Old School, New School

I tend to be old school, but I am always open to new school and if the new school makes sense to me, I enroll.

Over the weekend, I was putting together outfits and in my opinion, the best way to see if an outfit works is to try it on and examine it in the mirror and/or take some selfies and see how the camera's eye views the outfit.

To get the full effect, trying on outfits necessitates wearing shapewear. So first things first, I opened my shapewear storage box to get out what I needed.

Lately, I have been wearing new school shapewear: Spanx clonewear (camis and briefs) over a waist cincher and Victoria's Secret bra. The bra and waist cincher provide the basic hourglass figure and the Spanx clonewear smooths out the bumps and bulges.

While my shapewear storage box was opened, I noticed two very old school high-waisted panty girdles that I had not worn in ages. Since the first outfit I was planning to try on included figure-hugging leggings, I wondered how they would look over the girdle.

So I tugged on a girdle (its waist was so high that I did not need a waist cincher). Then I slipped on a bra and a Spanx clone cami to smooth things out.

I mixed old school and new school and when I tried on the leggings and a top over the shapewear, I was very happy with the results. The old school-new school combination of shapewear improved my figure noticeably; my tummy was flatter and my waist was narrower than if I wore new school shapewear only.

What more could a girl ask for?

Professional Femulator Harry S. Franklyn, circa 1929

Wearing Chanel.

True Colors Conference Workshop Proposals Wanted

All ready for the 2013
True Colors Conference

True Colors 21, the world's largest LGBTQIA youth issues conference will be held on Friday, March 21 and  Saturday, March 22nd, 2014 at the University of Connecticut in Storrs.  The theme for 2014 explores what it means to play on an equal field in all the areas of our lives: sports, school, community, employment, family, faith, etc. 

Workshops are organized into different tracks geared to different audiences including professionals, general (youth and adults), spirituality, family support, youth only, and college only. (Note that we have two new tracks: family support and spirituality! Workshop proposals must be submitted on line.by Friday, November 1, 2013.  

For more information or to submit a proposal, go here or phone 860-232-0050, ext 301

I have presented trans-oriented workshops at the True Colors Conference in the past and each time has been a rewarding experience.  I plan to submit a proposal for the 2014 installment of the conference and I highly recommend it to anyone who has something to offer our T youth.

Femulators attending a New York City drag ball in 1958.

Wearing Tibi.

Showing Trans

TransPACT (Parents of Connecticut Transkids) will be showing the award-winning film Trans at the Starplex Cinemas in Berlin, Connecticut for one night only: Thursday, October 17. 

Trans is an up-close and very personal journey into the transgender world through the memorable stories and the unusual lives of a remarkable cast of characters.

The event is also a fundraiser for the Jim Collins Foundation, a group that funds surgeries for trans people who need gender confirmation surgery, but cannot afford it. 

There will be a Q&A after the film with Tony Ferraiolo, transgender activist and co-founder of the Jim Collins Foundation. The producer of Trans, Mark Shoen, has also agreed to attend.

Tickets are only available on-line and in advance. Learn all about this event and order your tickets here.

Professional femulator, circa 2000.

Wearing Boston Proper.

Minimalist Skin Care

Today, Daily Makeover had "The Lazy Girl's Guide to Great Skin," but it may as well be titled "The Lazy Femulator's Guide to Great Skin."

Personally, I perform a little more skin care than what is recommended by Daily Makeover, but not really that much more.

I am typing this while watching the Emmy Awards pre-game show, "Live From Red Carpet" on E! and the woman look gorgeous this year So many evening gowns to die for!.

There will be no red carpet, but I will have my own glam opportunity in about a month when I attend One Big Event. When I attended last year, my photo appeared in the Hartford Courant newspaper, so who knows what bodes for me this year.

All the lonely people

After the dining out portion of our girl's night out Thursday, Diana and I drove to the cocktail party at Real Art Ways (RAW).

On the third Thursday of each month, this Hartford art center hosts its Creative Cocktail Hour, which usually includes the opening of a new art exhibit, a live band, finger food and of course, creative cocktails. The crowd is very diverse and the local trans community has been showing up from the get go. In fact, one of my long-time trans friends, Audrey, is on the board of RAW.

My iPhone took me on a different route than Diana, but we arrived at RAW simultaneously! The cocktail hour began at 6 and when we arrived at 6:30, the crowd was sparse. I bought a drink and walked around looking at the art exhibits. Then we staked out a comfy wall-length couch, which became tranny central for most of the evening.

In the past, I have seen up to a dozen transwomen in attendance, but this time I counted only four including myself and Diana. RAW board member Audrey showed up as did another long-time trans friend, Deja. I chatted with Audrey and Deja like forever catching up on each other's lives.

Besides chatting, I people-watched. The size of the crowd was atypical for the RAW cocktail party. It is usually wall-to-wall people, but this time, the crowd was much thinner. Dunno why, but it was. And unlike the restaurant, where I felt invisible, the cocktail hour is a very social environment and people watched each other. Invisibility was impossible.

I noticed a number of beautifully-dressed women in attendance and the length of some of their skirts competed with mine. Some of the woman were very friendly and greeted me as if we were old friends despite the fact we had never seen each other before.

A couple of fellows came over to our group of girls, introduced themselves and chatted for awhile… mostly with Deja and not guy-shy me. (I am guy-shy because I am not interested in guys.)

I made a new friend Thursday night, Shawn. He is a friend of Audrey's and came over to chat with us. After he heard me speak, he was taken aback by my accent. When I told him I was born and raised in Waterbury, he said my accent was unlike any Waterbury accent he had ever encountered before. I mentioned that my first language was Polish and I only learned English after my parents bought a television. He thought that maybe having Polish as my language had something to do with my odd Waterbury accent. We then switched gears and talked about the Red Sox… not the ones we wear on our feet, but the ones that play in Fenway Park.

Audrey and Deja moved on to listen to the live band and Diana left for home. I listened to the band for a couple of songs, but the music sounded muddled. I suspect the acoustics of the room were at fault. Whatever --- it was not something I wanted to continue listening to, so I returned to the comfy couch to people watch.

As I sipped my second glass of lime and seltzer, I watched all the lonely people and suddenly felt lonely myself. I felt bad that I didn't try to break the ice with some of the singles who sat nearby at various times throughout the evening. And I promised to myself to do better next time.

And there will be a next time.

Andrej Pejic, femulating fashion model.

Wearing Avon Mark.

You'll freeze your ass off

I took Thursday afternoon off from work in order to get ready for my girls' night out.

After a leisurely lunch, I began the transformation by shaving and applying my makeup.

A Makeup Tip

Over the years, I have used many brands of mascara. but lately, my go-to mascara is Avon's "Super Extend Extreme Mascara." It adds great length as well as volume to my lashes. It also seems to last longer than some other mascaras.

Yes - I am an Avon representative and whenever Avon introduces a new mascara, I always try a tube and usually I am disappointed and back track to Maybelline, but with their Super Extend Extreme Masacar, Avon finally has got it right.

Now back to our regular programming…

I slipped on my undies, nude thigh high stockings and heels, then I began trying on different dresses and modeling them in our full-length mirror to decide what to wear. Originally, I planned to wear the Avon mark brand "Exotic Edge Dress" I purchased recently, but I was concerned that it was too short.

After trying on a half-dozen dresses, I ended up selecting the Exotic Edge Dress after all. It was the shortest dress of the dozen, but not that much shorter and what the heck --- I was going to a cocktail party sponsored by an art museum. From past experience, I knew my hemline would not be the shortest in attendance (and I was correct).

In addition to the dress, I wore my Nine West Love Fury black patent pumps with their sky-high 4.5-inch heels, black B. Makowsky bag, silver earrings (Napier), silver bracelet (Avon mark) and black watch (Avon).

I spritzed some Chanel No. 22 on all the right places and was ready to go. As I said goodbye to y spouse and daughter, my spouse remarked, "You'll freeze your ass off." Which always makes me smile because it reminds me of the adults in "A Christmas Story" warning Ralphie that, "You'll shoot your eye out." Unlike Ralphie, I never froze my ass off and Thursday night was no different.

I left the house at 4:20 PM and arrived at the Mexican restaurant in Hartford 30 minutes later. Diana's car was not in sight, so I cell phoned her to find out where she was in case she was parked in back and already seated inside. Turns out she was stuck in traffic, so I went inside to get a table.

There was only one table occupied at that early dinner hour, so the gent who seated me said I could sit anywhere I liked. A woman brought menus and I perused the fare while waiting for Diana to arrive.

She showed up about ten minutes later and we munched on chips and salsa while deciding what to order. Soon a waiter came to our table and took our drink and dinner orders. While we waited for dinner we chatted about all things trans.

Dinner was excellent and since we are both trying to maintain our girlish figures, we passed on dessert. Before leaving, I wanted to freshen my lipstick, so I excused myself to the ladies' room where I found the prettiest ladies' room I had ever encountered!

We paid the check and exited to our cars to drive to the cocktail party at Real Art Ways about ten minutes from the restaurant.

There is not much to say about our restaurant experience. It was as if we were invisible to the staff and other diners. We were just two old ladies and nobody paid much attention to us. However, I must add that there were hardly any other diners to pay any attention to us. Only two other tables were occupied while we were there --- the other diners were outside on the patio.

Come back tomorrow for the cocktail party portion of our girl's night out.

Femulating fashion model Dimitry Rublyovsky.

Wearing Boston Proper.

Wig Out

Thursday' girls' night out was the debut of yet another new wig for Ms. Stana. (More to follow after I drink more coffee,)

Night Out

It's girls' night out tonight as I meet up with my girlfriend and world renowned blogger, Diana, at our favorite Mexican restaurant where we will hatch plans on how to femulate the blogosphere (and then the world).

After dinner, we will move on to Real Art Ways for their monthly Creative Cocktail Hour, where we will just be fabulous (until they kick us out).

La de da.

Eduarda Brigida, Miss Gay Universe

 

Wearing Boston Proper.

Femulating Faculty

Starla sent along another 99 images of femulating students (and one faculty member) that she found in online school yearbooks.

I always suspect that something is up trans-wise when a faculty member femulates along with the students and in this batch, we find a student-teacher who "shows off his feminine side on Halloween." Does Miss Waugh's perfect wig or cleanly shaved legs or slingback pumps hint that she shows off her feminine side on other occasions? Just wondering.

One of my high school teachers femulated at my high school for some occasion, which I cannot recall. I learned later that she femulated on other occasions that had nothing to do with school if you know what I mean.

Anyway, the 99 images from Starla now reside in the Yearbooks collection on flickr and 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 this 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.

By the way, 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.

The Dublin Drag Orchestra.

 

Wearing Anna Sui.

Casa Susanna on Broadway

Four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein is set to return to Broadway with Casa Valentina, about a group of heterosexual men in the Catskills in the 1960s who enjoy getting together to dress up like women. Problems begin when the men must decide whether or not to go public with their organization. (Source: Entertainment Weekly)

In real life, Casa Valentina was Casa Susanna. The New York Times printed a story about it in 2007, which came on the heels of the publication of a photo book containing flea market found snapshots of the girls who femulated at Casa Susanna.

Casa Susanna was also the site of the 1968 book A Year Among the Girls by Darrell G. Raynor, the “Uncensored and Unexpurgated – the World-Famous Autobiographical Report on the Men Who Dress in Woman’s Clothing – the Transvestites” …the book that opened my eyes to the fact that I was not alone.

(Thanks to Aunty Marlena for the heads-up about this story.)

 

Olvin Medalen femulating in the 1920s.

 

 

Wearing Albert Ferretti.

Just Pictures

Actor Dave Foley femulating on a Halloween episode of television's Newsradio in 1996.

Wearing Boston Proper.

Namoli Brennet: In the Flesh

Singer-songwriter Namoli Brennet performs intimate folk concert at Congregational Church in Cornwall,  CT

Cornwall,  CT  (September  2013)—Dubbed  “among  the  best  folk-rock  artists  in  the country,"  by  the  Tucson  Weekly,  singer-songwriter  and  Connecticut  native  Namoli Brennet is known for the honesty and intensity of her live shows, as well as her quirky and comedic performance patter. A trans woman who was named one of the inaugural Trans 100 on the first ever list highlighting accomplished members of the transgender community across the United States, Brennet will perform a live concert of her soulful, witty songs on Saturday, October 19, 2013, at 7 pm at the United Church of Christ in Cornwall, Connecticut.

***

I  lunched with Namoli at  the True Color Conference in 2007. Here is what I wrote about it back then:

"I had lunch with D and J, two girls from my support group, and Namoli Brennet, a Tucson-based trans/genderqueer songwriter, who has been touring the country since 2002 when she released her first CD, Boy in a Dress. It was the first time I ever rubbed elbows with a rock star.

"Namoli performed at the conference and also conducted a workshop. She is a very nice person in person!

"Funny thing is that I am familiar with the song Boy in a Dress (I have it on my iPod), but I did not connect the song with her, the person with whom I was breaking bread."

I doubt if Namoli remembers me, but I sure do remember her and plan to attend her Connecticut concert next month. If you are in the area, I highly recommend that you attend, too, and hope to see you there!

 "Boy in a Dress" photographed by Anna Mimoumi.

 Wearing Boston Proper.