Do girdles and longline bras help?

Over the weekend, I received a comment to my Size 14? post from Darianna. I replied to her comment with another comment, but I am expanding that reply here today.

Darianna wrote, "Lately I have become interested in dressing more classy and sophisticated. I just want to ask you, 'Does wearing a girdle and longline bra help very much? Should I buy a Rago body briefer to make slipping on a dress easier or for how it shapes my male body?'

"Thank you, I respect your opinion."

Before I answer your questions Darianna, I want to say that my reply is what works for me and your mileage may, and probably will vary.

Dresses are designed for someone who is curvy, so I wear foundation garments to give me some curves. The longline bra lifts my breasts to make them more perky and tightens the area below my breasts to narrow my waistline. The girdle also flattens my belly and narrows my waistline.

Both the bra and girdle redistribute some of my fat to add to my hips and bust. Note that my natural breasts are big for a boy and nearly fill a B cup bra without assistance.

Anyway, my foundation garments do a good job of giving me a woman's figure that currently fits in a size 14 dress... not a baggy size 14 dress, but rather a size 14 dress that clings and shows off my curves.

Another note: Going from the size 18 and 16 (my sizes for decades) to a size 14 has eliminated all my back fat, which also eliminated the Spanx cami I had to wear to smooth out my back fat.

Without foundation garments, I would have to purchase larger sizes to fit my non-curvaceous body, that is, to fit around my waistline. Problem is that the larger sizes are still designed for a curvy body, so the larger size would fit my boyish waistline, but would be too big in the bust and hips — not a look I am trying to achieve.

So for me today, a girdle and a longline bra provide the best possible femulation.

Regarding body briefers, I have found that they do not do a good job of shaping me. I need something that is not so brief in its shaping powers — something more substantial like a longline bra and girdle.

If you are new to foundation garments, I recommend getting fitted by a pro in order to get the correct sizes. Look up local lingerie stores in the Yellow Pages and feel them out over the phone. Be up front and tell them you crossdress. Most are more than willing to help you out (and take your money), but occasionally you may run into a store that is not so open-minded and it is better to find that out over the phone rather than in person.

Good Luck!

Wearing Roz & Ali (Source: Dress Barn)

Lovely Mindy, a regular reader of Femulate

My Best

Saturday, I mentioned that my most viewed photo on flickr is not what I consider my best photo.

In response, I received an unsolicited e-mail from a long-time reader of the blog, who wrote, "Attached is my favorite photo of you. As you may recall, I prefer flaring, swishy skirts and dress bottoms. I know this is a photo of you from years ago, but I just adore the dress, your pose, and how lovely and feminine you look."

The photo in question is 22 years old, so I was in my mid-40s at the time. My makeup skills were still under development, but at that age, makeup skills were not deal-breaker. What was a deal-breaker was that I was so closeted when that photo was taken. "Youth is wasted on the young" sure applies in this case!

Wearing ModCloth (Source: ModCloth)

Crystal donating plasma on Halloween.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Rianna femulates Liza Minelli for Halloween

Womanless High School

In August, Starla, the intrepid high school yearbook explorer, sent me a batch of womanless event photos that she culled from online yearbooks. This set was lost on my hard disk until today when I heard the voice of one of the womanless participants crying out, "Post me, post me."

I did some investigating and discovered that I was not hearing things; there were a bunch of womanless photos that I failed to upload to flickr. So I corrected the error of my ways and 14 new images, like the one on the left, from womanless events of the near and distant past now reside on my flickr page where 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 my 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.

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.

Stats

After I uploaded the images to flickr, I checked the statistics and was surprised that this image of me has the most views (92,070) of all the images I have uploaded to  flickr. I am surprised because in my opinion, there are better images of me to view on flickr, but the customer is always right.

The most viewed womanless image is this 1980 photo from Wolfson High School in Jacksonville, Florida, with 72,024 views. Looking at the photo, it is obvious why it is popular, but my favorite is the second most viewed (71,536) womanless image: an excellent femulation by a Texas beauty in 1981.

You All

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 Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Eddie Cantor femulating in the 1931 film Palmy Days.

Halloween Redux

Back to the Bank

I went to my bank yesterday to withdraw money to buy groceries. This is the same bank I visited on Halloween en femme.

The teller (Miss K) was the first woman I saw walking into the bank last week. The other two women staffing the bank were not working when I last visited the bank. One (Miss C) is the teller I often deal with at the drive-through window. The other (Miss L) is the branch manager, who refinanced my mortgage. So they both know me well as a regular customer.

Miss K handled my withdrawal and then she brought up the topic of Halloween. She said my "costume" was the best she had ever seen. Then she asked me if I had a photo on my iPhone so she could show Miss C.

Of course, I did and she called Miss C over to see my photo. Needless to say, she was floored. Then she asked Miss L if she had seen my Halloween costume photo.

Miss L replied, "No, but I heard about it."

Evidently, my costume was the talk of the bank staff. (I dress to impress!)

I showed Miss L my photo and she was amazed, too.

Floral Bell-Sleeve Dress

For what it's worth, the dress (photo right) I bought on Halloween at Dress Barn/Roz & Ali is now on their website

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Arthur Chamski femulates on an episode of Polish television's Your Face Sounds Familiar (Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo).

Waiting for the other shoe to drop

Everyday, Payless sends me an email advertisement. Wednesday's ad contained the following image of footwear for sale at their store. Notice that the images were clearly labeled "SHOP WOMEN" so customers would not mistaken the practical, virile ladies' styles as men's footwear.

I wonder when my daily Payless missives will contain an image like the following — footwear for sale at their stores clearly labeled "SHOP MEN" so customers would not mistaken the impractical, dainty gentlemen's styles as women's footwear. 

Wearing Eloquii (Source: Eloquii)

Michal Rudas femulates Shania Twain singing my theme song Man! I Feel Like A Woman on a 2016 episode of Polish television's Your Face Sounds Familiar (Twoja Twarz Brzmi Znajomo).

The 27%

27% Of Americans Wouldn't Want To Be Friends With A Transgender Person

"A survey by YouGov of more than 2,000 participants found that 27% of respondents were not open to being friends with anyone who identifies as transgender , even though around 40% said they personally know someone who is trans." (Source: Refinery29)

I wonder how many of the 27% have transgender friends and don't know it. 

I wonder how they would answer the survey if a friend came out as transgender.

Most of my friends are still friends after I came out to them as transgender. The only friend I lost was actually my wife's friend, so she was my friend by marriage. Anyway, she dropped us like a hot potato when my wife mentioned that I was trans.

And so it goes.

Wearing Lagos (Source: Harpers Bazaar)

Victoria Elizabeth, UK Comedy Magician, Actress and Entertainer

Getting a Pass

Monday's installment of Atlas Obscura had an interesting article written by Natasha Frost about transvestite passes that were issued to male-to-female and female-to-male German transgenders before the Nazi's came to power.

As early as 1908, "transvestites"could visit sexual reformer and “sexologist” Magnus Hirschfeld to apply for official documentation that would allow them to appear in public in their trans gender. The purpose of the passes was to counteract police scrutiny and ultimately arrest.

You can read the entire article here.

This recent e-mail advertisement from Macy's begs the question are select dress style available for both women and men?

Hirschfeld described another of his patients, born either male or intersex, as displaying “androgyny, transvestism and homosexuality. … He is wearing mourning clothes [on the left] because his mother has died; an indication of how seriously he takes his transvestism.” (Source: Atlas Obscura)

Notes from Last Week

This post is a follow-up on last week.

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Here is a photo of my table at One Big Event. I am seated third from the left.

The photo appeared on the photographer's website along with other photos from the event. It was reputed that this photo also appeared in the Hartford Courant, but I could not find it.

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Leaving home Tuesday morning, I saw a neighbor working in his yard right along the side of the road. I have known Pete for over 20 years and have had many conversations with him during that time, so we are on a friendly basis. And whenever Pete is working in his yard when I drive by, he always waves (I assume he recognizes the green Subaru I have been driving for over 10 years).

I have never encountered Pete while I was presenting as a woman. I guessed he would see my Subaru approaching and would wave before he saw the driver, which is exactly what happened. I waved back as I passed by him, but I have no idea if he actually saw me or not. (I used to worry about such encounters, but I don't anymore.)

👠👠👠

I did not visit my former workplace on Tuesday as I had originally planned. When I mentioned my original plans to my wife, she asked me if any of my co-workers ever questioned me about my choice of a business woman costume for Halloween five years in a row.

A few co-workers made comments about my costume, but no one ever asked me if there was more to my costume than just a costume. They may have discussed it among themselves, but no one ever brought it up with me.

When I came out to one of my co-workers as being transgender, he remarked that he thought I was "just a crossdresser." And when I came out to my boss, she remarked that she was not surprised. So my co-workers did have opinions on the matter, but they were all very professional and did not say anything to me that would have been inappropriate.

Wearing Veronica Beard (Source: Veronica Beard)

Lee femulated as a witch to pass out Halloween treats.

Visiting Roz & Ali (Dress Barn), Macy's and Burger King

My last three stops on Tuesday were Roz & Ali (nee Dress Barn), Macy's and Burger King. I will describe them in reverse order.

Burger King

My wife asked me to pick up some fast food from Burger King on the way home, so I stopped at the King closest to my home. Although it was in between lunch and dinner, this King is always busy because it is easy access from Interstate I-84.

I walked in, placed my order, waited 5 minutes for the special no-ketchup Whopper, received my order and exited the premises without incident. I was an invisible older women. Although a couple of guys did check me out briefly, they were younger and probably not interested when they saw I was old enough to be their mother or grandmother!

Macy's

This was a "I'm feeling so great that I don't want to return to boy mode stop" just to extend my day out. The store was not very busy — just a few older women like me perusing the racks. A couple of sales reps greeted me, but that was the extent of my interaction with any living beings.

I did find a beautiful Calvin Klein dress that was marked down considerably and I thought about trying it on, but I did not for reasons you will read below.

Roz & Ali (nee Dress Barn)

I visited my favorite Dress Barn — the one near my former employer where they know me in boy and girl mode — also where I filled out a job application.

I know the manager and sales rep who were on duty by name and they know me by name. I had conversations with both of them about the store's name change and I also asked the manager about my job application. She said they weren't hiring right now because they had closed three other local Dress Barns during the summer.

Perusing the racks, nothing knocked me out, but I found two dresses in Misses size 14 that had potential and the sales rep opened a changing room for me. First I tried on the floral print you see in the photo above. It fit perfectly and I was surprised how much better it looked on me than on the rack! It was a keeper.

The second dress was a sexy black number — something I could see Sophia Loren wearing to a funeral. The top of the dress was too small and I could not zip it up. The sales rep found one in Woman's size 14W, which I was able to zip up easily, but it was too roomy in the waist, so I rejected it and went home with just one new dress to add to my wardrobe.

By the way, the reason I did not try on the Calvin Klein dress in Macy's was because changing out and back into a skirt suit was so time-consuming at Dress Barn that I did not want to repeat it at Macy's. Removing the jacket, skirt and blouse was easy enough, but putting everything back on was a harder because the blouse had a lot of finicky buttons, so I did not think it was worth it especially since I had just bought a new dress at Dress Barn.

Hair Salon Redux

Thursday, I had an appointment for a haircut at the salon I visited on Tuesday. My hairdresser, Miss K, was off on Tuesday, so after she seated me at her station, she said, "I'm sorry I missed you on Tuesday. The girls said you were beautiful."

So I immediately retrieved my iPhone and showed her my photo that Miss C took on Tuesday.

She took my iPhone, examined the photo closely and remarked, "You look like a businesswoman."

"That's what I intended."

"You do look beautiful!"

"Thank-you."

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Alison on Take Your Authentic Gender To Work Day (aka Halloween)

Visiting Rite Aid and Agway

In my previous post, I wrote about my Halloween day visits to my hair salon and bank. My next stop was my pharmacy two doors up the road from my bank.

Rite Aid

I seldom get red eye in boy mode, but in girl mode, it occurs often enough that I always carry a bottle of eye drops in my purse to relieve the unsightly problem. I attribute my girl mode red eye to eye makeup — either from the irritation that may occur when I apply the makeup or from makeup crumbs that may get in my eye. Anyway, I misplaced my bottle of eyedrops when I was out Saturday night, so I went to Rite Aid to buy a new bottle.

I seldom see the same people working in Rite Aid. Either there is a big turnover or they have a big staff all working less than 40-hour weeks. So it did not surprise me that I did not recognize any of the staff during my visit on Tuesday.

I found the eye drops and checked out without the cashier blinking an eye even though I greeted her with "Happy Halloween!"

Agway

We have cats (and dogs). We buy our cat litter at Agway because they carry a brand that we like and no one else sells that brand locally (as far as we have been able to determine). The Agway that sells our favorite litter is located a half hour away. That was convenient when I was working because it was only a few miles away from my workplace, but now that I am retired...

Since I originally planned to visit my former workplace, I figured I would be in the neighborhood, so I planned to stock up on litter. Carrying 40 pound bags of litter while wearing high heels and long nails would be challenging, but I was up for it.

I entered the store and the woman who runs the place was at the counter. I approached her and when she asked if she could help me, I said I was the "litter guy," the self-named moniker I used whenever I phoned the store to see if they had any litter in stock.

"Who are you?"

Like the woman at the bank, I think she heard me, but could not believe her eyes, so I repeated my nickname and then I saw her expression change to one of recognition.

"Oh, sorry, but we are all out. The next shipment is next Tuesday."

"OK, see you next week," and I exited the premises without a word about my appearance or a "Happy Halloween."

Not sure how she expects me to appear next week.

Wearing ModCloth (Source: ModCloth)

Susie Taylor femulates Beauty and the Beast's Belle for Halloween.