Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Not My Size


I mentioned in a previous post that I worked in the clothing receiving department of Caldor during the summer of 1969. Before that summer job, I worked part-time after school printing signs for in-store sales.

My print “shop” was in the mezzanine that surrounded the sales floor... in a secluded and unfinished portion of the mezzanine. It was like working in an unfinished attic.

Next to my “office” was a pile of shoe boxes – shoes that customers returned for a refund or exchange. Naturally, I perused the returns and tried on all the high heels that were there, but sadly, they were all too small.




Source: Rue La La
Wearing Tommy Bahama




Tyler James Williams
Tyler James Williams dressed up in a 2013 episode of television's Go On

Monday, June 29, 2020

Wig Out Without

As a novice femulator, I always wore a wig cap under my wig. Not sure why. Other wig wearers wore wig caps, so I assumed they knew what they were doing and I just followed their lead. I thought that maybe it helped hide your real hair (if you had any), but I was never sure.

Large cap size head that I have, most wig caps were too tight and left red welts on my forehead. Occasionally, a tight wig cap would give me a headache, too.

Also, wig caps were hot. They essentially added an extra layer underneath the wig and caused sweating especially in the warmer weather. Sweat running down loads of makeup did not make for a pretty picture.

The last straw was when a tight wig cap worked its way off my head and ended up all balled-up under my wig!

After that, I swore off wig caps. No more wig cap welts, headaches and sweat. And my wigs did not notice the difference – they stayed in place and did not stray from my head.

There are some benefits to wearing a wig cap. You can read about them here, but they do not apply to me and I will remain wig capless ’til the day I dye.




Source: Moda Operandi
Wearing Balmain



Phillipe Blond
Phillipe Blond

Saturday, June 27, 2020

Summer of 1969

Housecleaning, I turned up some 40-year-old packages of pantyhose. One pair came from Kmart and two pairs came from Caldor.

Summer of 1969, I worked in the receiving department of Caldor where I unpacked and sorted women's clothing all day long.

One day, a co-worker, who must have sensed my feminine vibe, suggested that it must be my dream job because I got first shot at all the new dresses and lingerie before it went on the floor for sale to the public. He even showed me a private backroom where I could try on the clothing that I might like to purchase.

To defend my 18-year-old masculinity, I denied any interest in what he suggested.





Source: Rue La La
Boy or girl wearing Lafayette 148 New York?




Stephen Carr
Stephen Carr femulating in a 1952 episode of television’s Adventures of Superman

Friday, June 26, 2020

Out with the Old

In general, girls like us don’t femulate 24/7. Once a week, twice a month, once a month, etc. is more like it. As a result, we do not consume cosmetics as quickly as girls who makeup their faces every day. So we tend to hold onto and use makeup that is past its expiration date.

“Besides the fact that old makeup doesn't hold up too well, if you're not careful, it can even be harmful to your skin and cause irritation.”

Here is a summary of when you should discard makeup after opening it. For further reading, I refer you to this Insider article.

Blush – 2 years

Eyeshadow – 2 years

Foundation and Primer (products for the face) – 2 years

Lipstick – 1 year

Liquid Eyeliner – 3 months

Mascara – 3 months

Pencil Eyeliner – 1 year

By the way, this symbol appears on makeup labels to indicate how long the product will last after you've opened it, in this case, 24 months.

Keep being pretty!





Source: Intermix
Wearing Gauge81




Luis Montalbert
Luis Montalbert femulates Gloria Trevi on Costa Rican television's Tu Cara Me Suena

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Chat Me Up


Paula wrote, “As one woman to another, and excuse me if this is a silly question, but why don't more girls write to you about being approached by men... and enjoying it. It has happened to me twice recently and I was absolutely flattered. I think it is the ultimate compliment.”

I don’t know why more girls don’t write to me about being approached by men.

I have had numerous men check me out and that in itself is a compliment. But I have never had a man take the next step and chat me up. Have you?

If you have been approached by a man, how did it go? How did you handle it? How did it end?

Inqueering minds want to know, so comment below about your close encounters with men. Or send me your stories via e-mail (click on the “send me e-mail” link below my photo in the sidebar.

I’m all ears.







Source: Bebe
Wearing Bebe




Femulating in the mid-20th Century
Femulating in the mid-20th Century

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Gulag Gurls

The image in the Femulator slot of Saturday’s post depicted “British prisoners of war femulating in a show at Stalag 383 during World War II.” That image resulted in comments and questions from you readers wondering about the soldiers femulating in that photo.

Years ago, I wondered about POW crossdressing and did some research on the matter. The results of that research appeared here almost two years ago to the day and I am repeating that post below to help clear things up. If you have further questions, I will try to answer them.    

Cassidy wrote, “Quick question. I, from time to time see on your blog and others WWI and WWII POWs dressed as women (femulating) and performing for other inmates. I always wondered where they got the clothing to do so. Could you offer an answer?”

I had the same question when I discovered all the photos of POW femulations.

I wondered if the Geneva Convention required every POW facility to be stocked with the latest in female clothing, wigs, makeup, etc., to permit the prisoners to dress en femme?

Did the POW camp commander ring up his favorite dress shop and order some frocks for the prisoners whenever they wanted to put on a show?

I asked those questions (with tongue in cheek), but I was curious because it seemed to me that these “girls” were not wearing homemade outfits put together from scraps of material that they scrounged up in camp. Rather they were dressed as fashionable women of the day would dress in outfits that came off the rack of women's clothier.

What's the real story?

With nothing but time on their hands, the POWs would make their costumes using whatever scraps of material they could find, repurpose or barter from the prison guards. They even made high heel shoes! If you ever saw the film The Great Escape, it shows the prisoners making civilian clothing and Nazi uniforms (for their escape) the same way.

(Reminds me of the time before I had the courage to shop for women's clothing in person that I made a red satin micro-miniskirt from a scrap of material that my mother had left over from a sewing project.)

As they say, “Where there's a will, there's a way.”

On the other hand, there were POWs who performed as female impersonators for the troops before imprisonment and brought their makeup and gowns along with them into captivity. Since wigs were a scarce commodity, some of the "girls" were permitted to grow their hair out!

Addendum: I am aware of two films that depict POW femulations: La Grande Illusion and The Bridge on the River Kwai. In the former, officers are the femulators, whereas in the latter, enlisted men do the femulating.

(Sources: The Barbed-Wire University: The Real Lives of Prisoners of War in the Second World War by Midge Gilles; Cultural Heritage and Prisoners of War: Creativity Behind Barbed Wire by Gilly Carr and Harold Mytum)





Source: Rue La La
Wearing London Times





When Bombardier Arthur Butler of the 122nd Field Regiment Royal Artillery transformed himself into Gloria D’Earie she became ‘exquisite’. She made all her own costumes and moved and spoke just like a woman. Butler was a professional female impersonator and widely regarded as the best in Changi. His act was so convincing that some men found it too painful: they would rather not be reminded of what a woman looked like as it made their separation from wives and sweethearts harder to bear. (Source: The Barbed-Wire University: The Real Lives of Prisoners of War in the Second World War by Midge Gillies)

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Monday, June 22, 2020

Better Red?

I have a box of wigs that I have purchased over the years that I no longer wear. I had some time to kill before my Zoom presentation last week, so I decided to try on every wig in the box.

A couple looked good on me and I will wear them again. A few that I recall looking good on me in the past did nothing for me now. And the majority did not look good at all; I wondered what possessed me to buy them in the first place. Maybe they looked better on a younger and/or fatter me – go figure.

One that I don’t recall purchasing nor wearing interested me. Did I buy it and never wear it? I don’t recall, but I thought with a little cleaning and grooming, it might look nice on me. It is a Paula Young wig called Chantel in copper red, a color that I often wore until I went blond 15 years ago.

That’s me wearing Chantel in the accompanying photo. Is it a keeper or a loser?





Source: Ollalaa
Wearing Ollalaa




Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood, Shania Twain’s former drummer (not the film actor)

Friday, June 19, 2020

Zoom Again?

Ready to Zoom
I really enjoyed doing my Zoom presentation on Tuesday (titled “Confidence: A Crossdresser’s Best Friend”). Once I got over my initial stage fright, you could not shut me up and I talked for nearly 40 minutes straight with only a few short breaks to sip water.

It was only my second time using Zoom, so I was still getting acquainted with its operation. As a result, I missed the questions that viewers were texting to me. I apologize for that.

Anyway, I so enjoyed doing the presentation that I am considering doing it as a regular feature in conjunction with this blog – maybe once per month on various topics.

What do you think? Would you be interested in viewing such presentations? If so, what would you like me to talk about?

Please let me know via a comment below or via an e-mail to stana-stana at-sign sbcglobal.net.




Source: Rue La La
Wearing Rue La La




Volker Spengler
Volker Spengler (right) in the 1978 West German film In a Year of 13 Moons
You can view the film’s trailer on YouTube.