Triumph or Downfall

Wearing high heels can lead to a girl’s triumph or downfall. Over the years, I have experienced both.

High heels make your legs look shapely and are so darn sexy. That is why I have a closet full. The problem is that you can never tell whether a pair will be your friend or foe in the long run. Will your feet be happy in heels all day long or will they be screaming in pain after an hour or two?

The height of the heel is not a reliable indicator. Some of my most comfortable shoes are four-inch skyscrapers, whereas I own flats that I wore once and will never wear again because they were so uncomfortable.

I often use inserts in my heels to alleviate any problems. Insolia and Dr. Scholl's are the brands I have used successfully. Then again, I own many comfortable heels that don’t need inserts (like Janine and Karmen from Payless and Predictions).

Speaking of heels...

Remember the gunmetal mesh dress I wanted to purchase to wear to my former company’s Christmas party. I ordered the dress from Dress Barn in the largest size they offered (Misses 14), but it was too small, so I returned it. After searching the Internet, I found the exact same dress in size 16 at Rue Lala. I ordered it and USPS delivered it today. And the good news is that it fits me like a glove! Yay!

What’s that got to do with heels?

You may also recall that I was considering two pairs of heels to wear with the dress. The majority of you who commented preferred the metallic platform pumps, but Tanit commented that I might consider pairing the dress with heels in a color that pops.

Now I am thinking the same thing.

Wearing Madison

Charles Demetri

Films to Femulate By: The Thomas Crown Affair

Friday evening, TCM showed The Thomas Crown Affair starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway.   According to IMDB, McQueen plays a debonair, adventuresome bank executive, who believes he has pulled off the perfect multi-million dollar heist, only to match wits with an insurance investigator, played by Dunaway, who will do anything to get her man.

This 1968 film has a lot going for it: interesting plot, good dialog, excellent cast, cool use of split screens and it was filmed in Boston, my old stomping grounds (it is nice to see scenes of Boston as they were when I was stomping around up there). But for me, the best thing about the film was Faye Dunaway.

Dunaway is not my favorite actress, not by a longshot, but as a budding femulator, I wanted to wear the outfits that Dunaway wore in that film. Her Vicki Anderson was just my style. So much so that I did something that I had not done since I took scissors to my Katy Keene comic books years earlier — I cut out photos of Dunaway in those outfits and hid them in the pages of a Red Sox yearbook for future inspiration.

I never achieved a drop dead lookalike femulation of Dunaway's Vicki Anderson, but I had a lot of fun trying and learned a lot in the process.

Faye Dunaway in The Thomas Crown Affair

Not quite Faye

Someday Funnies

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Damir Kedžo femulates Mariah Carey on Croatian television's Tvoje Lice Zvuči Poznato.

Gift Selfies

I, as Stana, do not receive any Christmas gifts, so I have to take matters into my own hands and self-gift. And this year, I might have gone a little overboard!

I purchased a new dress, skirt, blazer, necklace, bra, Spanx, heels, flats and wig. Still waiting on delivery of the new dress and wig. I'm sure the wig will be ok, but I am not so sure about the dress. It is very nice and you folks selected it as the best outfit I put together for the holidays, but the fit is still a question mark.

The dress is supposed to be delivered on the 12th, one week before my company's Christmas party. If it fits, then I am all set. If it is too small, it goes back for a refund and I will have to go to Plan B.

Wearing Gabor wig (Source: Wigs.com)

Janek Traczyk femulates Anna Wyszkoni on Poland's version of Your Face Sounds Familiar

For the Holidays

Here are three outfits I am putting together for the holidays. What do you think?

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

British femulator Asifa Lahore

Putty in My Hands

My body is like putty. With my large collection of shapewear, I am able to mold my "baby fat" into a reasonable facsimile of a feminine figure.

When I was more weighty, I had a pretty good handle on what shapewear to use to rearrange the furniture, but now that I am quickly approaching my goal weight, what worked before no longer works as well when I was a full-figured gal. Twenty-five pounds makes a big difference, so I have been experimenting with different combinations of bras, girdles, corsets, waist cinchers, Spanx, etc. to create a female figure out of my less voluptuous bod.

I don't want to lose much more weight because then I will have too little fat to mold. I will probably settle with losing two or three more pounds and then maintain my weight.

By the way, it has been interesting how my body lost weight. It seems that most of my weight loss was in the trunk of my body, so now I look leaner and my wife has taken to calling me "skinny." On the other hand, the size of my breasts has not changed and my girls still fill a B or C cup depending on the style and/or brand of bra that I wear. But with the weight loss of my torso, I can feel my girls bounce...  something that wasn't there when my torso was fuller. (And I love it!)

Wearing Unique Vintage (Source: Unique Vintage)

The always classy and beautiful Rhonda of Rhonda's Escape fame.

Sizing Me Up

One week ago, I mentioned here that "I fell in love with this Dress Barn outfit and had to buy it when I discovered it was on sale (40% off) on Cyber Monday."

It arrived on Saturday and I immediately tried it on to see how it looked and fit.

The dress looked absolutely gorgeous and fit perfectly from the bust down, but it was too small from the bust up; there was no way I could zip it closed.

Usually, I go to the local Dress Barn store to try on potential purchases, but this dress was an "online exclusive" and not available in brick and mortar stores, so I had to order online size unseen.

I bought it in size 14, which normally is a good fit for me with Dress Barn clothing, but in this case, I needed a size 16. Problem is that 14 is the largest size available, so I packed up the dress and shipped it back to Dress Barn for a refund.

Interestingly, the dress did not have a Dress Barn label. Instead, it had a Julia Jordan label. After a little googling, I found the exact same dress in size 16 on sale for $59.99 at Rue Lala.

Do I take a chance and order online, size unseen again?

I hemmed and hawed for about 15 minutes and then decided to go for it. My fingers will be crossed until it arrives and I can try it on!

By the way, the dress in the video above is the dress I ordered except the color of mine is gunmetal and not navy blue.

I recently found this lovely skirt suit on Pinterest and had to share it with you. 

Famous femulator Candy Darling accompanying her mentor Andy Warhol 

Good News

I want to thank you all again for your condolences regarding my dog's death.

It has been a very bumpy road the past two weeks, so it was great to finally receive some good news. Mid-morning Friday, out of the blue, I received an e-mail from the administrator of the CEO at my former employer inviting me to the company's annual Christmas luncheon.

Last year, I was invited to the luncheon after my mid-year retirement and I attended en femme leaving no doubt in my former co-workers' minds that I was trans. (Where did they get that idea? Maybe going to work en femme five Halloweens in a row had something to do with it.)

It was anticlimactic last year. It was as if I showed up in boy mode. Except for one female co-worker, who said she loved my skirt, no one mentioned my feminine outfit or the fact that I was presenting as a woman. Everyone called me "Stan" and socialized with me as they always had in the past.

I expect the same when I attend later this month and I am looking forward to seeing my old friends again.

Wearing Bebe (Source: Bebe)

Norman Wisdom femulates in the 1963 British film A Stitch in Time.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Dress Barn (Source: Dress Barn)

Femulating "soldiers" on stage circa 1943 in Irving Berlin's This Is The Army.

And so it goes

Thursday at 12:36 PM, my dog died after being euthanized by our veterinarian. My heart is broken and I need a few days off from blogging, so catch you later.

UPDATE: Readers have asked, so here is some basic information about my dog. She was a cockapoo (half cocker spaniel, half poodle) and was just three weeks shy of her 16th birthday (human years).

I had her put down because she was so arthritic that she could no longer go up and down stairs and her back legs collapsed under her frequently each day. She was also blind from glaucoma.

I had her since she was 3 months old and we were very close, so putting her down was one of the most difficult things I have ever done.

Thank you all for your condolences.

Barbie Dolls For Sale

Marie wrote.

"Was intrigued by your recent article about Barbie dolls. I happen to be the custodian of approximately 50 Barbie dolls. They ended up in my spare closet as a very good lady friend of mine had bought them over time for her daughter. They are all in perfect condition and in their original boxes.

"The daughter does not want them and the mother is getting tired of hauling them around, but does not want to merely discard them or give them to Goodwill. She has agreed to sell them for $18 each plus shipping."

If any Femulate readers are interested, they can contact Marie at oaklandbbaikensc@hughesnet.com with the "Barbie Name" or Type of Outfit" they are interested in and she will e-mail them a photo of the doll if she has it.

Wearing Boston Proper (Source: Boston Proper)

Rachel, a Femulate reader visiting Orlando