesterday and I really appreciate your input and your vote concerning my potential name change.

behind the name

In my long blog posting yesterday, I did not mention how I researched my femme names. (That blog posting was long enough and I did not want to make it any longer).

Anyway, I researched my femme names on the Behind the Name web site. It seems to be a very comprehensive web site and I recommend it if you are interested in the story behind your first name and/or are choosing a femme name.

Lana Hunter?

For a long time now, I have been kicking around the idea of changing my name.

When I chose "Staci" for my femme name, I did not put much thought into it.

I was dressing for years at home and my only crossdressing forays out in public were on Halloween, so I really did not need a femme name. And it never occurred to me to pick a femme name for my femme persona. I guess that's because I don't have separate personas. I am the same person dressed as a male or dressed as a female, so why would I need to change my name.

When I started reading the messages on CompuServe's Genderline back in the 1980s. I immediately noticed that most of the guys online had feminine names. I read Genderline messages for years without posting any messages myself, so I still did not need a femme name.

When my wife urged me to find a local support group, the only place I was aware of where I might find out about a local support group was Genderline, so I had to come up with a femme name quickly before I posted my first message to avoid outing myself by using my male name.

Many crossdressers take the easy way out and use the feminine version of their male name, for example, Dean becomes Deanna, Steven becomes Stephanie, Eric becomes Erica, and Jordan becomes Jordan. I am always in favor of the path of least resistance, so I decided to use the feminine version of my name and I became "Staci."

As Staci, I asked about local support groups on Genderline, where I found out about Connecticut Outreach Society (COS), started attending COS meetings, and became acquainted with other transfolk.

Over the years, I have known a number of transfolk who changed their name from the feminine version of their male name to something that they liked better (for one reason or another). I often considered doing the same thing, but I really did not find another name that interested me enough to bother changing.

Yesterday, on the drive home from work, I had an epiphany. I suddenly came up with a new name that did interest me enough to bother changing: Lana. The new name had a lot going for it.

Lana is a name that is not common. I personally don't know anyone so named and I am aware of only one celebrity (deceased film star Lana Turner), who was so named.

Lana is a name I always liked. I first came across the name reading a Superman comic book when I was a kid. It was the name of a secondary character, Lana Lang, who was a love interest of Superman, but she always lost out to Lois Lane. (If I was Superman, I would have taken Lana Lang over Lois Lane, but to each his own.) Anyway, she was probably my favorite female comic book character, although my affinity for Lana Lang was neck and neck with my affinity for Katy Keene.

In my humble opinion, Lana is a very sexy and feminine name.

Lana is an obscure Beach Boys song, which I like.

So, I had my new name. But before I transitioned from Staci to Lana, I decided to look up the meaning of my new name. Surprise! It turns out that my new name is the feminine form of a male name, Alan. When I looked up Alan, it turns out that the meaning of the male name is not known for certain. Hmmm...

I decided to look up the meaning of Staci. The web site says it is the feminine variant of Stacey (which, by the way, is not my male name).

Next, I look up Stacey and it is an either/or name, i.e., it can be masculine or feminine. It is also short for Anastasia and Eustace.

Next, I look up Anastasia and it is the feminine form of Anastasius.

Finally, I look up Anastasius and it is the Latinized form of the Greek name Anastasios, which meant "resurrection" from Greek (anastasis). So, Staci/Stacey/Anastasia/Anastasius means a rising again into life, activity, or prominence.

Hey - I like that! But I still like my new name, too. What's a girl to do? I wish I had one of those Magic 8 balls handy to help me decide.

If you have any opinions on my name, please leave a comment. And vote in the Changing my name... poll, too.

poll results: who reads this blog?

Who reads this blog?

Well, 50 readers voted during the weeklong poll and here are the results:

33 (66%) are crossdressers/transvesites

12 (24%) are transsexuals

3 (6%) are curious observers of the trans phenomena

2 (4%) arrived her by mistake

3 (6%) are "none of the above"

Voters could choose multiple selections, so that accounts for the 53 votes by 50 voters.

Transfolk (crossdresser/transvestite/transsexual) represent 90% of my blog's readers (no surprise there).

And I'm curious, who are the three voters who selected "none of the above?" Why do they read this blog?

transadvocacy fashion show web page

Here is a web page about Busted!, the fashion show I will be modeling in: Transadvocacy Fashion Show & Fundraiser.

passing hazards

supportive significant other

face the facts about your skin

The #1 Skincare Mistake Most Crossdressers Make

Beautiful skin is one of the secrets to passing as a crossdresser. Discover the #1 skincare mistake most crossdressers make and learn three essential secrets for a radiant complexion.

Read the rest of the story here.