A Good Fit

JustFab had a clearance sale last week and I ordered a pair of shoes and a dress.

The shoes were a pair I had seen weeks ago, but did not purchase because I assumed they would eventually go on sale. The dress was an afterthought – I intended to only to buy the shoes, but was tempted by the ridiculously low prices of the dresses on sale. (With a credit I had, the shoes and dress only cost me $13.15 out of pocket.)

Sophie Peep Toe Pump is nude with black ankle straps and 3.5” heels. Made of faux leather/suede, the buckle on each ankle strap has a cute little gold padlock.

Button Front Sweater Dress is striped with a V-neck made of rib knit fabric. It is a midi with a buttoned front and belted waist closure. It clings to the body and shows off every curve – at least that was how the dress looked on the model.

I placed my order last Monday and had low expectations on its delivery – JustFab has been notoriously slow in the past, so I was surprised when they informed me that FedEx would deliver my order the following Monday (yesterday). I was even more surprised when the order showed up a day early on Sunday!

Size-wise, I have been having good luck ordering clothing from JustFab. Their dresses, skirts and tops in size XL are just fab on me. But I hold my breath regarding shoe size. More often than not, their largest size (12) is too small for me and I have to return them. So when the package arrived on Sunday, I immediately tried on the shoes and voila! they were a perfect fit.

Next I tried on the dress and it fit, too, and just like the model, it clings to my body and shows off all my curves. 

I can’t wait to go out wearing my new dress and heels! 

Wearing Fuzzi

A Tokyo Yomiuri Giants baseball player femulating for the team's womanless beauty pageant.
(Thank you, Zoe, for this news.)

Losing an Earring and Finding Something Better

By Michelle Wright

Recently, I was one of the speakers at a Transgender Identity Awareness training session for National Health Service (NHS) psychologists in Scotland’s Fife region. My role was to speak from my own life about the lived experience of trans people. 

At the end of the session, the hall became empty rather quickly and I found myself one of the last to put on their coat. As I pulled my scarf around my neck I felt it – a small tug to my right earlobe and then a release. One of my earrings had departed for its own kind of freedom. My hand felt for where it should be but only confirmed that it had gone. It was one of a lovely pair of half moon hoops. As an automatic reaction to this small crisis, my eyes started to scan the floor. 

Just then one of the hosts of the event, I'll call her Eveline, and another lady were leaving together. At the exit door they shouted their goodbyes: “Bye Michelle.” 

Our eyes met and in reply all that came out was, “I have lost an earring.” 

I recall the sound of my voice – the mixture of desperation and disappointment wrapped into a cry for help, a kind of strangled feminine panic. Both ladies turned on their heels and came towards me. They started scanning the floor as I was. Without further communication we fanned out as group and covered the whole area. 

“What color is it?” 

“Is it valuable?” 

“Have you checked if it’s stuck to your clothes?” 

“Leave your name at reception in case it’s found later.”

Eventually I had to admit that it was not going to be found. It was probably lodged in some hidden spot laughing at our search efforts. For sure it was going to remain free. I said my thanks and we all made our way out of the hall. Small hand waves and we were all gone. 

Back in my car, it struck me just what had happened. I had just experienced that elusive thing that all in the trans community look for. My unexpected earring loss had brought me together with my gender peers in a common feminine mission; something all cis women will have lived through at some point or other – the loss of a treasured piece of jewelry and three women bonding together at a higher level of understanding. 

I lost an earring, and found something priceless – acceptance.

Wearing Madeleine

2019 Miss Engineering womanless beauty pageant contestant

Someday Funnies

Wearing Lemoniade

Michael Andrews femulating in the 1987 film Surrender.

Lovely Today

Tuesday, I had an appointment at the vein clinic. It was a six-month follow-up to check for blood clots. Actually, it was more like 11 months because I had to cancel two previous appointments.

I awoke to heavy rain Tuesday morning with more to pore throughout the day. With that forecast, I thought about going to the appointment in boy mode rather than as a woman. But for consistency, I decided to put on my big girl panties and go en femme because I had gone to my previous appointment as a woman.

My appointment was at 1 PM, so I had plenty of time to get ready. I decided to wear the new dress from Venus that failed me in October when a loose button fell to the floor just as I was getting ready to go out. I accessorized with earrings, necklace, watch, black bag and black patent pumps (see photo).

I left home at 12:15 PM and arrived 10 minutes early for my 1 PM appointment accompanied by heavy rain during the entire trip. I was able to park in the spot closest to the door of the doctor’s office and the rain let up a bit, so with an umbrella in hand, I did not get wet.

I checked in with the receptionist and she greeted me with a big smile and, “Hi, Ms. . Please be seated.” 

I did not have to say a word – I guess my previous visit made an impression.

My visit was basically identical to my previous visit. The only difference was that they performed an ultrasound on both legs instead of just the leg that had vein removal. As a result, the appointment was twice as long. And just like my previous appointment, the doctor was his usual pleasant self and did not show any reaction to my feminine presentation.

I checked out with the woman who handles appointments and she said I was done – no further appointments unless there was a problem.

I exited with “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

She replied, “Same to you. And by the way, you look lovely today.”

Wearing Saks

Fred Armisen femulating on an episode of television’s Portlandia.

Ouch!

The latest addition to Stana’s wardrobe

“A study conducted by The College of Podiatry revealed that it takes an average of 1 hour, 6 minutes and 48 seconds for high heel wearers to start feeling foot pain.

“And one in five women (20%) say they start feeling pain within just 10 minutes.”

Abby at Vivian Lou passed along that painful news, but she also offered some assistance.

Strengthen and stretch feet with a few simple exercises

Make sure you are wearing the right size shoe (88% of women routinely wear shoes that are too small)

Use Vivian Lou Insolia weight-shifting insoles

Problem with the second suggestion is that shoe sizes are all over the map. You may think you are buying the right size shoe only to learn that the shoe manufacturer had something else in mind. I personally own shoes in five different sizes that fit!

Regarding the last suggestion, I use Insolia insoles. They are different from other inserts I have tried (and discarded). Instead of adding padding to the shoe, which is basically what many other shoe inserts do, “Insolia Inserts shift weight off of the ball of the foot back to the heel by placing the foot in the optimal position for high heels.”

As a result, high heels are comfortable longer than they would be sans the inserts. They really work and since that time, I automatically buy a new pair of Insolia inserts whenever I buy a new pair of high heels.

Wearing New York & Company

Zakes Mokae (second from right) femulating in the 1991 film A Rage in Harlem

Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)

For years, this blog consistently received 5,000 hits per day. But for the past month, there have been many days when the blog received nearly twice that number. And yesterday, the blog broke the 10,000 hit barrier for the first time!

I reviewed the content of the blog on those big hit days, but in general, nothing stands out. Except for the day I wrote about Aaron Hernandez, the topics on the other big hit days were the usual trans thoughts of yours truly.

I am at a loss to explain the random big hit days, but I’ll gladly take them.

Wearing Venus

Professional femulator Win Wells, circa 1965

Grocery Shopping

As a housewife, there are some chores I enjoy doing, some I am ambivalent about and some that I do not enjoy. At the top of my list of chores I dislike is grocery shopping, mainly because it is time-consuming – it basically kills a whole morning.

The only times I did not mind grocery shopping is when I shopped en femme. On those occasions, I was doing something else en femme and had to make a side trip for groceries.

For example, on one occasion, after attending a conference, I promised to pick up a few things on the way home.

During 15 minutes of going up and down the aisles of Stop & Shop, I noticed three or four guys checking me out, but no one else paid much attention to me until I queued up to check out. After I emptied my shopping cart onto the conveyor belt, I noticed the woman ahead of me look down at my shoes, a pair of nude pumps with 4-inch heels. Then she looked at me and remarked, “You are a brave woman to wear those heels to go grocery shopping!”

An episode like that puts grocery shopping in a new light! Perhaps, I should always go grocery shopping en femme.

Wearing JustFab

Patriotic chorus girl femulators in the 1943 film This Is the Army.
View the film here.

My First Emulation-Worthy Femulator

As a young femulator back in the mid-1960s, I did not have any femulators to emulate.

On the big screen, there were Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, but they dressed in 1920s flapper styles – an attractive style, but difficult for this young girl to emulate during the Jackie era. 

On the small screen, Milton Berle made an occasional appearance en femme, but his femulations were strictly for laughs; they were clownish and often ugly – nothing this girl wanted to copy.

The New York newspapers occasionally had ads displaying professional femulators at Club 82 and I so wanted to dress in showgirl drag like the girls at 82, but let's be practical.

There were no femulators that dressed like women dressed in the mid-1960s... no one I could look up to for inspiration.

Finally, one evening watching television in 1964, I saw a great femulation of a mid-1960s woman on a new episode of The Munsters – of all places! In that episode, character actor Cliff Norton played a cop who disguised himself as a woman (see photo) in order to trap a guy who was accosting women in the park at night.

Norton's femulation left an impression on me for a very long time. He was not a beautiful woman, but he passed and more importantly, he was dressed like a mid-1960s woman in the styles I knew and loved and wanted to wear.

(Danger, Danger, Will Robinson! This post is a rerun!)

Wearing St. John

Wilson Cruz femulating on a 1997 episode of television’s Ally McBeal

Someday Funnies

Source: Macy's

Jonny Beauchamp femulates in the 2016 biopic Thirsty, which was partially filmed in Provincetown.
View the trailer here.

Katy’s Roommate

During a recent Googling, I learned about a new television series, Katy Keene, premiering tonight on The CW television network.

When I was a youngster, one of my favorite comic book characters was Katy Keene. She was a long-legged fashion queen with jet black hair and I was fascinated by her glamorous image. And I loved cutting out the Katy Keene paper dolls and outfits that appeared in the pages of her comic books.

No one ever discouraged my interest in Katy Keene. In fact, Mom abetted it by helping me cut out the more difficult outfits. (Sometimes I think Mom wanted me to be a girl or maybe she knew I was a girl at heart. Anyway, she always encouraged me in all of my interests including those on the feminine side of the street.)

I don't recall any crossdressing in the pages of Katy Keene, but the new Katy Keene television series has a crossdressing character, Katy’s roommate, named Jorge/Ginger. Jonny Beauchamp plays the character and it is not his first acting stint in a dress – he played transwoman Angelique in the 2014-15 television series Penny Dreadful (you can view a clip from that series here.)

Lucy Hale, the actress playing Katy Keene, is not a long-legged fashion queen. She is only 5 foot 2, but  I will give the new series a chance and tune in tonight.

Wearing Madeleine

Jonny Beauchamp (far right) femulates in television’s Katy Keene.
View a clip from the show here.