Hamvention Wardrobe: The Long and Short of It

Full Booth Babe Mode

I had a wonderful long weekend at Hamvention. (But driving solo for 1500 miles puts a damper on the weekend, so somebody kindly remind me to fly next year.)

My wardrobe plans were to drive in boy mode the first leg of my trip on Wednesday so I could get out of Dodge as early as possible to avoid the morning commuter traffic in the Tri-State Area.

Thursday, I planned to wear my new Venus tailored romper for the second leg of my trip and to attend my group's board meeting in the evening. I thought I could enjoy wearing that leg-baring outfit without any pushback because not many people would see me. And most of the people who would see me were my peeps — the other board members and officers, people I have known for years and could count on to be perfect gentlemen.

Friday, I intended to wear my new Venus jumpsuit to Hamvention during the day and to my group's banquet during the evening. It was a conservative wardrobe choice because I would be making a presentation at the convention Friday morning.

Saturday, I planned to wear my vintage Studio 1940 ankle-length sleeveless dress to Hamvention during the day and to my group's picnic in the evening.

Sunday, I planned to wear my JCPenney white shorts and a new Haband short-sleeve print top to Hamvention in the morning and for the first leg of my trip home in the afternoon.

That is not what happened!

Thursday went as planned – I wore my new Venus tailored romper with my red Payless high heel pumps and matching red Kate Spade bag. I also wore a black camisole under the romper so as not to expose my bra.

On the road between Youngstown and Akron, the oldies radio station I was listening to played ZZ Top's "Legs" and set my mood for the day, not to mention the weekend. Although no one could see my leg-baring outfit as I traversed the Interstates, I felt very sexy wearing what I wore.

Arriving at my hotel, I checked in, moved my luggage to my room and took my laptop to the lobby to read emails and people-watch until it was time to go to the board meeting. In the lobby, I ran into a fellow board member, A, who was my ride to the board meeting.

As we stood in the middle of the lobby chatting, I noticed that I was being noticed. Almost every male, as well as a few females, who passed by checked me out. Some smiled at me and some mouthed "hello" as they walked by. Yes, she's got legs, she knows how to use them!

A suggested we repair to the bar before leaving for the board meeting. I agreed and while I drank a glass of wine perched high on a bar stool, the parade of admirers continued including a few who made suspicious repeated passes.

Another board member, B, who lives in Dayton hosted the board meeting. I have known him and his spouse, C, for over 20 years and they were very supportive as I came out.

When we arrived for the meeting, B was chatting with another board member, D, about some hardware timing experiments which did not interest me, so I visited with C in the family room. She gushed over my outfit and said I looked "cute." (That was a first.) And then she asked me if I intended to wear the outfit to Hamvention.

"Is it appropriate? Should I wear it?"

"You are young enough to get away with it."

"I'm 68."

She was incredulous. She thought I was in my mid-50's, not my late 60's.

"Well, you look young enough to get away with it. And if you do, just be prepared to receive a lot of attention."

Other board members were arriving, so I excused myself to join the boys and get on with the meeting.

📻 📻 📻

Up at dawn Friday, I got ready to attend Hamvention.

Made-up, underweared and stockinged, I slipped into my jumpsuit.

As I played with the finicky row of buttons on the front of the suit, I realized that it was not a good wardrobe choice. I assumed that I would need to visit the ladies' room more than once during the next 16 hours and having to get in and out of this jumpsuit would be difficult with its fussy buttons and my long fingernails. I have worn jumpsuits in the past that are easy off and on, but this was not one of them and I searched my closet for something better.

Something better was my vintage Studio 1940 ankle-length sleeveless dress, which I paired with a pair of black Payless ballerina flats (the most comfortable flats I own). In retrospect, it was a good choice because the weather was hot and humid on Friday and wearing the dress, I was comfortable throughout the day.

Overnight, I decided to wear my romper suit to Hamvention on Saturday. Short sleeved and leg-baring, it would be a good choice as the forecast was for more hot and humid. However, there was a scheduling foul-up and my Friday morning presentation was postponed until Saturday morning. Do I dare wear that sexy outfit in front of an audience of my peers, which trend conservative?

I thought about it and decided to go for it anyway. So up at dawn Saturday, made-up, underweared and stockinged, I slipped into my romper, slipped on my red high heels, grabbed my red bag and took the elevator down to the restaurant for breakfast.

The restaurant was packed. Mostly with other hams attending Hamvention, mostly male and mostly looking at me as my high heels clicked on the marble-like floor of the lobby and restaurant.

Arriving at Hamvention, I walked along with D and E, who gave me a ride to the fairgrounds. As I approached one of the exhibit halls, a group of guys from a ham radio manufacturer were shooting the breeze near the entrance of the hall waiting for the show to begin. When they saw me, they stopped talking and all eyes were on me until I disappeared inside the hall. And that is how my day went.

While traipsing around the fairgrounds of the Hamvention site, I wore my ballerina flats, but while staffing our booth, I was in full booth babe mode and wore my heels. Either way, I was an attraction.

No one seemed to mind what I was wearing when I gave my presentation. They laughed at my attempts at humor and applauded me when I mentioned that this was the 50th anniversary as a licensed amateur radio operator.

All this may sound like I am bragging. So here is an excerpt of what Brenda wrote in a comment on Monday, "Stana was an absolute knock out in that dress and was turning heads all over. As an attendee, she gets my vote for most beautiful woman at show. She also gets the 'hottest booth babe' and 'best legs' award."

It was a thrill!

Wearing Unique Vintage

Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey femulating in the 1960 British film Carry On Constable. (📺 Femulation begins at 4:20 of this clip)

Breaking (Heart) News: Dress Barn Closing

Dress Barn AKA Roz & Ali is going out of business. A half dozen readers have passed along the bad news, so I thought that I would pass along the news, too.

In addition to readers informing me about Dress Barn, I received a text message from my cousin relaying the news. I was very surprised to receive that text because I am not out to that wing of the family. How did she find out that I am a Dress Barn / Roz & Ali customer?

Turns out that my cousin had birthday-gifted my wife a Dress Barn gift card last year and she wanted to make sure my wife used it before Dress Barn shutters its doors!

(By the way, I am composing a post or two about my Hamvention weekend, so please stand-by.)

Ham Girl Gallery - Part 3

I am in Dayton, Ohio, to attend Hamvention. My dance card is full and I am too busy to write, but I may have time to post a photo (or two) from my weekend at the convention.

Ready to attend Hamvention on Saturday morning wearing a romper from Venus.

Voted Most Likely

Today, I begin my trip home from Hamvention. I will post a full report about my long weekend after I unpack and settle in. Meanwhile, I leave you the following which I wrote last Sunday.

In high school, I was voted "Most Likely to Get a Sex Change."

I'm kidding. "Most Likely to Get a Sex Change" was not something voted on by my high school class, but if they had voted on it, I am sure I would have been in the running, if not the winner of that title.

As I mentioned many times before, I have always been feminine. It was not an affectation – being feminine came naturally to me... so natural that I was unaware of it. Only when my speech and mannerisms were highlighted by my peers did I become aware that something was amiss (pun intended).

Throughout my school years, I was abused and bullied because of my girly ways and it was no different in high school. That is why I am anxious to show up at my high school reunion as a woman, a good looking woman at that, and virtually spit in the eyes of my abusers.

However, I am still on the fence about going as a woman.

The indecision is on my mind all the time. I really want to do it and most of you who have commented on it have encouraged me to do it, but it is a very big step and I probably will not make up my mind until the last minute.

Yesterday, I purchased The Dress I will wear if I do decide to go en femme.

I spotted The Dress weeks ago on the New York & Company website, but held off making a purchase because the price was high ($79.95) and I know that New York & Company has lots of sales. I figured I could save some money if I waited and lo and behold, I saw the dress on sale at half price yesterday and ordered it as quick as a Playboy bunny.

You can see The Dress here and below in the "Femulate Her" slot.

I can't wait to wear it!

Wearing New York & Company

The always lovely Brendan Jordan

Ham Girl Gallery - Part 2

I am in Dayton, Ohio, to attend Hamvention. My dance card is full and I am too busy to write, but I may have time to post a photo (or two) from my weekend at the convention.

Attending the annual TAPR-AMSAT Hamvention Banquet on Friday evening.

The Beautiful Lady!

I am in Dayton, Ohio, to attend Hamvention. My dance card is full and I am too busy to write something new, so I am pre-posting something I wrote in the past.

"The Beautiful Lady"

In 2016, I received the Hamvention's Special Achievement Award.

Back at work on Tuesday after Hamvention, a woman in my group who works from home e-mailed me to ask about my vacation. I told her I went to Hamvention and took home an award.

Ten minutes later, she e-mailed me that she had never heard of it, so she looked up the Hamvention website and saw the write-up about the award.

Uh-oh!

If she saw the write-up, she must have seen my en femme photo next to it. But she did not mention the photo, so I assumed she was being polite and did not want to embarrass me.

She is a good friend who I have known for years and I did not want to make her feel uncomfortable, so I e-mailed her back, "I guess the cat is out of the bag."

Her response was vague, so I asked her if she saw my photo.

"No, I didn't see your picture. I saw the photos of the other winners and I was looking for yours, but I did not see it," she replied, "Let me look again."

Fifteen minutes later, she wrote, "OMG!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn’t find you. I was staring at this beautiful lady and didn’t see you! Duh! YOU are the beautiful lady!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! I was staring at your photo for like 10 minutes… Damn, your presentation is amazing!"

And so it goes!

Wearing L'Agence dress and Attico boots (Source: Intermix)

Miss Garber was way ahead of the curve in Texas in 1996. She "was the only male student to wear make-up to the junior-senior prom," which begs the question: Did other male students attend the prom in drag, but without makeup?

Ham Girl Gallery

I am in Dayton, Ohio, to attend Hamvention. My dance card is full and I am too busy to write, but I may have time to post a photo (or two) from my weekend at the convention.

At my hotel, trying on my new callsign hoodie!

Hamvention Transition

I am in Dayton, Ohio, attending Hamvention. My dance card is full and I am too busy to write something new, so I am pre-posting something I wrote in the past.

Hamvention 2012

As regular readers of Femulate know, I do not present as a woman 24/7, although I would prefer to do so.

During Hamvention last year, a long-time ham radio friend mentioned that my transition appeared to be successful and wondered how my family has reacted to my living as a woman 24/7.

I was surprised by his comment and asked him what gave him the impression that I had transitioned and lived as a woman 24/7.

He was surprised by my reply and stated that "everyone" just assumed that I had transitioned because I was so feminine in every way. No one would think I was a male or had ever been a male!

Wow!

On a similar note, another long-time acquaintance noticed the engagement ring (a fake) that I was wearing at Hamvention. She asked me who was my boyfriend and when did we plan to marry!

And so it goes – it doesn't go much better than that!

Wearing Brahmin

Esme Percy femulates in the 1930 Hitchcock film 📺 Murder!

Now that I am attractive to men there isn't a man I want

I am on the road today somewhere between Connecticut and Dayton, Ohio, on my way to Hamvention. Since I can't write while road tripping, I am pre-posting something I wrote four years ago.

Candy Darling

"Now that I am attractive to men there isn't a man I want" is a quote by Candy Darling that appears in her book Candy Darling: Memoirs of an Andy Warhol Superstar.

Candy's words are my thoughts exactly.

I like bring attractive, but I want nothing to do with any man I attract. That may get me into trouble some day, but so far, so good.

Candy Darling was my first transgender idol. She was a peer and she was gorgeous. And she had the guts to go to New York City and be the woman she was meant to be. Unlike me who lived to please everybody except myself and did not take the 90-minute train ride to The City to be the woman I was meant to be.

I purchased Candy's book for $1.99 in Kindle format from BookBub a few days ago.

If you like books, then you should check out BookBub. Everyday BookBub sends me an e-mail containing great deals on electronic editions of books in topics of my choosing. Typically, the books cost $.99 to $2.99 and some are free. Note that the deals are only good for one day, for example, Candy's book deal has expired and is now back to its normal price of $9.99 $11.49.

I have added about 30 110 books to my library via BookBub. Some of the books are ones I probably would not have obtained at their retail price, but for a buck or two, I could not resist. Usually I am happy with my purchase, but even if I am not, I did not kill a tree in the process.

Wearing Alexis (Source: Intermix)

Femulating at Berlin's Eldorado, circa 1930   

Xenia Marks the Spot

My Internet presence will be sporadic from now until Monday as I will be traveling to and from the Dayton/Xenia, Ohio area to attend the annual ham radio convention, Hamvention.

I will try to post when I can, but I am usually so busy during Hamvention that I have very little time to get on the net.

If you are attending Hamvention, maybe we can have an eyeball QSO! I will be making a short presentation at the TAPR Forum, which starts Friday morning at 9:15 AM in Room 1. Also, I will be staffing TAPR's booths (Building 5, booths 5001-5003) throughout the weekend and attending the TAPR-AMSAT Annual Banquet Friday evening.

Anyway, I am cutting this post short because I have to finish packing.

Wearing Bebe

📺 Clément Hervieu Léger (left) femulates in the French television series Suite Noire.

Sitting to Pee: Here, There and Everywhere

By Starla Renee Trimm

Reading Stana’s discussion of her travels and the inevitable topic of restroom use when on the road in feminine garb (no one thinks about or discusses bathrooms more than T-girls) brought some memories into focus.

Back in the day, in my healthy years when I had a life and actually went places, I took quite a few road trips en femme. As I passed most of the time, I never had any serious problem using the ladies’ room pretty much anywhere. (And we didn't yet have reactionary politicians trying to pass laws making it a capital offense to simply pee in an appropriate facility.) Nevertheless, when travelling in unfamiliar places (especially here in the South), better safe than sorry.

What I would do when my bladder was crying uncle was to seek out a gas station/convenience store — not the large 7-11 type enterprises, but the smaller businesses that only had a small kiosk type island housing cashiers and a limited array of junk food and beer. Why? Because such facilities usually had small bathrooms that required key access. Besides the fact that they could only be used by one customer at a time eliminating the possibility of a negative encounter in the restroom itself, there still remained the remote chance that someone might see me entering or exiting the thing, have doubts as to my gender status and make a fuss.

Having to request the key gave me an "excuse" in the event of a confrontation. If they handed me the key to the little girls' potty (as was the case almost 100% of the time), I figured I was passing well and pretty safe inasmuch as I could always protest that, hey, that was the key the clerk gave me, so I assumed that was the bathroom I was directed to use.

And since even in male mode in such situations, I was sometimes given the ladies' room key simply because the boys' room was (a) out of order, (b) on the verge of being declared a toxic waste cleanup site or (c) occupied by a leisurely squatter who was taking his dear time while, as my Momma used to say, "my back teeth are floating" — the notion of being perceived as male, yet directed verbally or tacitly to the ladies' loo was not inconceivable. Maybe I was overthinking things by coming up with such complex planning, but you never know.

In any case, my confidence in such a scheme was bolstered and solidified on one road trip when my gas tank was on "close to fumes" and my bladder on "dam about to burst" as I entered the little hamlet of Waynesboro, Georgia ("The Bird Dog Capital of the World"). My only option for topping one tank off and emptying the other was the rather shabby looking enterprise at the center of town, manned by several bearded good ol’ boys in overalls, chawin’ tabaccy and generally perpetuating the “seedy side of Mayberry” stereotype.

Well, between having that brassy boldness that prior positive encounters produced, as well as the point of no return risk of an impending flood under my denim skirt, I did not even hesitate to stride into the place, flash a sweet smile at the Head Bubba and ask for the bathroom key. Whatever tiny residual concern remained that had not yet been overridden by urological distress was quickly dispelled as the dude handed me the ladies’ room key with a wink and a smile (and, I think, a bit of a leer), drawling “There ya go, darlin’.”

For once, I was far more comforted than offended by such sexist behavior!

Wearing Veronica Beard

Jerick Hoffer (aka Jinkx Monsoon) femulating in television's Capitol Hill.

Someday Funnies

Gorgeous! (Source: Harper's Bazaar)

Harvey Korman femulates in 📺 "Both Father and Mother," the situation comedy embedded in the 1979 film Americathon.

On the Road Again

This is the only photo I have of me and my Subaru. I must get more photos with the most favorite car I ever owned.

I have driven my Subaru thousands of miles cross-country cross-dressed and I will do so again next week when I drive from Connecticut to Ohio and back. My experiences as a woman driver were revealing to me.

(Funny story: After I purchased my Subaru back in 2007, a lesbian friend remarked, "How appropriate," because Subaru's are reputed to be the vehicle of choice among lesbians. I had no idea!)

👠 If I wear shorts or a short skirt or short dress when I drive, tractor trailer drivers will occasionally honk in appreciation of the view. Even though I am an old lady, I have had this experience more than once.

👠 No surprise here, but male drivers will take advantage of woman drivers. Men drive more aggressively when they cross paths with me. They assume that I will back off and give them the right of way, which I usually do, not because I am meek and mild, but because I am crossdressed. I do not want to get into an accident, then have to deal with civilians and police as an outed crossdresser, which showing my driver's license will clearly reveal.

👠 Following up on the previous point, I drive legal as a woman driver. I closely follow all the rules of the road because I don't want to deal with police as a crossdresser. My understanding is that in my neck of the woods, dealing with the police is not an issue because they have been trained to deal respectfully with our kind. Beyond my neck of the woods, who knows? In any case, who wants to deal with the police respectfully or not?

👠 Car trouble as a woman driver is a piece of cake. You won't break a nail or get a smudge of car grease on your skirt fixing the problem. Being an AAA member is one solution, but instead of waiting for AAA to show up, just look helpless and soon a gentleman will stop by and do the dirty work. It happened to me once while shopping at a strip mall. When I returned to my car with my purchases, my car would not start, so I opened the hood to see if that would help. It did! Within minutes, two gents in a pickup truck pulled up, assessed the situation and determined that my battery was dead. They carefully explained to me how to start the car by popping the clutch and I was quickly on my way.

👠 Passing is easy as a woman driver. Just use your turn signal to indicate what you are doing and when the passing lane is clear, speed up to enter the passing lane. After you passed, use your turn signal again and return to the travel lane. Seriously, passing as a woman is easier sitting inside your car. Tinted glass and reflections off the glass camouflage your appearance so you are less likely to be read sitting in your Subaru. Waiting at a traffic light one night, a guy in the lane next to me rolled down the window on the passenger side of his car and tried earnestly to engage me in conversation. I ignored him, but I assumed that I passed especially since it was dark.

👠 During long roadtrips, you are likely to need to use a restroom. I have no fear about using the ladies' room in Connecticut because I know the state laws protect me, but I feel less comfortable using the ladies' rooms in other states because their state laws may not protect me. However, I will feel even more uncomfortable if I don't use the ladies' room, so I do what I have to do and have never had a problem. For what it's worth, I have successfully relieved myself in ladies' rooms in the following states: Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island and West Virginia.

And so I go.

Wearing Bebe

Womanless fashion show (circa 1970)

Peer Appearance

Karen Bigelow: A Peer

What do celebrities Kirstie Alley, Jane Seymour, Kathryn Bigelow, Lynda Carter, Angelica Huston, Cheryl Ladd, Pam Dawber, Karen Allen and Patricia Wettig have in common?

They were all born in 1951, so they will all be 68 years old by the end of this year, just like me.

Cool cats occasionally scold me that I dress too young. My hair is too long, my skirts too short, my heels too high and my makeup too too for a 68-year-old woman. They whine that I should "dress my age!"

OK — so how do I dress my age?

I know how my grandmothers dressed when they were in their 60s (back in the 1960s coincidentally), but no one of any age dresses like that today.

Looking around to see how my peers dress does not work because I am bad at guessing peoples' ages, so I am never sure who are my peers age-wise.

So I resorted to the Internet.

I searched "women born 1951" and Google came back with a variety of lists of famous people born that year. After checking to see if I made the list (I did not), I checked to see who did.

I culled the females from the top of the lists, searched the Internet for any of their photos taken during the past 12 months and I found recent photos of the females mentioned above. (By the way, four of them also appear on my Famous Females of Height List: 5'8" Kirstie Alley, 5'9" Lynda Carter, 5'10" Angelica Huston and 6' Kathryn Bigelow.)

First I looked at the hair. None had hairdos shorter than mine. Two wore pageboys and the rest wore shoulder-length or longer hairdos. Therefore, based on my peers, my hair is too short for a 68-year-old woman!

Next I looked at the shoes. All wore heels of various heights. Hard to be exact, but I estimate that the average heel height was in the 3 to 4 inch range. (Hands down, the tallest female, Kathryn Bigelow, wore the highest heels.) So I conclude that my choice in footwear, that is, heels in the 2 to 5 inch range fit right in with my peers.

To determine how much makeup a person wears, you need a photo of that person without makeup to compare it with a photo of that person with makeup. I had no photos without makeup, so determining how much makeup my peers wear was difficult.

Nearly all of them wear eye makeup, probably no more or less than I do. Nearly all also wear lip color, but here is where I need to make an adjustment. No dark reds, so if I want my lip coloring to match my peers, a more natural lip color should be my goal.

I knew going in that skirt length might be my downfall and I was correct. Most of the hemlines were in the neighborhood of the knee, either at the knee or slightly above or below the knee. None wore a thigh-high hemline like I occasionally find myself wearing.

In conclusion, all I have to do is wear a more natural lip color and lower my hemlines, then I will be dressing my age. On the other hand, life is too short, so maybe I will wear whatever I damn well please!

Wearing Wholesale 7

Carollyn Olson wearing Venus