Our Holiday

Bunny Stana

Halloween is coming soon!

Some people call it the "crossdresser's holiday" because it provides a free pass for crossdressers to dress as women and get away with it.

It is also a cause for celebration for many crossdressers if Halloween was their first time out in public en femme.

Halloween 1969 was my first public appearance as a woman. At that point in time, I had been crossdressing frequently (whenever I was home alone) for about five years and my girl was about to explode if she did not get out.

I assembled a costume that would not be too outrageous, that is, I stuck with male undies instead of borrowing my mother's bra and girdle. But I did borrow my sister's purple sheath dress, black mid-heel Mary-Janes, black tights, beige wool cap and brunette wig. I don't recall if I borrowed makeup or bought my own. In either case, after five years of practice, my makeup skills were probably too good, but I did my best anyway.

I was desperate to go out en femme, but I did not have anyplace to go! Halloween parties were not as prevalent as they are today and I was too young to go bar-hopping, so I borrowed my mother's '65 Dodge and visited a few friends and relatives.

The visits were a blur. But I do remember one aunt dubbing me "Stasha" and I recall regretting that no one took my photograph. But I had the time of my life and ever since, I have tried to celebrate the holiday as a crossdresser should.  

This year, I ordered the parts for my Halloween costume and assuming that the sizes and colors are correct when delivered, I will have a cool costume to wear later this month.

Wearing Ann Taylor (Source: Ann Taylor)

Brothers/sisters Max and Charlie Carver femulate The Shining twins for Halloween 2013.
(Thank you, Chrissy for this find.)

Someday Funnies

Wearing Haney dress and Jimmy Choo pumps (Source: Intermix)

Three old white men femulating Republican U.S. Senators.

Red Day Femulations

Get Real Dept.

I was fascinated (and a little jealous) reading about two transgender real estate agents in Texas. The article concentrated on the successes of the two transwomen, but glossed over the problems they experienced.

One agent "admits that she has faced some difficulties as an openly trans real-estate agent, but says her positive experiences have outweighed the negative ones." I can envision the problems she faced, but I wish the article did not leave that to the readers' imagination and instead, recounted some of the difficulties.

Nonetheless, the article was inspiring and rekindled my dreams about rejoining the workplace as a woman. The truth is that I have no fears about working as a woman; the only thing holding me back is selling the idea to my spouse. And there's the rub.

Houston real-estate agent, Kelli Lines

The Usual Gang of Idiots Dept.

I received e-mail from readers who were not familiar with horror films and wondered about the significance of the twin gurls on the cover of Mad magazine featured here on Wednesday.

The twins were characters in the 1980 film The Shining starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. If you follow this link (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081505/mediaviewer/rm4033227008), you can see a photo of the twins as depicted in the film.

Wearing Apparis coat, Tara Zadeh bag, Helmut Lang pants and Tibi shoes (Source: Intermix)

Filip Dizdar femulates Tajči on Croatian television's Your Face Sound Familiar.

Losing Leg Hair

My skirt's not too short – my legs are too long!

I avoid shaving my legs with a razor blade and shaving cream or gel because it is too time-consuming. My legs are too long... 36 inches each to be exact and it takes forever.

Early on, I discovered the wonderful world of chemicals. Nair and Veet were my hair removing chemicals of choice. They did the job quickly and thoroughly. And after using them for over four decades, they permanently removed a lot of my leg hair. As a result, using chemicals now is overkill.

So every morning, I attack the leg hairs that toughed it out. After I shave my face and neck with a top-of-the-line Norelco rotary head electric razor, I do a portion of my legs. One day, I will shave my knees, the next day, my calves, the next day, my thighs, the next day... well, you get the idea. As a result, when I get all dolled up to go out en femme, a quick touch-up with my Norelco is all I need to be femininely smooth.

By the way, I use the same routine to keep my arms, shoulders and breasts hair-free.

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Kelly Mantle femulating in the 2014 film Confessions of a Womanizer.

On newstands now

Mad #4, December 2018

Wearing Brooke Daniels (Source: Brooke Daniels)

Paul Lynde femulating in the 1966 film The Glass Bottom Boat.

Wear a Bra!

Responding to my invitation to Ask Me Anything, Jenn wrote, "My question is about wearing a bra. My wife and many close female friends are known to comment about how they can’t wait to take off their bra. Of course, as a crossdresser I can’t wait to put one on! Knowing that you dress much more often (and longer) than I do, what do you think about your bra?"

Whereas fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg once proclaimed, "Feel like a woman. Wear a dress!" I say, "Feel like a woman, Wear a bra!"

Is there any garment that defines womanhood more than a bra? Fashion forward fellows may dress like women from head to toe, but they don't wear bras. Only women and femulators wear bras.

On occasion, I have femulated without wearing a bra because I did not have the correct style bra to go with a particular dress or top I was wearing and since I am already well-endowed for a guy, going bra-less was not a deal breaker. However, I prefer to wear a bra when I femulate.

Early on, I wore some ill-fitting bras. The band was too small and/or the shoulder straps too short and like Jenn's lady friends, I could not wait to take off my bra.

After too many misfits, I decided that the only way to get a bra that fits is to get a professional bra-fitting at an intimate apparel shop or in the lingerie department of a department store.

Your mileage may vary, but I have been fitted for bras in both girl mode and boy mode in both venues and have never been turned away. In fact, the women performing the fittings were very helpful and seemed pleased to have a male join their bra-wearing sorority.

If you are unsure about which bra-selling venue to seek out for a fitting, you can always call ahead and ask. Also, during the holiday season, guys shopping for intimate apparel gifts is common, so walking into a lingerie shop in boy mode is not that unusual this time of year.

My niece worked at Victoria's Secret for awhile and the saleswomen were used to fitting both men and women, so don't be shy – go for it, girl!

And if your bra is the correct fit, you won't even know you are wearing one!

By the way, when you were growing up, did your Mom call it a "bra" or a "brassiere?"

Wearing 3.1 Phillip Lim sweater, RTA skirt and Marni bag (Source: Intermix)

Nadia Russo

A Step in the Right Direction

Oslo Grace wearing Francesco Russo

Genderless Heels

Looking for a pair of stilettos in a men’s size 12? French shoe designer Francesco Russo has got you covered. The Italian shoe designer has launched a capsule collection called ‘A-Gender’ which, as the name suggests, offers genderless heels, loafers, and boots that go from a women’s size 5 to a men’s size 12, or an IT35–IT45. Aside from being inclusive, the shoes are beautiful — especially the heels with a d’Orsay opening.

A release for the collection made the case that this is not a mere publicity stunt. It read, “Provocation is not even an option. The project stems from the awareness of the world we live in as humans.” The designer elaborated for Vogue, “It’s not a polemic, it’s not political. It’s simply how society is moving forward. I think it’s in our duty as people who produce product to respond to the world.”

For the campaign, Russo cast transgender, non-binary model Oslo Grace. The collection is now available in stores for a limited run, but hopefully there will be more extended shoe-sizes to come from the label.

(Source: The Cut)

Wearing New York & Company (Source: New York & Company)

Oslo Grace, transgender model

Someday Funnies

Alex Wetter, male womanswear model

Madam Satan and the Senate Judiciary Committee

Madam Satan

I spent Thursday in front of the television watching the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and the CNN, Fox News and MSNBC shows that were talking about the hearing. My laptop was on my lap most of the time as I tried to pen words for this blog post, but the spectacle on the television was too distracting to get much done blog-wise.

Meanwhile, TCM was showing Madam Satan, which I DVR'd for later viewing.

Why Madam Satan? According to IMDB, it has a masquerade party aboard a "magnificent dirigible" and it was filmed during the Pansy Craze. I thought it had potential for some femulating, so I saved it for later look.

Have a femulating weekend!

Wearing Anne Klein (Source: Harpers Bazaar)

Womanless beauty pageant contestant in virgin white

War on Us

Nearly two years ago, Dallas Denny wrote "The Rise and Fall of the Weimar Transvestites and the Threat to Our Own Trans Community." 

In the article, Dallas wrote how the "flourishing and innovative Weimar transvestite community came to a crashing end with Adolph Hitler’s rise to power." And how "Our trans community and many other American communities face the same grave threat."

Since the publication of Dallas' article, we have seen how emboldened by our fake president's "War on Transgenders," there has been a rise in violent crime against our community and an increase by so-called Christian groups to pass legislation that will remove the rights and protections we have won under more progressive leaders.

I pray that we will be able to turn the tide in the upcoming mid-term elections, but I fear that our president will again ask his keepers in the Kremlin to fix the election results in his favor. 

Wearing Metrostyle (Source: Metrostyle)

BiancaXBoom also know as Daniel femulating in a Dollie Dress (Source: Deviantart)

Wednesday Wanders

The Chicken or the Egg Dept.

In her blog post yesterday, Rhonda asked, "Is it the dressing in woman's clothing or is it being female?"

In my case, I was attracted to the clothing. But I was a boy, so why did I want to wear girl's clothing?

Maybe because I was really a girl.

Read Rhonda's post and and you can wonder, too.

Paint It Black Dept.

After my Thunderball post on Monday, Kathe informed me that a 1985 episode of Moonlighting featured black veiled outfits similar to what the widow/Colonel Bouvar wore in Thunderball.

I was a fan of the show (I wanted to femulate Cybill Shepherd), but I did not recall that episode, "The Lady in the Iron Mask." So I followed Kathe's link to YouTube, watched the episode and found half the cast wearing black widow drag including Bruce Willis!

In Your Dreams Dept.

I can go weeks without remembering my dreams and then I will have two or three days in a row when I am able to recall everything. I am in that latter mode right now.

I am en femme in most of my dreams and I find it interesting that in some dreams, I am aware that I am crossdressing and in other dreams, I am not crossdressing, rather I am a woman.

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Jill Catherine Smith "loves my blog" and I love her style!