Follow Your Heart

"Why Neutrals are Key to Transition Dressing"
(The actual text accompanying this ad from Joie.)

Mateusz Jakubiec femulates Grażyna Brodzińska
on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Just finishing two weeks' vacation.

It was wonderful taking two weeks off back-to-back. I have not done that in a long time, but with so much vacation time on my hands, I figured, "Why not!"

I mostly hung around town. I did some home repairs that I have put off doing for years. Otherwise, I did not do much. I didn't even do much blogging, as you may have noticed. t was very relaxing.

My wife had a birthday during my vacation, so I took her shopping. We went to my favorite store, Dress Barn, and I bought her whatever she wanted. It was the Dress Barn nearest my home, not the store near work where I am a frequent shopper in girl and boy mode. So I was not familiar with the sales staff, nor they with me.

Although I was in boy mode, I perused the racks "looking for stuff for my wife to try on." It was a perfect cover!

I saw a few items for my girl mode, but I thought I already have plenty to wear and since I have not gone out much lately, I really didn't need anything new.

But it's that time of year when gurls have visions of Provincetown dancing in their head. That includes me and I have been thinking about going to Fantasia Fair, but I can't make up my mind.

To help me make a decision, I listed the positives and negatives about going.

+ Have plenty of vacation time left to use
+ It is personally affordable this year
+ Wife's health is stable, so my absence from home would not be a burden
+ There are still rooms available in Provincetown
+ Have not gone to Fantasia Fair in two years
+ Opportunity to see old friends
+ Opportunity to present as a woman 24/7 for an extended period of time
+ Have plenty of new outfits to wear
+ I love Provincetown

- Packing
- Conflicts with baseball post-season (my Red Sox are in a position to be participants this year)
- Been there, done that regarding the Fantasia Fair schedule of activities
- I dislike the 4-hour drive to and from (especially from) Provincetown
- My dog lost her eyesight recently, so she may be a burden while I'm gone
- Just went to Fantasia Fair two years ago
- It is off-season, so some Provincetown places are closed
- Provincetown knows the gurls are in town, so passing is difficult
- Adams Pharmacy

So, should I stay or should I go?

Wearing Solace London.

Allied prisoners-of-war put on a show in German Stalag XVIII.

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Retirement Age

"Telling us we should or shouldn't wear certain items is an easy way to make us take pause. Every woman is allowed to dictate her own personal style and what makes her feel best. That being said, we've all come to a time when we've stopped and asked ourselves, Do I really still want to wear this? Whether it's due to passing trends or evolving taste, over time, there are pieces that just no longer seem to fit in with the rest of our wardrobes."

In today's WhoWhatWear, Aemilia Madden writes about the right age to retire certain items in your closet including such tranny staples as miniskirts, leggings and skinny jeans. I invite you to follow this link to begin thinning out your closet.

Wearing David Meister.

Jorge femulates Jennifer Lopez on Romanian television's Te Cunosc de Undeva!

Dressing Apples

By Susan King, Transitioning into Tomorrow

Many of us have an apple shape. Part of having an apple shape is having great legs and a statuesque look. We just are a little squishy in the middle.

My question is "how to find the right dress for an apple shape?" This is a nice video with some answers and good tips.

Wearing Komarov.

Alex Newell femulates on television's Glee (2009).

Back to School

Femulating at Istrouma High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1964.
Thanks to Starla!

Wearing Tory Burch.

Ben Porter femulates in the 2004 British film School of Seduction.

Too Good To Be True

There is a lot of trans stuff on the Internet that is the product of people’s imagination, wishful thinking and/or Photoshop.

Spend a few minutes viewing a few trans pages on Pinterest and you will see photos of purported transwomen who look too good to be true. In fact, there is a trans Pinterest page called “Maybe Too Good To Be True.”

Same thing on YouTube.

Recently, there have been some YouTube videos showing young men transformed into drop dead gorgeous women. I smell a rat when the whole video has a musical soundtrack that masks what is really going on; you cannot hear any conversations that might reveal the truth, nor can you hear the voices of the "girls.” Another giveaway is when the video does not permit comments (no news is bad news).

A little research can also reveal fabrications.

A video from an academy in Peru showed up earlier this year showing male students getting dressed to kill as girls to pose for the fund-raising calendar.

I was suspicious because the calendar was dated 2014, but the video did not appear until this year, not to mention that the whole video had a masking musical soundtrack and comments were disabled. So I did a little Googling and found a handful of other videos from the academy. Turned out that the boys in those videos were youngsters, whereas the “boys” in the calendar video were high school or college-aged.

This blog has been guilty of publishing trans fabrications, too.

I try to weed out the fakes, but sometimes I miss the obvious. For example, a recent post about boys wearing bras contained references that revealed its obvious fakery. When a few readers pointed out what I had missed, I removed the fake immediately.

Other times, people have written first person accounts that have elements right out of trans fiction. I took the writers at their word, but some readers wrote to me that the stories were “too good to be true.”

Without proof, I find myself between a rock and a hard place, so I let the post live on in infamy with a promise to myself be more careful in the future.

Wearing Brahmin.

Antonio Pavon femulates Sabrina Salerno on Peruvian television's Tu Cara Me Suena.

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I Love My Lipstick

By Susan King, Transitioning into Tomorrow

For me, my lipstick is a fashion necessity. However, it also has some additional benefit:

•     It supports lip hydration
•     It can be a good sunscreen 
•     Can improve your mental health 

Many lipsticks have moisturizing additives to help keep your lips soft and hydrated. Adding a lipstick with a good sunscreen can protect your lips from the harsh sunlight. Finally, studies support the "Lipstick Effect," which indicates that when the economy is bad, women spend more money on items like lipstick.

To increase the effectiveness of lipstick, do you exfoliate your lips and do you know which colors work best for your skin tone?

Below is a video on a DYI lip exfoliate, followed by a chart showing which lipstick shade works on the which skin tone.

Wearing La Redoute.

Cassandra Moore, professional femulator

Blogging Maturely

Hi Stana,

I like your new theme on your blog: the older you. The future you, clad in black, platform sandals, beads and a cute hairstyle, is sexy and attractive. In this older woman vein, I have found inspiration at the website Style at a Certain Age... you may very well know of it.

Your devoted follower,

Beth

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Hello Stana,

There's no shortage of older women style blogs...

For example try Not Dead Yet Style (I love that title) and also see her list of her favorite blogs.

Best regards,

Susan

∞ ∞ ∞

And then there is Ginger Burr's Total Image Consultants Blog that contains useful articles and tips on how to present a more fabulous mature you.

Wearing Madeleine.

Jerzy Grzechnik femulates Adele on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzm Znajom.

His-sy Fit

Wearing Boston Proper.

Alex Mathias, Vadim Oleynik and Artem Meh on Ukraine television's Yak Dvi Kraplі.

Femulate Her or Her?

The Femulate Her spot in this blog features nicely clad women, typically, models wearing the latest styles.

The women I choose for the Femulate Her spot are women I want to femulate and I imagine, you readers would like to femulate some of these women, too.

There is one problem with my selections; there is a big disconnect regarding age... about 40 years!

Most of the models are probably in their 20s and are modeling clothing appropriate for young women. I am in my 60s and my guess is that many of this blog’ readers are right up their with me age-wise. As a result, we can dream about femulating the young models that I choose for the Femulate Her spot, but the reality is that such femulations are beyond our reach.

After publishing Friday’s post, My Future, I mulled over what I wrote and realized that my so-called future may be now! Instead of femulating a young model from Bebe or somesuch, I should femulate women who are more mature.

What a concept!

Wearing Madeleine.

Marcin Rogacewicz femulates Halina Frackowiak
on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzm Znajom.