transretrogurl

So, I made this a two-parter because I was literally falling asleep over my laptop at the end of the last one, that’ll teach me to have insomnia due to x months of stress and anxiety, etc etc. Awake now so hopefully can finish documenting the last session before I get down to some juicy Frock Tales, and maybe a ‘Infrequently Asked Questions, Pandemic Edition’ if I’m feeling, well, saucy.

Anyway, we got to the Suffragette look, one of which I was particularly proud but also a little nervous. I love the Edwardian look, the frilly, high-necked blouses and long, ankle-covering skirts, but I thought people might be, you know, offended by it. We’re easily offended now, mostly because we’re all one government announcement from going bananas. But the look was meant to be reverential; as I said, I love the style. In fact I have three more similar costumes hanging in my closet for use later in the year.

So, once we had finished the 1903 Sarah look I had just one more costume to try…..

7: Prairie School Ma’am

This was another of those colonial/civil war costumes; we decided to start with her (yeah, third person, I know) hair up in a tight ponytail, the ‘strict’ look, and then do some with her hair down, the ‘after school when all the little darlings have gone home to their families’.

The dress was a lot of fun to wear. It’s so nice to put on something that covers so much, and the feel of a long skirt brushing your legs as you walk is a lot of fun. The top of the dress had voluminous sleeves which exaggerated the slender wrists, with a tight collar at the neck with a cameo. You can see her (OK, ‘my’) bra through the top which is a little bit of titillation. Which I like.

8: Ruth Ellis

For those who don’t know who Ruth Ellis was, she was a glamorous woman in the 1950s in the UK who killed her boyfriend and ended up being the last woman hung in the UK. Yeah, a little grim, I apologise, but the hairstyle and chic dress in this look just made me think of her. It’s a lovely 1950s shape dress from Unique Vintage, black and white stripe with gorgeous pink roses and a black bow at the neck.

It’s one of those dresses that you know women today won’t wear. It’s too, well, girlie. Their loss; it was a joy to wear and pose in. Like the green and white housewife frock from part 1 it’s a light fabric and feels gorgeous on, and the combination of the flowing flared out skirt and the tight bodice/bow at the neck gives both the ‘swish’ feeling of a proper 1950s swing dress and that deliciously naughty feel of being restrained around the breasts. Ok, I’ve thought about this one way too much, but it’s lovely to just *be* in that kind of moment when posing and strutting about.

If I had any courage I’d combine this dress with a modern hairstyle, such as the blonde ‘Phoebe’ one we use a lot, and go out for a stroll, but I think I’d stand out, possibly because the dress is so darling but mostly because I’m a terrified 6ft2in transvestite. The latter mostly, I’d guess.

9: Cindy’s Party Dress

So, a couple of years ago Cindy organised a ‘Summer Ball’ down in Brighton. I had a ticket and was all set to go, nervous of course; I’d picked an outfit (my taffeta silver and black Kitty that I’ve modelled a number of times), I worked out logistics, and then, a week before, my company sent me to Scotland for some work with the government up there and I couldn’t make it.

It was a fun event, so I’ve been told (to much jealousy of my own). The reason I bring it up is Cindy is, well, dainty and she, cough, bought and wore this dress for the event.

See, at the end of most of the sessions with Cinders I feel guilty for making her style me in retro stuff; retro is my thing but not many other t-girls seem to embrace it quite as maniacally as I do, so it must be a little tedious to have me dribbling over swing dress after swing dress. So I let her have a couple of ‘dealer’s choices’, where I try very hard to keep my mouth shut and just let her do her magic. And it’s always brilliant, although she seems determine to squeeze me into outfits that would make size 9 girls breathless. And this was no exception.

Cindy is *much* smaller than I am, but courtesy of an insane diet (and, I’m chuffed to say, none of these pictures in this session was done with the very restrictive corset I normally wear – I’d lost so much weight that we could tie the corset without bringing my figure in at all so I bought a lovely little elasticated waist cincher and wore that and an old fashioned girdle to shape my body) she managed to squeeze me into this size 12 (!!!!!) party dress. And it was fun to do; it’s a lovely and, dare I say it, very sexy dress. I did feel a touch of guilt wearing it; it’s like stealing your younger, smaller, more attractive sister’s dresses while she is not looking, but again, dealer’s choice…

10: A belt with sequins…..

I’d like to say, tongue on cheek and with a huge amount of false modesty, that Cindy is always trying to desperately drag the sexy young woman out of my 52 year old, sagging, man flesh, and, give her her due, she gets close. This was the last look of the day and we went for another Dealer’s Choice, meaning I got squeezed, zipped and tucked, if you’ll pardon the potential rude overtones, into another ‘belt with sequins’.

These modern frocks don’t seem to have, err, a lot of material, and what’s there barely hides what’s underneath. And that’s what modern man likes, it seems. As drab me this is exactly the kind of woman I’d pointedly ignore looking at in a bar but secretly wonder what she’d be like in bed. No, I’m giving myself way too much male kudos there, I’d be looking at her and thinking ‘dammit, lucky person, I could never pull that kind of outfit off without looking like a man in a frock’. Which is, I’m guessing, exactly what Cindy is trying to disprove.

And she pulls it off so well…

And that was that; the first session for a long while due to the madness we are all enduring, but hopefully not the last for too long.

Stay beautiful, people, and have fun when you can; you’re only here once and this is not a dress rehearsal.