Dresses & Skirts – A Thing Of The Past?

By Carollyn Olson

“We don't need no stinkin' skirts!”

Are dresses and skirts becoming extinct?

Look around! Do you see many women wearing dresses or skirts? 

This came to my attention recently when my spouse and I walked through our local mall one night after dinner and I only discovered only one woman wearing a dress and two others in skirt ensembles. What’s going on? (Note: I noticed eight to ten older women wearing dresses or skirts at church last Sunday. The younger ladies were wearing slacks).

As a long-time crossdresser, I love wearing dresses and skirts. I have my share of skinny jeans and leggings, but I prefer a classy dress or skirt when going out and about.

I have noticed women are more casual and ofttimes, sloppy in their appearance. The younger they are, the worse they dress. When at the mall, I saw more females wearing pants, shorts, yoga pants and torn and holey jeans. One girl, walking in front of us was wearing jeans so badly torn that her bare rear end was showing. Disgusting!

I decided to contact my long-time friend, Melissa, the woman’s department manager at a major department store, for her opinion.

“Women are not buying dresses or skirts like they have in the past,” Melissa related. “I don’t know if they are lazy or don’t want to show off their legs. Our store has cut back on both dresses and skirts due to lack of sales. So has Macy’s. Fancy dresses, such as wedding, prom, holiday or special occasion are still popular, but they are mostly seasonal. We still have a good inventory of fancy dresses for the teens, but every day casual dresses just don’t sell. I still like wearing dresses and looking good, but I’d say I wear a dress or a skirt outfit to work only once or twice a week.” 

Melissa reminded me of the Sears stores, prior to the company going out of business.

“As a part of my job, I visit the stores in direct competition with our store. Inventories are down everywhere. I could not find one dress at the Sears in our mall in its final year or so of operation,” she recalled. “The only Sears store with dresses was about ten miles from our location.”  

For a crossdresser, multi-style dresses and skirts are readily available on the Internet, but sadly, not in the stores, so one can try on the dress prior to purchasing. One great site is En Femme, where the company designs dresses and skirts with the crossdresser in mind. 

I have at least six En Femme dresses, which I cherish and love to wear when out andabout. Three are what you might call “party dresses” and the others can be worn for any occasion. Check out the wonderful dresses and skirts on the En Femme site. You can’t go wrong!

I’d love to hear your opinion!

UPDATE: Carollyn thanks everybody for their responses and wishes everyone a blessed Thanksgiving!

Wearing JustFab

Femulate reader and blogger Julie Shaw out and about.

Someday Funnies: What’s Suitable?

Wearing Ann Taylor

Femulate reader Lisa in and about at home

Finally!

On Wednesday, I finally got out among the civilians – first time since the pandemic began! The main reason for my outing was to do outreach at a local high school with the Stonewall Speakers. 

I had to meet up with everybody at the high school at 2 PM. But I was ready early, so instead of hanging around the house en femme, I decided to go to a mall (Westfarms) that was near the high school. My wife checked me out before I left and informed me to fix my wig because there were stray hairs that were trying to get away! (Thanks, Honey.)

I drove to the mall and entered via Macy’s, briefly perused the dress racks, but I did not feel like shopping. I was hungry and felt like eating, so I lunched at my favorite restaurant in the mall Brio Italian Grille.

I had the “Sausage, Pepperoni & Ricotta Flatbread,” ate about one-third of it and doggy-bagged the rest of it home.

After lunch, I walked to Sephora to purchase some makeup. Shopping at Sephora was uneventful, but the walk to and from Sephora was interesting. A tall woman in a dress and high heels sure catches the eye of every male within the sound of the clicking high heels. I passed three groups of guys who I assume were spending their lunch hour at the mall and I distracted them from what they were doing. Not a discouraging word was heard, so I assume they like my shoes!

The issue of my weight loss reared its ugly head. My feet are smaller than they were 25 pounds ago and they were swimming in the shoes that fit in the good old days. By the time I left the mall, my feet hurt from wearing the ill-fitting shoes. I fixed the problem temporarily by stuffing facial tissues into the toes of my shoes so that they fit tighter, but I have to do something more permanent to fix the problem.

I drove to the high school and met up with the gender and sexuality club advisor and my fellow Stonewall Speakers, a gay man and a post-op male-to-female transwoman. There was an excellent turn-out, approximately 30 LGBT males and females.

Each presenter gave a brief biography. I went first and was a little nervous because it’s been a couple of years since my last outreach, but the students laughed when they were supposed to laugh and no one threw tomatoes at me.

After our biographies, the students asked questions that were different than the outreach questions I’ve heard in the past. The difference was probably due to the fact that these students have skin in the game, whereas the college students were attendees because it was part of a course they were taking.

After outreach, we mingled for a few minutes and a young lady made a bee-line for me to compliment me on my perfect makeup!

It was wonderful to be out en femme again and to do outreach. I will be doing outreach at a different local high school next month. 

Wearing Eloquii

Longtime Femulate reader Nancy Ng attending the 2019 Christmas Gala of her Toronto area CD support group, Xpressions.

Someday Funnies

Wearing Ann Taylor

Femulate reader Suzanne Jeffries out shopping for a dress.

All dressed up and nowhere to go... again

I did it again! I ordered a cocktail dress to wear to upcoming holiday get-togethers, but I don’t know if I will be attending any.

Last year was a washout due to the pandemic. And this year, the pandemic hangover turned the biggest local LGBT event into a virtual affair and may wipe out other events, too.

After I retired, my company invited me back for their annual holiday luncheon two years in a row, but since then, the company was bought out and I don’t know if the new owners even bankroll holiday luncheons or if anyone there remembers me.

A group of my girl friends used to get together and go out to dinner and a show during the holidays, but we have not done that since before the pandemic. Maybe they would be interested in doing that again this year.

Wearing Ann Taylor

Longtime Femulate reader Mousse

Someday Funnies

Wearing Maygel Coronel

Femulate reader Lee B taking in the scenery at Port Canaveral, Florida

Worth Repeating

Diana wrote this on her blog on Saturday and it needs repeating here on Monday.

Fluff

[RANT]

That is what the readers want.

A couple of weeks ago I posted about Fantasia Fair… I set a record for visits to my blog!

When I write about a trans woman being beaten with a 2x4… 30 or 40 hits.

When I write about a Connecticut politician trying to strip health insurance from us… nothing.

When I write about a bill to prevent trans children from transitioning… again 30 or 40 hits.

When I wrote about Fantasia Fair… 1200 hits!

People, one day you are going to wake up and find that it is now illegal for us to go out in public. Get your head out of the sand. Hate crimes against trans people are skyrocketing! Laws against us has turned into an epidemic! Dozens and dozens of laws have been introduced not only in red states, but also in blues states. Courts have ruled against us in housing, employment and in public accommodations.

They don’t care if you only crossdress on weekends, they don’t care if you have transitioned. All they care about is that they hate your guts and want to see you dead! Dead! Dead! The murder of trans people this year is on its way of setting a record for our murders.

Harvey Milk, at speech given on Gay Freedom Day (1978-06-25) in San Francisco said,

Gay brothers and sisters, you must come out. Come out to your parents. I know that it is hard and will hurt them, but think about how they will hurt you in the voting booth! Come out to your relatives. Come out to your friends, if indeed they are your friends. Come out to your neighbors, to your fellow workers, to the people who work where you eat and shop. Come out only to the people you know, and who know you, not to anyone else. But once and for all, break down the myths. Destroy the lies and distortions. For your sake. For their sake.

It was true then, it is true now.

You upset their 1950 view of the United States; they do not like you if you are different from them whether it is your skin color, your religion, your sexual orientation, your gender identity – you are different from them and they hate feeling “uncomfortable.”

You can’t hide, it is time for action.

Get out and be an activist just by being yourself.

[/RANT]

Wearing Madeleine

Femulate reader Sue Richmond during a trip to Kew Gardens in London.
Click here to visit her blog.

Someday Funnies: She Likes It!

Wearing AG

Richard Chamberlain femulating on television’s The Drew Carey Show.

You are invited!

Instead of photos of femulators in films and television, I would like to feature some real life femulators in the “Femulator” slot below (that means you). So this is an invitation to send me your photo to be crowned “Femulator of the Day.” 

Just a couple of rules: 

1. Make sure your photo is ladylike, so nothing pornographic and nothing with too much skin showing.

2. Send me one photo – the photo you consider your best. If you send more than one photo, I will have to choose which one to publish and you may not like my choice.

3. Indicate how you want your name to appear in the caption: first and last name, just your first name or no name. 

4. If you are out and about in the photo, indicate what you are doing (e.g., “shopping at Macy’s,” “dining at the White House,” etc.). 

5. If you have a blog or website, include its URL and I will mention it in the caption.

I hope to see your photo soon!

Wearing Baobab

Stana staffing the registration table at the Transgender Lives Conference.

Someday Funnies: Ultimatum

Wearing Venus

Vladimir Luxuria

Postponed

I was supposed to do outreach at a local high school today, but the person at the school who requested us forgot that today was a half day for the students. So outreach has been rescheduled for next Wednesday. (That gives me another week to think about what I am going to wear!)

Readers asked to describe outreach.

Outreach is an attempt to educate and enlighten non-transgender people about what it means to be transgender. 

It occurs in two parts. First, each outreach presenter gives a brief autobiography (about five minutes long). Then the audience asks us questions.

All of the outreach I have done in the past was with college students who were attending as part of a course they were taking (typically Human Sexuality). I expect that the questions from the high schoolers may be different because attendance is voluntary and not related to a course they are taking. Rather, they are attending because they are members of the school’s gender and sexuality club. They have skin in the game, so I suspect their questions will be different.

Click here to read my post about the most memorable questions asked of me at past outreaches.

Wearing Elisabetta Franchi

Rob Lowe femulating a nurse in the 1984 film Hotel New Hampshire.