How to get multiple outfits with one dress
There’s a great post on Missus Smarty Pants Blog on how “One basic dress can get your style going“ It’s a quick but great read on how a core wardrobe can really stretch your dollar AND keep you looking super spiffy all season! Here’s her key point:
As a stylist I am constantly telling my clients that they don’t need as many clothes as they think. Most women are under the assumption that if they were to “makeover” their style (with or without my help)…they must be ready to invest in an extensive wardrobe re-vamp (think: massive purchase) and they just don’t have the funds to do so. This is simply NOT true.
A good basic and simple wardrobe will save you money in the long run! When you have quality basics to rely on, you will spend less money when you renew your wardrobe at the beginning of the season. Often all you’ll need are some updates with your accessories.
This post is particularly interesting as she doesn’t just talk about the concept, she shows you what she did. That whole, “picture worth a thousand words” is especially valuable here. Go read and have fun, you know I will! Here’s the link: “One basic dress can get your style going“
Finn’s Flame Beck’s Cafe! International Incident Caused
It was bound to happen eventually of course but when it did, I nearly dropped my coffee on my lap! “It” being one of my posts offending a reader to the point they made a very visceral response. In a nutshell, I’ve been, unabashedly playing with certain keywords to attract traffic and to gain million of dollars in click on my Google Ads. While visions of basking in untold Google Dollar wealth had fleetingly been in my mind, it’s been clear I and my “team of barista’s” is really not up to the task. As Michelle, my good friend and fellow connosoir of Vietnamese food once remarked to me, “I like your blog but, you know, Rebecca, you don’t write in it that much”. Apparently one has to actually write words in order to have readers. That my gal pal had to remind me of this fact tells you how far astray I had gone in my Google Dollar Delusion (GDD).
But the post in question,Crossdresser tip 3 for MtF transgender persons: Keep a Pashmina Shawl in Your Purse, I thought was pretty innocent, despite the obvious, and frankly awkward, use of keywords in my pos’ts title. Well it was not just awkward it was Finntastically inFuriating to one of our Finish readers, Suvi-Tuuli Allan, who made no bones about telling us so, “I’m a transsexual woman. If someone would call me “MtF” anything, I’d kick their teeth in.”
I appreciated her bare knuckles honesty. But, I was taken a back.
In discussing this international incident with a friend over tea she said, “So, it sounds like Suvi was really objecting to the use of your terms. I wonder how your other readers felt”. I hadn’t thought of that.
How do you feel? Beside all full of holiday cheer (read: booze).
Terms, I have to confess, I generally dislike for a few reasons. One, I feel they put people in boxes they really don’t need to be in. As humans, we can be pretty changeable from week to week (or for some of us hour to hour). So why box someone in with a label? Second, I feel that terms can create caste systems that are both artificial and that erect barriers that were not there prior to the term being used. Why do that? In our Transgender Community, here in Greater Boston anyway, we generally use the term “Transgender” in a global umbrella to encompass crossdressers, gender queer (well some do at least), bi-gendered, transexual women, and anyone in that general constellation.
Merry Christmas everyone, and, keep your holiday spirit alive!
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10-16-2011 Update: Changed titles of fashion posts to reflect a wider audience; they don’t apply to such a narrow group. Also, the idea of writing specifically for the search engines was really a flawed approach vs. just writing content that is helpful to our readers here at Beck’s Cafe. Thanks to Tuvi from last year’s comment for making us think about this topic. The posts labelled “Crossdresser tips for MtF transgender persons” we changed to just “Fashion Tips” as a result; you can see them all at this link: http://beckscafe.com/category/fashion/
Fashion tip 3: Keep a Pashmina Shawl in Your Purse
The Pashmina shawl might be your swiss army knife of garments. Kept in your purse, you can slip it out to help you instantly:
- Keep you warm down to 40 degrees Farenheit, (4 degrees Celsius) by simply slipping it fully over your shoulders. In many cases you can avoid bringing a bulky coat with you when you are out and about
- Make elegant almost any outfit where you are wearing a pair of jeans by keeping it folded in half lengthwise then draping it over your shoulders and elbows
- Create an instant scarf to keep your head warm or, if snowing, dry
- Act as a coverup should you find yourself naked
I keep a Pashmina in my purse constantly and find it an invaluable fashion accessory.
If you are not quite sure what a Pashmina is, see some photos here at Google: Pashmina If you aren’t sure how to wear one, here’s a nifty video for you, it’s quite helpful to see since at first a Pashmina looks like just a piece of fancy cloth:
Don’t settle for a fake Pashmina. You’ll save a few dollars but it will not be of any help to you and will only fill your purse or tote up (or you’ll have a nice blanket for your cat), get one made of the real, Pashmina wool and you will be a happy lady. You’ll have an instant helper right at your fingertips to keep you warm, dry and fashionable 
Fashion tip 2: to apply makeup best use a makeup brush
For almost three years I never ventured out of my closet due to one small thing: I had no idea how to apply my own makeup. Sure, I’d tried all the usual approaches of books, classes, sponges, fingers and the elbow grease of diligent practice, but, by and large, the lack of both esthetic sense and actual skill left me without a face and on the sideline of life. Until the day I met my MAC Cosmetics guy.
It’s a long story and I don’t want to bore you all but suffice to say that it wasn’t until I’d plopped myself down and actually let MAC have their way with me that I finally got it. I finally understood how to apply my own makeup. The biggest take away from that session though was this: Makeup brushes allow you to apply your makeup like no other method on earth. They are, in short, indispensable in applying your makeup.
I left my MAC session happy, lighter in my purse and with a fist full of great makeup brushes. That was four years ago and I am still using those same MAC brushes I bought. They are still in great condition, thanks to their being tremendous quality and because I listened carefully to how to take care of them.
So that’s the tip really, get a selection of makeup brushes and use them. Now, if you go to MAC themselves, these babies won’t be cheap but they will be of quality. I can guarantee they will make your makeup application go much easier and more accurately but they will part you from a nice chunk of your paycheck. As an alternative, go to eBay and see what you can find. Here’s a handy linkie love: eBay MAC Makeup Brush Search. Now buyer beware is in order. If you want to make sure you are getting authentic MAC makeup brushes, you’ll need to buy them from MAC or their authorized outlets. I bought mine from MAC and it was one of my best purchases. But, if you go the risky low-cost way, here is an eBay Guide to determining fake vs. authentic MAC Brushes.
Fashion tip 1: how to preserve your pantyhose
Wherever you are on your journey as a transgender woman, there’s a whole bunch of things we all have to learn. We have to learn how to eat (with a fork vs. say a trough…thank goodness for Monica Pratt’s help there during First Event!), we have to learn how to walk (preferably on two feet) and we have to learn how to stretch that dollar. So here’s a tip that might help.
When you put on new, fresh from the package, pantyhose, rolling it up one leg then the next, starting at your tippy toes, seems pretty straightforward. But what if you just washed your stockings? You don’t want to risk ruining a pair and wasting your hard earned money. Here’s the tip, for pantyhose or stockings, where you have to slip your hand down them in order to prepare them to roll up your freshly shaven legs. Wear white gloves. That’s right. Purchase a pair of inexpensive white gloves, don those first on your mitts, then commence with putting on your pantyhose or stockings. You’ll avoid any chance of a run and be able to fearlessly slip them up your ultra smooth shaved legs.
(many thanks to TCNE Member Jennifer for sharing this fashion tip with our readers!)
