Sizing Me Up

Sheila from Tampa left the following comment to my Foundations of Femulation post:

Question: When you order slimming foundation garments and check the sizing charts, do you order the size indicated by your current dimensions, or do you order one size smaller (since you are hoping to have the garment give you temporary new smaller dimensions)? I will appreciate your sage advice.

My reply was that "it's complicated" and would require a whole blog post to answer her question. This post is it.

Caveat emptor: This is what works for ME; your mileage may vary.

For girdles, waist cinches, and lower torso shapewear, I get a size that is about 6 to 8 inches smaller than my natural waist measurement. On my body, the result is about half-way in between, that is, a garment that is 6 to 8 inches smaller than my waist measurement reduces my waistline by 3 to 4 inches.

It took me a long time to find the right size bra. I finally sought out expert advice.

Two separate bra fittings by professionals indicated that I should wear a bra that is about 4 inches smaller than my natural breast measurement with either a B or C cup (depending on the bra style).

Again, what works for me, may not work for you.

Modeling Lessons

Photos are a "girl's" best friend.

Like many of you, I shoot photos of my femulations and have been doing so ever since I was a teen-aged "girl."

Perfectionist that I am, I use the photos to see how I can make improvements in my presentation.

Narcissist that I am, I use the photos to see how feminine I look.

Whatever the reason, I feel that there is always room for improvement in my photo modeling skills. My "good" photos often seem to be the result of pure luck.

It's true that digital camera "film" is cheap, but it would be nice to get two or three keepers out of every ten photos I shoot instead of just one. After all, I am absolutely gorgeous (LOL), so I must be doing something wrong!

I subscribe to Daily Makeover and yesterday they offered a slide show of tips of "How To Tale A Red Carpet Worthy Photo."

I thought that the tips were very useful and I am anxious to try them out during my next photo shoot. Hopefully, they will result in more consistency in the quality of my photos.

Blame It On Chemtrails

A New Yorker cartoon parody.

Shopping For "Her"

A New Yorker cartoon parody.

The Latest Way Of Demeaning Real Women Is A Male Model Dressed As A Girl

Fashion's ultimate insult to women. Read all about it here.

Bless Me, Father, For I Have Sinned

Jones sent me this cartoon from the September 1974 issue of Playboy. It made me laugh out loud; I hope you will have a good laugh, too.

Happiness Is A Warm Falsie

Foundations of Femulation

I have always been voluptuous, buxom, full-figured, whatever; I have never been fashion model thin or even close to it.

So foundation garments are my friends. They shape and mold my flesh into a womanly figure to help sell my femulation.

I have been femulating for about five decades and during that time, I have tried a variety of foundation garments.

Early on, when I was borrowing lingerie from my mother, bras and girdles were my mainstays. Mom owned a variety of girdles, but stuck with one style of bra, i.e., the traditional white, shoulder-strapped, rear-fastening style.

I tried them all and had my favorites. When I began shopping for my own foundation garments, I stuck to bras and girdles like Mom owned ("like Mother, like Son").

That is until I visited a lingerie shop in Kingston, NY. The little lady who ran the shop probably had seen it all, so when I mentioned I needed some foundation garments for my Halloween costume, I don't think she believed me. However, she was very helpful and after measuring me up, she suggested a heavy-duty all-in-one and handed me two models to try on.

The first all-in-one did nothing for me, but the second one did wonders. The proprietor insisted on examining me wearing the all-in-one and after giving me the once-over, she gushed about my great girlish figure. I enjoyed the compliment, but I was a little embarrassed and could not pay and get out of the shop fast enough.

I was sold on all-in-ones and wore them until they more or less stopped selling the heavy duty models. The lighter duty models were still available, but just did not have the same molding and shaping power of the heavy duty models, so I had to find something else.

I experimented with different things and finally found a combination that approximated an all-in-one: a longline bra, a high-waisted brief girdle, and a corset-style waist cincher. That was a heavy duty combination that, at times, was uncomfortable, but it worked and I stuck with that combo for a dozen years.

Spanx came along and I was intrigued, but I did not indulge in that modern line of shapewear until Avon started selling Bali's Spanx clone. With my Avon rep discount, I decided to try a high-waisted brief.

Wow!

Shapewear had come a long way; the Bali brief did a better job than the trio of foundation garments I had been wearing. Initially, I wore longline bras with the high-waisted brief, but after getting fitted for a "Bombshell" bra at Victoria's Secret, I dumped the longline bras and began adding Bombshells to my wardrobe.

Recently, I added Bali's cami torset top to the mix. It is a cami with the front cut out to allow you to wear whatever bra you wish. Meanwhile, it smooths out your back and eliminates the back fat that has long been an issue that I thought I would never conquer.

It took a half century, but I am finally all set! I now have a very womanly figure sans hormones or surgery.

Dr. Phil Is A Pill

Read why here.

Statuesque

I recently discovered The Amazon Blog, "the online international fashion & lifestyle resource for tall girls and women." The last update was in May 2010, but the website has information that is still useful for tall girls like us.

Also, I have some new additions to the Famous Females of Height List:

5'9" – Amber Valletta – actress – film Hitch

5'9" – Florence Welch – singer from Florence and the Machine

5'10" – Marcia Strassman (photo right) – actress – television Welcome Back, Kotter, film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids

6'0-" – Kimora Lee Simmons – fashion model, author (source: Kathryn Mars)

6'11" – Marvadene Anderson – New Jersey high school basketball player (source: Patty Romano)

Presidents' Day

(Click the image to enlarge it.)

Searching the Internet for a US President-Femulate connection, I found this piece from the December 26, 1995 edition of Weekly World News about one of my favorite presidential personalities, Dick Nixon, and his penchant for wearing women's clothing.

The article reveals that the author of a book about Nixon claims that "he has iron-clad evidence that Nixon was a transvestite --- and he even has photographs to prove it!"

The photo of Nixon in drag that accompanies the article is real bad Photoshopping. Nixon's head is not in proportion to "his" body: his head is too small/his body too big.

Except for this article, there is no reference to the purported author of the book, Malcolm Tenniper, anywhere on the Internet. His surname is so rare that I cannot find one person in the USA with the same surname listed in any telephone directory.

In my humble opinion, the story is balderdash.

Time To Start My Own Business

(A New Yorker cartoon parody.)

The Amazing Miss Engg

Wow!!!

Seems that the College of Engineering, University of Philippines-Diliman conducts an annual womanless beauty pageant competition for the title of Miss Engg.

Viewing the portraits of the 2010 pageant contestants, I am of the opinion that the Miss Engg womanless pageant has to be one of the best, if not the best womanless pageant conducted at an educational institute, whether it be grammar school, middle school, high school, or college.

The girls' femulation is so good that it took awhile before I was sure that the girls were really guys. What finally convinced me was the set of portraits of the girls in boy mode. If all I had to look at were their evening gown and swimsuit portraits, I would still need some convincing.

The portraits are absolutely gorgeous. It is obvious that a lot of time and effort went into the portraits. Whoever was involved knew their business. (I wish I could find someone around here that could do my portrait en femme like the Miss Engg portraits!)

Anyway, without further ado, visit the Miss Engg Facebook page and/or feast your eyes on the images displayed at the following links:

•  Evening gown portraits

•  Swimsuit portraits

•  Video game costume character portraits

•  Boy mode portraits

There are also some videos on the Internet that you can find by searching for “Miss Engg” on YouTube.

Again, Wow!!!

UPDATE: Here are the images from the 2007 and 2009 installments of Miss Engg pageant.

Stray Lipstick

Over the years, I have read many a transwoman's account about being thrilled when they saw their lipstick smudged on a drinking glass, coffee cup, cigarette, etc. that they recently withdrew from their mouth.

Am I the only one who is not thrilled by such a sight?

Lipstick smudges bother me in two ways.

1. I am not a germaphobe, but when I see such lipstick smudges, even my own, it grosses me out a little bit.

2. When I see my own lipstick smudges, it means that my pristine makeup application is no longer pristine and that I must repair to the ladies' room to freshen my makeup. For that reason, I try to use a drinking straw whenever I drink. In fact, I put a fresh drinking straw in my purse whenever I go out.

And so she goes!

Maybe Not

(A New Yorker cartoon parody.)

Womanless Wednesday: 2010 Miss Fire Island

Flickr has 215 photos online from the 45th annual Miss Fire Island (NY) Pageant that occurred on September 11, 2010.

Thank you Aunty Marlena for this find!

Especially the Trappings

(A New Yorker cartoon parody.)

The Extra Man En Femme

I am a film buff, but I had never heard of the 2010 film titled The Extra Man. I should have known about it because it stars one of my favorite living actors, Kevin Kline, along with Katie Holmes, Paul Dano, and John C. Riley. Somehow, it flew under my radar until last week when I learned that Paul Dano appears en femme in the film.

My interest was piqued, so I added the film to my Blockbuster queue.

The DVD arrived Saturday. I have not watched the whole film yet, but I fast-forwarded through the DVD to check out the transgender bits and found many pertinent scenes. There may be others because I fast-forwarded through the film very quickly and I might have missed some scenes, but here are the ones I did find:

* The Dano character peruses the trans bar advertisements in a tabloid newspaper.

* Dano goes to a trans bar and converses with a trans waitress.

* Dano has a male-to-female head-to-toe makeover.

I am not sure how these trans scenes fit into the rest of the film because I have not watched the film from beginning to end yet. According to IMDB, the story is about a man who escorts wealthy widows in New York's Upper East Side" and "takes a young aspiring playwright under his wing." Kline is the escort and Dano is the aspiring playwright.

And how it goes, I don't know yet.

Happy St. Valentine's Day

Three times a charm!

This is the third time I posted this vintage Valentine's Day greeting card here (last time in 2009). Since the blog's readership has evolved and grown during the past two years ago, I am posting the card again for everyone to enjoy because it is so apropos femulation-wise. (Click on the image to magnify it and see it in its full glory.)

And Happy Saint Valentine's Day to you all!

Watching the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards Show

Watching the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards Show on CBS tonight.

(This will be a live blog until I fall asleep.)

***

The show opened with a tribute to Aretha Franklin by five singers. One, a tall redhead, looks tall enough to qualify for the Famous Females of Height List. Who is she?

Poking around the Grammy website, I think she is Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine fame and poking around the Internet, I find that she is 5'9" tall and most definitely qualifies for the list.

***

I'll admit that I don't get out much and heard Lady Gaga for the first time on 60 Minutes earlier tonight and on the Grammys later tonight.

The lyrics to the song she sang on the Grammys, Born This Way, were interesting from a trans-perspective ("Don't be a drag, just be a queen"), but after hearing her sing and watching her performance, I wonder if Madonna is suing?

***

Coincidentally, Lady Gaga's performance was followed by a hp commercial that used Lou Reed's Walk On The Wild Side with the lyrics revised! Wow!

***

Country-western singer Miranda Lambert wins an award. As she gets up out of her seat to accept the award, the first thing she has to do is pull up the front of her dress with both hands so that her girls don't escape on live television. She looks like a sausage in the dress she is wearing --- what a shame!

***

Just A Beaver - don't get me started!

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Laughed out loud at the Letterman Top Ten piece.

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Just noticed that Gospel singer Yolanda Adams, who also performed in the Aretha Franklin tribute, is also tall - 6'1" to be exact!

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Bob Dylan should consider lip synching. Love his music, but his voice is no longer lovable.

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Love Gwyneth Paltrow's heels!

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Love Kate Perry's dress.

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Now, I am going to fall asleep!