"Girls'" Day Out

Friday, I attended the True Colors Conference and presented “Makeup Basics for Trans Females.”

The site of the conference is the UConn campus in Storrs, Connecticut — one of my life’s happy places — and it is always wonderful to return to my alma mater.

My presentation was at 1:15, so I did not have to get up early and rush to Storrs. Instead, I even had time for breakfast, dressed and left home at 9:30 arriving on campus an hour later.

I wore a dress rather than pants as I originally intended and I don't think it made much of a difference during the five-minute walk between the parking garage and the Student Union. What I really needed was a hat. The wind was so blustery that I thought my wig was going to go airborne, but I made it indoors in one piece.

(Fashion Note: I wore my black laser cut dress from Avon, nude pumps from Payless, fake white fur jacket from Fashion Bug, nude thigh high hosiery from Berskshire, big beige bag from Avon, jewelry from Napier and Avon and a variety of unmentionables.)

Indoors, I checked in and received my presenter’s package. The first round of presentations were underway, so there were not many students moving through the building. I took advantage of the low level of activity to camp out in one of the Student Union lounges to go over the presenter’s package and review my presentation. I found a window seat with a nice view of the quadrangle between the Student Union and the Benton Art Museum.

It is one of the few open spaces remaining from my days as a student on campus in the early 1970's. Most of the other open spaces have been taken over by classrooms, dorms and sports facilities (when I was going to UConn, we launched model rockets and played touch football in the space now occupied by the garage where I parked my car). That’s progress!

After doing some paperwork and going over my presentation, I thought I was in an excellent spot for a photo, but I did not see anyone I knew to designate as the photographer. A woman seating nearby was reading texts or e-mails with her iPhone, so I figured she would be a good candidate to take some photos with my iPhone. So I asked and she was very happy to shoot me.

Just as she began, one of my long time trans girlfriends, Angie, came into the lounge, called me “Beautiful” like she always does and that put a big smile on my face that is evident in the photos I posted from the conference. (It is amazing the difference between a posed smile and a natural smile.)

As the time for my presentation approached, I found my assigned room and settled in. Thirty-two people showed up. They were all school-aged (middle school through college) and I thought that some of them were already gorgeous and did not need any help from me; they could probably teach me something. It turned out that one of the “gorgeous” girls works part-time at Sephora. I asked her a question about lip gloss that she was happy to answer, so "they" did teach me something!

The presentation went well. There were questions, answers and a lot of give and take, but I don’t know. I wonder how valuable it is to teach teens and twenty-somethings makeup basics and tricks that a 66-year-old transwoman uses? Some of what I do is applicable, but I will have to make some adjustments to my presentation for any future young audiences.

After my presentation, I attended my friend Diana’s presentation on post World War II trans history. One goal of her talk was to counter the popular notion that there was no trans advocacy until recently. Her presentation showed that there was a lot of trans advocacy throughout the post-war era including Stonewall, where trans peeps have been written out of some histories of that uprising.

Diana and I planned to dine after her presentation, so we left UConn and rendezvoused a half hour later at a restaurant in Manchester, where we have dined after the previous two True Color Conferences. The big difference this year was that the conference was on St. Patrick’s Day, so the restaurant was busier than after past conferences.

Our waitress was the same as in previous years and she was as affable as before, but this time, instead of referring to us as “ladies,” she called us “girls.” That was different in a good way and made me smile.

After dinner, we went our separate ways and I arrived home at 7 PM, a little tired, but very happy after a productive day out.

Wearing Tumi luggage.

David Walliams (right) femulating in an advertisement for television's Britain's Got Talent.

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A Thousand Words

A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a photo from my Friday visit to UConn to attend the True Colors Conference. I will compose 967 more words about yesterday later.

At the True Colors Conference, UConn, Storrs, CT, March 17, 2017

Please standby

I am presenting at the True Colors Conference today. If I have time and energy, I will tell you about it later today, but more likely, I will tell you about it tomorrow.

Source: Harper's Bazaar

Romain Duris femulating in the French film The New Girlfriend.

Who Wore It Better?

I was up at 5:30 AM and the first thing I did was power up the TV to watch the weather and traffic reports.

I tuned to channel 8, WTNH out of New Haven and the talking heads (Keith Kountz and Laura Hutchinson) were at it. Suddenly I am wide awake as I notice that Laura is wearing the same Calvin Klein dress that I own –– the white cable knit sweater dress I am wearing in the photo at the top of the blog.

That is second time in the past month that I noticed a woman wearing the same dress I own. The other was Kate Goselin, who was wearing a Calvin Klein color block dress that I own.

I have to say that Laura and Kate have excellent fashion sense!

Wearing Veronica Beard.

Ryan Downey, male womenswear model

Outfitting Friday

Too chilly for these pants?

Twenty inches of snow piled up in my yard yesterday and it isn’t going anywhere fast as the temperature hovers in the mid-20’s today.

Conditions will not improve much for the next few days according to the National Weather Service and as a result, when I go to UConn on Friday to attend the True Colors Conference, I might be forced to do something I almost never do: wear pants . (The “high” temperature forecasted for Storrs on Friday is 34 degrees!)

I do own dress pants, leggings, jeans and even a pair of skinny jeans. I could pair a pull-over sweater or a long tunic sweater with my pants. Or I might tough it out and wear a green sweater dress in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

Storrs is notoriously windy this time of year, so I definitely will wear my long fake fur coat over whatever outfit I put together.

And so it goes!

Wearing Theory blouse and pants and Zero+Maria Cornejo pumps.

Adam Fidusiewicz femulates Samantha Fox on Polish television's version of Your Face Sounds Familiar.

I'd Wear This

I'd Wear This (if I was 29-years-old), but I
could be persuaded to wear this Now! LOL

If you visit my Pinterest page, you will notice that among the 16 boards I have created, there are three named "I'd Wear This." The three boards differ according to age... "I'd Wear This (if I was 16-years-old)," "I'd Wear This (if I was 29-years-old)" and just plain "I'd Wear This," which is short for "I'd Wear This (Now)," that is, at my current age.

Ignore the 16-years-old board because I just started it and it only includes one pin. But if you compare the 29-years-old and Now boards, you will notice that the main difference between the two are the hemlines. The 29-year-old hemlines are thigh-high, whereas the Now hemlines are knee-centric, although there are some thigh-high numbers among the Now hemlines, too.

In reality, the hemlines in my closet are almost equally divided between knee-centric and thigh-high.

So what's with the short hemlines, Stana?

Two reasons:

1. I like shorter hemlines because I have shapely legs and like to show them off.

2. But as I have said in the past, "My skirt's not too short – my legs are too long!" and there is a lot of truth to that because at my height (six feet two), most hemlines will be short on me because they are intended for women who are six inches (or more) shorter than I am.

So I am stuck buying skirts and dresses with short hemlines. (Poor, baby!).

  



 

Wearing Theory sweater and skirt.

Jerzy Grzechnik femulates Florence Welch on the Polish television version of Your Face Sounds Familiar.

UConn Show in the Snow

These boots aren't made for slogging!

After a mild January and February, winter has decided to go out with a bang a few days before the first day of spring. Weather people are predicting 16 to 26 inches of snow to fall here by Wednesday!

I hope they are wrong because Friday, I will be at UConn and I don't look forward to dealing with snowy and icy sidewalks. I do own a half dozen pairs of women's boots, but they are more fashionable than practical, so I may have to resort to wearing boy boots to slog around campus.

The reason I will be at UConn is to attend the True Colors Conference where I will be presenting a workshop titled "Makeup Basics for Trans Females." The Conference guide describes my workshop thusly, "Putting on your face can be a cosmetic calamity if you don't have a roadmap. This workshop provides guidance and tips for the transgender female on how to successfully navigate the world of cosmetics so that she can start looking like the female she really is."

Last year, I had over 40 people in attendance for that workshop, so I am looking forward to the Conference, but not the weather.

Wearing Otte bag and Sacai earrings.

Vitalij S, male womenswear model

Old... Not

Some things never get old.

After doing my hair and makeup, that first reflection of a woman I see in the mirror.

Being referred to as “she” and “her” while I am out among the civilians.

Wearing high heels.

Hearing the click of my high heels.

When a gentleman holds a door open for me.

Touching up your hair and makeup in the ladies’ room.

When a civilian female engages you in conversation.

Smoothing the back of my skirt as I sit down.

Carrying a purse.

Taking my compact out of my purse to touch up my makeup.

Being called "Ma'am."

Even better... being called "Miss."

When a complete stranger stops to say, "I like what you're wearing!"

Shopping.

Dangly earrings.

Wearing lipstick.

Admiring glances.

Realizing that while I am presenting as a woman, it comes so naturally that I don’t have to think about it.

Wearing Lulus.

British soldiers femulating on stage in Forces in Petticoats, circa 1952.

We will all be women soon!

The future is female, so as my blogging friend Juan once said, "Gentlemen, put on your skirts and high heels, fetch your purses, and head to the future."

We may not all be women soon, but I believe that in the future, being a male woman will be as acceptable as being a female woman. The following Pinterest photos of male and female women indicate that that future may be sooner than we think. 

To Survive On This Shore

Gloria, 70, Chicago, IL

To Survive On This Shore is a project by Jess T. Dugan and Vanessa Fabbre that documents the lives of older transgender people using photos and interviews.

"Representations of older transgender people are nearly absent from our culture and within artistic realms, and those that do exist are often one-dimensional. To Survive on this Shore combines photographs of transgender and gender-variant people over the age of fifty with interviews about their life experiences in regards to gender, identity, age, and sexuality and provides a nuanced view into the complexities of aging as a transgender person. By combining our experiences working as a photographer and social worker within the transgender community, we hope to create a project that is simultaneously highly personal and socially relevant.

"Ultimately, we desire to provide visibility to a community that is often overlooked, both because of their age as well as their gender, and to encourage empathy, understanding, and dialogue."

I love the photos and interviews that have been collected for this project. I think Femulate readers will like them, too. And if anyone is interested in being part of this documentary, the team is looking for additional participants.

(Thank you, Aunty Marlena, for the heads-up about this project.)

Paris street style, March 2017

Femulating during Carnaval.