TV

UPDATES BELOW!

During the week before Halloween, television celebrates the holiday by running old horror films and showing new situation comedies with Halloween themes. Typically, the sitcoms have their cast donning costumes to attend parties or go trick-or-treating. Occasionally, there will be a male dressed as a female and sometimes the male-to-female costume is noteworthy like Dave Foley’s unforgettable costume on the 1996 Halloween episode of Newsradio (photo above).

I don’t know for sure if any guys will be dressing like gals this week, but there is a good chance that some fellow is going to be a miss on tonight’s episode of The Real O’Neals (ABC, 9:30 EDST).

The teaser ad for tonight’s episode shows the O'Neal at a Halloween party. Suddenly they all look up to watch someone coming down the staircase. The ad only shows the legs of the person coming down the staircase and that person has shaved shapely legs in dark hosiery.

Here is the description of tonight’s episode:

When Halloween arrives, or what Kenny refers to as "the gay Super Bowl," he plans to go to Boystown to watch the festive costume parade. In an effort to prevent Kenny from attending, Eileen agrees to let him throw his own Halloween party at home. Eileen's tolerance is ultimately tested when Kenny recruits Stuart and his gay friends to join the big party, and he makes a BIG costume change.

And the guest star list includes “Martin Lion as J.Lo.”

Please stay tuned!

UPDATE 1: In a Yahoo! interview, Noah Galvin, the actor who plays Kenny on The Real O'Neals, revealed, "In our Halloween episode, I am in full, full drag, which I’m very excited for the world to see. I’m a really pretty girl!"

That's tonight at 9:30 PM EDST on ABC!

UPDATE 2: Don't know if you had a chance to watch The Real O'Neals last night, but it went beyond all my expectations. Kenny's brother dressed as Bonnie Parker of Bonnie and Clyde fame, male party guests dressed as J.Lo and Britney Spears, but Kenny outdid them all with a fantastic femulation of Beyonce. And he does make "a really pretty girl!"

Wearing IRO.

Deonte L. Warren and Steven Douglas Stewart on stage in
Fabulous! The Queen of the New Musical Comedies (2014).

Best Fit

My mother raised my sister and me in the 1950s, while my father worked two jobs to finance our raising. With my male role model out of the picture (or out of focus) most of the time, my mother became my role model and as a result, instead of raising a son and a daughter, she raised two daughters.

The older daughter (me) was her favorite and received more attention; I was babied, pampered and spoiled, whereas my sister often had to fend for herself. As a result, I turned out to be very feminine, whereas my sister was more independent and assertive.

During the 1950s, "there were two distinct shapes, the waif like gamine figure epitomized in movies by Audrey Hepburn and the more womanly hourglass figure represented by Grace Kelly, with tiny waists, padded hips and circle skirts." (Source: Glamourdaze.com)

My mother was in the latter group and I found myself in that group. too! I assume extra estrogen is responsible for my hourglass figure and predisposed me to embrace the feminine environment I found myself in.

I never felt that I was a female trapped in a male body. Instead, I was "me" trapped in the expectations of what being a "male" was all about.

Although I embraced some things considered "male," I also rejected many "male" things, while embracing many "female" things. As a result, friends and enemies consider me to be effeminate.

I never tried to be feminine just as I never tried to be macho, but society branded me "effeminate" nonetheless. I was just being "me," which just happens to be considered “feminine” in the eyes of today's society.

My birth certificate reads "male," as does my driver's license and all of the other official paperwork I collected during my life. That is just a convenience because I have presented as a male most of my life, but the truth is that presenting as a woman is a better fit for "me."

Actually, it is a perfect fit.

Helen wearing Romwe blouse, Ann Taylor skirt, Nordstrom scarf and sunglasses,
Michael Kors bag and watch and Christian Louboutin shoes.

Rafael Torres femulates in the 2009 video Satin Dreams.

Worst to First

The world's worst womanless beauty pageant!

Wearing Boston Proper.

Contestant in the 2016 Miss Engineering womanless beauty pageant
(probably the world's finest womanless beauty pageant)

Weekend Wearing Womenswear

Zoe alerted me to a Huffington Post article about a youngster who will dress up as his hero for Halloween. His hero happens to be Bob the Drag Queen and the boy's mother and uncle are lending a hand putting his costume together and making it as authentic as possible.

It is a nice story and I think you will enjoy it.

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Lost my eyelash comb somewhere, somehow. I didn't realized how much I missed it until I made up my face Sunday afternoon. So Monday, I bought a new one (this one).

A long time ago, a queen told me to use an eyelash comb with metal teeth. At the time, they were hard to find, but I managed to get one from the Vermont Country Store, of all places! So I was a little upset when I lost it. But these days, the metal-toothed combs are more common.

The function of the comb is to separate and unclump your eyelashes after applying mascara. The plastic teeth are just too thick to fit in between the lashes you are trying to unclump, whereas the metal teeth are just right to do the job. So go metal.

By the way, the metal teeth are very sharp, so be very careful or you'll poke your eye out!

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Beauty expert, Louis Licari, wrote about blurring on Huffington Post... not gender blurring, but age blurring. It is an interesting blog post and includes tips on how you too can blur your age and look "young" despite how many birthdays you have celebrated (or not).

You can read Mr. Licari's post here. Enjoy!

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Helen of Haute Business fame and I have such a similar fashion sense that you'd think we were separated at birth! I am so enamored by some of her outfits that I decided to replicate one to wear to work on Halloween.

Will you be en femme at work for Halloween? I hope so!

Wearing Veronica Beard.

Eugeniusz Bodo femulating in the 1937 Polish film Piętro-wyżej.

Unbared Legs

Susan King, Femulate Contributing Editor of Transitioning into Tomorrow fame writes about how we clothe our legs.

In the 1960's, I remember how wearing my mother's stockings and garter belt felt so good and along with her shoes, were my first foray into "crossdressing."

Now it seems that stockings are out of style unless it's a formal affair or a dress code requirement. That's too bad because I love wearing them. I still wear tights and legwarmers in the winter, but I have a drawer full of stockings that I have not worn in a decade. I should throw them away, but I can not.

I do remember in the 1980's through the 2010's, wearing off-black sheer stockings, not only in the house, but out in public. Hopefully, stockings will come back in style, but I doubt it as woman are dressing more casually everyday.

(Stana's Two Cents: If you have legs that look good without hosiery, then go for it. As for me, I am "old school" and always wear hosiery and probably always will. Although my legs look good without hosiery, they look better with hosiery and better is better.)  

Here is a nice infographic of all the different types of legwear.

Wearing Madeleine.

Gender role reversals at Delta (Ohio) High School in 1998.
(Thank you, Starla, for the image!)

Halloween Outings

This is not a Femulate parody. It is an actual ad from 1969.

Halloween is a day near and dear to the heart of femulators throughout Girl World and early on, I used Halloween as an excuse to shop for my lady wardrobe. (Didn't you?)

"I'm going to a Halloween party dressed as a woman, so I need a... (fill in the blank with whatever I needed at the time: wig, bra, girdle, dress, high heels, makeup, purse, etc., etc., etc.)

I used that excuse a lot when I was still closeted. I dunno if I fooled any of the store staff with my Halloween story. Not many guys are going to spend $100 or more on a wig for one night, so something else must be going on.

At least once, I outed myself. I was 23 years old working in Kingston, New York, a couple of hours away from home and my stash of female finery. Halloween was coming up and I decided it was a perfect time to start my Kingston Kollection.

I found an old school lingerie store where I intended to buy an all-in-one. An older woman greeted me as I entered the store. I told her my Halloween story and added that I wanted an "all-in-one."

That probably tipped my hand immediately; how many guys know what's an all-in-one.

The woman used a tape measure to take my measurements. Then she went in the back room and returned a few minutes later with two all-in-ones.

"Take these to the dressing room, try them on and call me so I can see if they fit properly."

I did not expect such a hands-on sale, but was glad to have it. I quickly stripped down to my briefs, zipped myself into the all-in-one and called for the saleswoman and by doing so, I tipped my hand again.

"Wow - that was quick," she remarked. (I assumed that her other male customers were not as fast as I when trying on their "first" all-in-one.)

She then checked me out and remarked that I had a real girlish figure. I tipped my hand again as my face turned beet red in embarrassment.

Strike three --- I was out!

(Caveat Emptor: This is a repurposed post from the past.)

Wearing Veronica Beard.

Elizabeth Eden nee Ernest Aron and her husband, 

John Wojtowicz, the Dog Day Afternoon bank robber.

Bad Hair Day Continued

As I wrote in my last two posts, I went out Sunday evening to attend a surprise birthday party of one of my long-time trans girlfriends.

The party started slowly guest-wise, so initially I made small talk with the handful of people who showed up early like I did and in the process, made fast friends with a lesbian couple. When some of my trans friends finally arrived, I hung out with them and caught up on things since the last time we had met.

Everyone noticed my new hairdo and said they liked it. But one long time friend said it made me look like an old lady, which confirmed my assessment.

I am old enough and don't want to highlight my age, so I was a little upset with myself for not listening to my inner fashionista and rejecting the gray wig as my crowning glory.

When I got back home to my boudoir, I replaced the long gray wig with one of my short blonde wigs and immediately shed 10 to 15 years. So I will not wear the gray wig again until the day I am so old that the gray wig makes me look younger!

Wearing Boston Proper.

Joshua Hart crossplays/femulates Alice.

Bad Hair Day

As I wrote in my short post on Monday, I went out Sunday evening to attend a surprise birthday party for one of my long-time trans girlfriends. The party started at 4 PM, which meant I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon getting femmed up for the event.

I took my time doing my makeup and as a result, it took an hour rather than the normal 30 to 45 minutes. Then I dressed, switching outfits a few times while trying to decide what to wear out the door. I finally settled on a recent acquisition from Avon, a little black dress with laser cutouts along the hemline (that's the dress, not me in the photo above). I accessorized with vintage earrings and necklace and a long black and white scarf from Avon. Nude Payless pumps and matching nude Avon bag completed the ensemble.

Some time ago, I bought a wig from Envy that I had never worn. I purchased it because I was very happy with another Envy wig I had bought and more importantly, it was available in a large size, which is a rarity in the wig world. For some reason that escapes me now, I bought the wig in light gray/platinum.

When the wig arrived, I tried it on without makeup and I thought it looked awful, but that is often the case when I try a wig on without makeup, so I put it away for a future outing. The future had arrived and I wore it on Sunday. It looked much better with makeup, but I thought it made me look old. That should have alerted me, but I made up my mind to wear it and that I did.

I arrived at the party early because it was a surprise party, so I assumed all the guests should be in place to surprise the birthday girl when she arrived. Turns out that the birthday girl knew about the party and was already in the building when I arrived.

C'est la vie.

Wearing Eloquii.

Enrico Lo Verso femulates in the 1997 Italian film As You Want Me.

Sunday evening outing

Sunday was an evening out for this girl as I attended a surprise birthday party for Audrey, one of my long-time trans girlfriends. The venue was Real Art Ways, a non-profit art space in Hartford, where I have attended their monthly "creative cocktail party" on numerous occasions.

Wearing Dress Barn.

Artur Chamski femulates on Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo.

Saturday-Sunday Short-Shorts

I canceled my Fantasia Fair trip because I can't leave my blind dog with my MS'd wife for a week.

I thought by now that my dog might be better acclimated to her blindness (she lost her eyesight July 4th weekend). She has improved, but not enough so that she would no longer be a burden. So I pulled the plug and will miss the Fair again this year.

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On the other hand, I have an opportunity for a girl's evening out this Sunday!

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A few days ago, I ran into one of my best friends from high school. We went to different colleges and our separate ways after high school, so we had a lot of catching up to do. It was great to see him again and it brought to mind the last time I saw him.

It was over 20 years ago. My wife and I were shopping in a department store and as we queued up to check out, I noticed my friend in the next queue. He was with his wife who was standing in line behind him watching as he placed his purchases on the counter and waited for the cashier to ring him up.

His purchases were a half-dozen women's dresses and he looked sheepish making the purchase (been there, done that). I did not say a word to acknowledge my presence because I did not want to embarrass him in case the dresses were for him.

How do you broach the subject with someone you suspect is one of us?

If I encountered him while I was out en femme, I would not think twice about saying hello. That sure would be an ice breaker!

Wearing ELOQUII.

Marcin Rogacewicz femulates Debbie Harry on
Polish television's Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo.