Thanksgiving Fashion Show

Hello all! I’m in a great mood tonight. Thanksgiving break has arrived, and with it a number of my favorite things.

Thanksgiving with my family is always great. Usually my parents would host, but due to Sandy that’s not in the cards this year. Instead, we’re all heading out to an aunt and uncle for delicious meals and political “discussion.”

The real treat, though, is the day after Thanksgiving – in which all my friends get together for a pot-luck dinner. The only rule – you can’t bring anything that would be found at the Thanksgiving table. This is our ninth annual celebration and my girlfriend and I are hosting this year.

What makes me really excited about this is that, after looking at the guest list, almost all of the 17 RSVPs know that I crossdress at this point. The ones that don’t? It’s only because I haven’t had the chance to tell them. Does this mean I’m going to crossdress at the party…. well… at the moment, let’s say no. But nothing is set in stone, and you’ll see why later.

In addition, this break also brings a good friend’s birthday party, and a trip to MetLife Stadium to see the Giants play the Packers. My girlfriend is a Packers fan, and I don’t really care who wins, so either way it should be a good time.

The reasoniest reason that I’m in a good mood though? Clothes arrived! Last week when I was feeling down, and need to motivate myself to get some work-work done, I decided to go on a motivational shopping spree. I heard about a clothing site called Venus and saw a lot of really great looking, mostly affordable things. Here are the results, one at a time.

Sweater Dress

First down the aisle is a dark maroon v-nek sweater dress, along with high black boots. You might notice that I’m wearing another wig – this is actually the first real wig I ever got – for some reason I felt inspired to wear it tonight. I think I’m falling in love with it again. I later switched to my lower, my velvety slouch boots. I think they look better with the wool. Also, please ignore my hairy hand.

Ruched Skirt, Bow Top

Now we have what I’m calling my “going to work” outfit. It’s classy and just a little bit sexy. The skirt is quite slimming, and the neckline of the shirt has a cute built in bow. I also now have something to wear my heels with! In addition, my butt looks quite good in the skirt, which is always a plus.

Belted Sweater

Last, but certainly not least we have the belted-sweater. You’ll notice the woven collar, and the built-in-belt. The dress can be worn with jeans (pictured) or leggings and does a wonderful job hugging all curves. The boots are the aforementioned slouch boots, which pretty much look good with anything.

So there you have it – my Thanksgiving fashion show. I’m undoubtedly going to be making many more purchases from Venus, and I think, after seeing this pictures, I don’t have to defend myself. Something about these outfits (whether it’s mental or physical, I don’t know) makes me feel really good about myself. So good, in fact, that I’m almost tempted to wear either outfit 1 or 3 to my Pot Luck Thanksgiving with friends on Friday. It’s unlikely, but time will tell. I need to run the idea by a few people first.

Also please note, there are a lot more pictures on Flickr. As you can tell, I had a really good time wearing these outfits, so it’s only natural that I wanted a lot of pictures. Do remember – you can only see them if you add me as a friend. Then I have to add you back. I will not add anyone who has a brand new account that provides ZERO information. This is to avoid the potential of one of my students stumbling upon the blog and trying to access my pictures. I hope that’s understandable.

That all being said – go be thankful. Especially if you’re a fellow crossdresser, because there isn’t anyone as awesome as we are.

Shave a Man’s Back, He’ll Purr Like A Walrus

The title of this post is a classic line from Family Guy, and as I learned the other day, true.

The dress I am going to wear for Halloween has a low cut back, which means I cannot use my breast form bra, as the back strap would be plainly visible. To work around this I ordered from ebay a bra with invisible straps and body adhesive, which would require a serious lack of fur.

My girlfriend gave me the okay to shave my chest and back, and with her help I was shorn. Now, I’m quite the hirsute fellow, and this was no easy process. I started by using my electric razor to trim all the hair so that it would be easier to shave. After this I hopped in the shower and shaved the rest. My girlfriend helped with the back, and just like that my loafish body looked like a slippery beached whale.

Having a clean chest after being hair for the past twelve years or so is taking some getting used to. I clearly didn’t do a very good job shaving between my man-boobs, as denoted by the various cuts and bumps now present. The end process, does, however, looks quite good – and the ability to wear any low cut shirt adds to femininity more than I would have guessed.

I’m uploading another photo, with more detail but my face blurred out. If you saw the whole thing, I swear you’d swear I looked almost demure.

This is how I naturally look.

I should, though, explain the cleave. Using the make-up tutorial located here I was able to create some semblance of boob. I didn’t have all the materials used in the tutorial, but I made due with what was accessible.

Overall, considering it was the first time I’ve attempted art on my chest – I’d say it was a success.

I’m other news, add another to the list of people I’ve told. This one was a bit more daring. A friend of mine who is quite liberal in talk, but still acts conservative when presented with some real-life situations.

Initially he did not believe me – he thought I was pulling some sort of massive joke. I showed him some pictures, and he still wasn’t sure if he was being punk’d. It took another friend, who knew, to confirm to him the truth.

He is okay with everything, but was definitely weirded out. He said it is hard to learn something so new and important about someone you’ve known for so long. I suppose that’s fair to say – if I was presented with a similar situation I might take some time to adjust. I don’t think our friendship is going to change, but it’s up to him to determine the role he plays in my life while I am dressed.

A few other purchases I want to make note of:

1. Bought a few jackets and shirts. One of shirts is a long dressy shirt with buttons in the middle. It is VERY tough to button – not a lot of stretch room around the shoulders. I can button it all, but it prevents me from lifting my arms, and the space in between the buttons gets held open. I thought it was just me, but my girlfriend, who is quite normal sized, has a similar problem with the shirt. Welcome to the wonderful world of women’s clothing.
2. Bought a new wig – this one is half-human/half-synthetic. A cyborg wig, if you will. This will have less sheen and hopefully not tangle as much. In addition, I purchased a styrofoam head to go with it this time. For my current wig I withheld because I didn’t want to leave it out in the open all the time. I see, though, how tangled it gets, even when I store it delicately, so I’m going to have to find some place to put it.
3. The dress I want to wear on halloween is like a low boat neck top. American Apparel sells the same dress with a V-neck too. I kind of really want to purchase the V-neck one now, with my new found cleavage skills. We’ll see.
4. I have a few other things coming in the next few days – boots, another jacket, hopefully a better invisible strapped bra….. The purchases will have to stop soon, though, as it’s back to work for me.

That’s all I have to say for now. When the new wig arrives I’ll post some pictures of it, perhaps with a more detailed Halloween dress themed post.

Touch

(Originally written August 15th, 2012)

Am I moving too fast following my new semi-out of the crossdresssing closetness? Maybe it only seems that way because it “taboo,” or maybe I should just embrace my new found openness and buy everything that I’ve wanted over the past ten years.

It seems like every time I see a commercial, TV show, or actual female with something unexperienced I want to try it as soon as possible. The way tight jeans feel around your legs. The way boots can climb up over those jeans. The feeling of a hoop earring dangling, weighing on your lobe. The feel of a heel being kept on by a strap at the top of your foot. All of these new sensations are irresistible to me.

I have always been a very tactile person, wanting to feel my way through things, relying on touch as a trustworthy, enjoyable an reliable sense. I think that one of the reasons I enjoy crossdressing as much as I do is because of all these unique tactile sensations. Just describing the way my leg feels in panty hose or the freeness of wearing a skirt is arousing.

I realize, though, after reading My Husband Betty, by Helen Boyd, that this idea I have created of the female-me is one that represents my male-oriented view of what woman is. I want to respect women and not portray a female stereotype in how I dress, but at the same time these are the things that bring comfort to me.

I don’t think I have been that bad in terms of reinforcing a man’s view of women in how I have dressed, though. Yes I’m using make-up, wearing skirts, etc., but I don’t think I’ve done anything too outlandish. I need to ask my girlfriend what she thinks about the subject.

I told my girlfriend about my crossdressing just about a month ago today and it was a wonderful decision, despite the circumstances. Yes, I have done a lot in terms of crossdressing in the past month, and I will continue to do a lot more. It makes me happy and it something I care passionately about – in terms of myself doing it, and also changing the public perception of it. I know this is something new, and difficult, but it is an issue I’d like to pursue.

Some more personal goals of mine, updated, now include:

1. Stop biting my nails and take care of them better.
2. Lose some weight. I want to look good on Halloween.
3. Go out in public. To a bar or just around the street once at night.
4. Tell more people. Leave the closet behind.
5. Maybe get my eyebrows threaded. Maybe.

Lofty, I know, but all within reach.

One more thing to add before this ends. When I crossdresser I will call myself Justine. At first I didn’t think I needed or wanted a name for when en femme, but I realize that it really is a separate identify with its own personality and deserves to be recognized as such.