Coming in April: Transgender Lives

The 11th Annual Transgender Lives Conference: The Intersection of Health and Law will be held on Saturday, April 29 from 8:00 AM until 5:00 PM at the UConn Health Center in Farmington, Connecticut.

This year's keynote speaker is Nicole Maines.

I will attend and present a workshop titled "Makeup Basics for Trans Females." In addition to mine, there will be more than 40 other workshops; here is a description of them all. There will also be a trans families track (four consecutive workshops) by PFLAG and a drop-in clinic by GLAD to help anyone change his or her birth certificate.

This conference is a full day concentrating on transgender lives, that is, concentrating on You. Admission is only $25 and includes a free lunch if you register before April 24 (who says, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.")

The UConn Health Center is located half way between Boston and New York City (about 110 miles either way) just off I-84 Exit 39, so it is an easy drive for folks living in the Northeast.

I hope to see you there. I'll be the 6-foot-2 blonde in 4-inch heels – you can't miss me!

Wearing Venus.

Dylan Stephens, male womenswear model

Youth

Leggy gurls from Texas, Virginia and Louisiana

When I attended my first True Color Conference in 2007, I do not recall any cisgender male students presenting as female. Maybe there were a few who passed so well that I did not detect their birth sex, but in general, the male students dressed like male students and the female students dressed like female students.

Fast forward 10 years and the situation is very, very different.

Thirty-two students attended my workshop on Friday and the majority presented as female or androgynous, while a minority presented as male. Most of the students presenting as female passed perfectly – if they were not attending my workshop (Makeup Basics for Trans Females), I would have never guessed that they were trans.

And I am still floored that one of the girls attending my workshop is a saleswoman at Sephora!

Wow – how the times have changed!

Meanwhile, cisgender boys are still turning up as girls in American schools for Halloween parties, gender bender days, womanless beauty pageants, etc., as evidenced by the latest batch of photos gleaned from online yearbooks by our intrepid yearbook gleaner, Starla.

You may view Starla's new photos on flickr by opening one of my flickr Yearbooks sets (A through Z). There you will find the newest uploads at the end/bottom of the set. (The oldest uploads appear at the beginning/top of the set.)

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.

By the way, if you participated in your school's womanless beauty pageant or attended some other school activity en femme, I would love to post your photos along with any description you would like to provide. (No one has taken me up on this offer, so far, but I am still hopeful and very patient!)

Wearing Lulus.

Enrie Scielzo, male womenswear model

Wednesday Wanderings

Twisted Viewpoint

My perspective of the world around me is heavily influenced by being a transwoman.

A few days ago, one of the e-mail fashion newsletters I receive (The Cut) featured an article titled, "I’ve Started Dressing Like My Mother." You can guess what came to mind when I read that title, whereas a civilian would likely interpret that title very differently (and correctly).

So Retro

While I was touching up my makeup in the ladies' room at UConn on Friday, a young woman remarked, "I love your earrings!"

After I thanked her, I laughed to myself because I was wearing a big old pair of clip-ons, which I am told are so old school when compared to the pierced variety.

Good Reception

My friend Diana is active in various LGBT organizations and as a result, she gets to attend GLAD's annual "Justice for All" reception in Hartford. The reception attracts many of the makers and shakers of Connecticut's LGBT community as well as Governor Dan Malloy and other state politicians.

Diana invited me to attend the reception. Of course, I accepted her invitation and am very excited about the prospect of rubbing elbows with the Governor, who has been a big supporter of trans and gay people.

So what does a girl wear to a Sunday afternoon reception that the Governor will be attending?

Wearing Talbots.

Still femulating at the 2017 Night of Stars in Austria.

Tuesday Tips

In the past, I recommended baby wipes for removing makeup. After all, if it's safe enough to use on a baby's bottom, then it should be safe to use on your face.

Friday evening, when I was ready to take off my makeup, I discovered I was out of baby wipes. I remembered that in the recent past, I had acquired a package of Avon makeup wipes that had been bundled with some other cosmetic products I had purchased.

I found the package and used three wipes to remove all my makeup including my eye makeup and the foundation and powder on my neck. The wipes did a better job than baby wipes. With baby wipes, I always had to use Avon eye makeup remover on my eyes, but the makeup wipes handled my eye makeup without any added help.

That sold me on makeup wipes.

By the way, after removing makeup, I always moisturize and you should, too.

👱 👱 👱

When I did my "Makeup Basics for Trans Females" presentation on Friday, there was one tip that surprised a lot of the girls in attendance, so I thought I would pass it on to the girls who read Femulate, too. It is no big revelation. It is something I learned long ago – probably during my first makeover. I assumed it was common knowledge, but my assumption was in error, so here it is.

When you apply foundation, make sure you also apply it to anything contiguous with your face that will show. That includes your ears, neck, and whatever portion of your breasts and shoulders that will be visible. Otherwise, there will be an odd-looking mismatch between your face and yours ears, neck, etc.

👱 👱 👱

During my presentation, the girls were curious about what brands of cosmetics I use. Since I am an Avon representative, I use a lot of Avon products, but I do stray away from Avon for some of the makeup I use.

Here is a list of what I use currently (in the order I use them).

Moisturiser – Olay
Eye Shadow Primer – Urban Decay
Foundation – Make Up For Ever
Contour – Marc Jacobs
Blush – Avon
Translucent Powder – Laura Mercier
Eyebrow Pencil – Avon
Eyeshadow – Avon
Eyeliner – Avon ( I use black eyeshadow with an eyeliner brush)
Mascara – Lancome
Undereye Concealer – Avon
Lipliner – Avon
Lipstick – Avon

👱 👱 👱

Any questions?

Wearing By Bazaar.

Femulators at the 2017 Night of Stars in Austria.

"Girls'" Day Out

Friday, I attended the True Colors Conference and presented “Makeup Basics for Trans Females.”

The site of the conference is the UConn campus in Storrs, Connecticut — one of my life’s happy places — and it is always wonderful to return to my alma mater.

My presentation was at 1:15, so I did not have to get up early and rush to Storrs. Instead, I even had time for breakfast, dressed and left home at 9:30 arriving on campus an hour later.

I wore a dress rather than pants as I originally intended and I don't think it made much of a difference during the five-minute walk between the parking garage and the Student Union. What I really needed was a hat. The wind was so blustery that I thought my wig was going to go airborne, but I made it indoors in one piece.

(Fashion Note: I wore my black laser cut dress from Avon, nude pumps from Payless, fake white fur jacket from Fashion Bug, nude thigh high hosiery from Berskshire, big beige bag from Avon, jewelry from Napier and Avon and a variety of unmentionables.)

Indoors, I checked in and received my presenter’s package. The first round of presentations were underway, so there were not many students moving through the building. I took advantage of the low level of activity to camp out in one of the Student Union lounges to go over the presenter’s package and review my presentation. I found a window seat with a nice view of the quadrangle between the Student Union and the Benton Art Museum.

It is one of the few open spaces remaining from my days as a student on campus in the early 1970's. Most of the other open spaces have been taken over by classrooms, dorms and sports facilities (when I was going to UConn, we launched model rockets and played touch football in the space now occupied by the garage where I parked my car). That’s progress!

After doing some paperwork and going over my presentation, I thought I was in an excellent spot for a photo, but I did not see anyone I knew to designate as the photographer. A woman seating nearby was reading texts or e-mails with her iPhone, so I figured she would be a good candidate to take some photos with my iPhone. So I asked and she was very happy to shoot me.

Just as she began, one of my long time trans girlfriends, Angie, came into the lounge, called me “Beautiful” like she always does and that put a big smile on my face that is evident in the photos I posted from the conference. (It is amazing the difference between a posed smile and a natural smile.)

As the time for my presentation approached, I found my assigned room and settled in. Thirty-two people showed up. They were all school-aged (middle school through college) and I thought that some of them were already gorgeous and did not need any help from me; they could probably teach me something. It turned out that one of the “gorgeous” girls works part-time at Sephora. I asked her a question about lip gloss that she was happy to answer, so "they" did teach me something!

The presentation went well. There were questions, answers and a lot of give and take, but I don’t know. I wonder how valuable it is to teach teens and twenty-somethings makeup basics and tricks that a 66-year-old transwoman uses? Some of what I do is applicable, but I will have to make some adjustments to my presentation for any future young audiences.

After my presentation, I attended my friend Diana’s presentation on post World War II trans history. One goal of her talk was to counter the popular notion that there was no trans advocacy until recently. Her presentation showed that there was a lot of trans advocacy throughout the post-war era including Stonewall, where trans peeps have been written out of some histories of that uprising.

Diana and I planned to dine after her presentation, so we left UConn and rendezvoused a half hour later at a restaurant in Manchester, where we have dined after the previous two True Color Conferences. The big difference this year was that the conference was on St. Patrick’s Day, so the restaurant was busier than after past conferences.

Our waitress was the same as in previous years and she was as affable as before, but this time, instead of referring to us as “ladies,” she called us “girls.” That was different in a good way and made me smile.

After dinner, we went our separate ways and I arrived home at 7 PM, a little tired, but very happy after a productive day out.

Wearing Tumi luggage.

David Walliams (right) femulating in an advertisement for television's Britain's Got Talent.

SaveSave

A Thousand Words

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a photo from my Friday visit to UConn to attend the True Colors Conference. I will compose 967 more words about yesterday later.

At the True Colors Conference, UConn, Storrs, CT, March 17, 2017

Please standby

I am presenting at the True Colors Conference today. If I have time and energy, I will tell you about it later today, but more likely, I will tell you about it tomorrow.

Source: Harper's Bazaar

Romain Duris femulating in the French film The New Girlfriend.

Who Wore It Better?

I was up at 5:30 AM and the first thing I did was power up the TV to watch the weather and traffic reports.

I tuned to channel 8, WTNH out of New Haven and the talking heads (Keith Kountz and Laura Hutchinson) were at it. Suddenly I am wide awake as I notice that Laura is wearing the same Calvin Klein dress that I own –– the white cable knit sweater dress I am wearing in the photo at the top of the blog.

That is second time in the past month that I noticed a woman wearing the same dress I own. The other was Kate Goselin, who was wearing a Calvin Klein color block dress that I own.

I have to say that Laura and Kate have excellent fashion sense!

Wearing Veronica Beard.

Ryan Downey, male womenswear model

Outfitting Friday

Too chilly for these pants?

Twenty inches of snow piled up in my yard yesterday and it isn’t going anywhere fast as the temperature hovers in the mid-20’s today.

Conditions will not improve much for the next few days according to the National Weather Service and as a result, when I go to UConn on Friday to attend the True Colors Conference, I might be forced to do something I almost never do: wear pants . (The “high” temperature forecasted for Storrs on Friday is 34 degrees!)

I do own dress pants, leggings, jeans and even a pair of skinny jeans. I could pair a pull-over sweater or a long tunic sweater with my pants. Or I might tough it out and wear a green sweater dress in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

Storrs is notoriously windy this time of year, so I definitely will wear my long fake fur coat over whatever outfit I put together.

And so it goes!

Wearing Theory blouse and pants and Zero+Maria Cornejo pumps.

Adam Fidusiewicz femulates Samantha Fox on Polish television's version of Your Face Sounds Familiar.

I'd Wear This

I'd Wear This (if I was 29-years-old), but I
could be persuaded to wear this Now! LOL

If you visit my Pinterest page, you will notice that among the 16 boards I have created, there are three named "I'd Wear This." The three boards differ according to age... "I'd Wear This (if I was 16-years-old)," "I'd Wear This (if I was 29-years-old)" and just plain "I'd Wear This," which is short for "I'd Wear This (Now)," that is, at my current age.

Ignore the 16-years-old board because I just started it and it only includes one pin. But if you compare the 29-years-old and Now boards, you will notice that the main difference between the two are the hemlines. The 29-year-old hemlines are thigh-high, whereas the Now hemlines are knee-centric, although there are some thigh-high numbers among the Now hemlines, too.

In reality, the hemlines in my closet are almost equally divided between knee-centric and thigh-high.

So what's with the short hemlines, Stana?

Two reasons:

1. I like shorter hemlines because I have shapely legs and like to show them off.

2. But as I have said in the past, "My skirt's not too short – my legs are too long!" and there is a lot of truth to that because at my height (six feet two), most hemlines will be short on me because they are intended for women who are six inches (or more) shorter than I am.

So I am stuck buying skirts and dresses with short hemlines. (Poor, baby!).

  



 

Wearing Theory sweater and skirt.

Jerzy Grzechnik femulates Florence Welch on the Polish television version of Your Face Sounds Familiar.

UConn Show in the Snow

These boots aren't made for slogging!

After a mild January and February, winter has decided to go out with a bang a few days before the first day of spring. Weather people are predicting 16 to 26 inches of snow to fall here by Wednesday!

I hope they are wrong because Friday, I will be at UConn and I don't look forward to dealing with snowy and icy sidewalks. I do own a half dozen pairs of women's boots, but they are more fashionable than practical, so I may have to resort to wearing boy boots to slog around campus.

The reason I will be at UConn is to attend the True Colors Conference where I will be presenting a workshop titled "Makeup Basics for Trans Females." The Conference guide describes my workshop thusly, "Putting on your face can be a cosmetic calamity if you don't have a roadmap. This workshop provides guidance and tips for the transgender female on how to successfully navigate the world of cosmetics so that she can start looking like the female she really is."

Last year, I had over 40 people in attendance for that workshop, so I am looking forward to the Conference, but not the weather.

Wearing Otte bag and Sacai earrings.

Vitalij S, male womenswear model