It's snow joke

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I feel something terrible has happened."

Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars

I aim to present trans life in a positive way, as I've said many times. Occasionally, something bad happens and I can't ignore it. So today I'd better acknowledge the bad stuff first and go on to the better stuff.

I usually sleep OK; not brilliantly, but OK. In my dreams I am almost always a trans woman who is accepted as such. That's been the standard dream premise for me since I was 5. 

Last night, though, I had a very bad night, troubled by horrible visions: first, a skeletal goat in a cowl standing by my bed; then a serpent convulsing in its death throes, biting itself but also lashing out at bystanders. 

To cap it all, a mosquito bit me. A real one, not a dream one. Mosquitoes in the depths of winter are unheard of! 

If these were ancient times I would take these as visions and signs from the gods, and consult an oracle or sybil about them. But in these less superstitious times I conclude that the traumatising news over the last two weeks has gotten to me. And that climate change is alarmingly real now if there are mosquitoes in January.

I've said here before that the purpose of government is to brutalise, and we see this regularly, such as when you're don't pay your taxes even with a good excuse, when you get burgled but the police don't take any interest, when your social security office is understaffed and you can't get that payment you are entitled to, or when you try to register a change to the gender marking on your birth certificate but you have to go through years of bureaucracy and scrutiny. The list is endless. Or you might want to complain about excessive policing or government economic policy. Then you get shot. Of course, if you kill someone, even inadvertently, your government may put millions into finding you and jailing you. But when a government has enemies, it can freely order the killing of as many as it likes with impunity. 

The story I posted last week about my screaming insane boss shows how hierarchies are often structured to cover up the behaviours and inadequacies of its members, and how bad promotions and choices of leadership can cause so much damage. That bad experience and even worse ones at work, the evil school I went to, the sick religion that was foisted on me as a child, make me chronically concerned about all the harm that is done in the world by a handful of deeply deranged individuals. 

I now live my trans life without reference to the authorities, to doctors, to activists or other people who allegedly act for the public good, our best interests, etc. I don't trust them at all. And when I see ayatollahs killing tens of thousands and presidents threatening, bullying and abusing millions, or dictators invading other countries, and hear their supporters rejoicing at the extermination, then I think I'm right to shun their evil and avoid those in their pay because if I want sanity, security and peace, I'd better look after those benefits myself. 

That said, we have no honest choice but to push back on these evil forces, support those suffering and try to engage the checks on power that are being usurped. Ostracise people you know who support murdering regimes: don't help them, don't buy from them, don't socialise with them, don't co-operate with them, just isolate them. Their outlook and behaviour are vile and that needs to be made clear to them in ways that cause them loss. In so doing, you are not so much losing a friend, relative, supplier, colleague, entertainer or other contact as reducing evil and chaos in your life and community.

My love to my trans sisters who are in the front line of so much hatred right now. Love especially to Hannah McKnight in Minneapolis whose humane and inspiring blogs I have followed for years. Stay strong but safe and know the world supports you.

 

Climate 

 

The view from home on Saturday: sailing under moody skies and choppy seas.

Despite my globally-warmed mosquito, it actually snowed on the high ground yesterday. There was a dusting of white on the mountaintop above home, but it was gone today. Heavy precipitation is expected tomorrow so it may become white again.

Mount Bignone, or Bignose as I call it. 1300 metres high (4265 feet)

This is news because, in the last 40 years, the Alps have rarely had the snow cover they used to. My train journeys this week will pass through the Alps and the Appennines and the dramatic rise from palm-fringed beaches on one side of the train to snow-capped peaks on the other makes this a very panoramic line. 

 

Packing and planning

I'm now packing to go on a city break to Genoa for a few days where the weather looks cool at best, so I'm looking at layers. I have packed some nice thermal vest tops, thermal tights and thick leggings. I also found a bodysuit that I'd forgotten I had. This is the trouble with a female wardrobe - the variety is so great you forget what you've got!

The shopping is way better in Genoa than here so I'll see if anything nice catches my eye.

I'll need to watch my eating when away, though. Since New Year I've lost a very impressive five kilos, or 12 pounds. Maybe by the end of the month it'll be six kilos off in all; that's one stone. But sightseeing is energy intensive so any excess food intake could get burnt off. 

 

Valentino

RIP fashion designer, Valentino Garavani, known simply as Valentino. 

I know I've often poked fun at some of his creations on my blog, especially when looking at his store in Milan's fashion district, but I have to acknowledge he was one of the greats. In some respects, it was his efforts in the '50s and '60s that got Italian high fashion associated with quality.

 

Offline

I'm not taking my laptop away this time so I'll be offline from Wednesday to Friday of this week. 

Stay pretty, stay safe, stay loved. Maybe that's my trans slogan for 2026.

Sue x 

Window shopping in Milan

 I know it's transgender awareness week so I should write something on that subject (which I will) but I am in Milan, I promised some fashion pics and, after my last post on my favourite frock, my mind (as is that of just about every TGirl) is focused on fabulousness. So as most of us drown in what seem to be worldwide rains and bad news, I think it's time for some sparkle.

Now, darlings, I am looking for a sparkly, shimmery frock, some twinkling jewellery to stave off the winter gloom, maybe even a little leather something in the bag or shoe department. As it happens, my girl birthday comes up this week, and we're heading into party season, and Christmas is coming as well, and as gift giving is very much the thing at birthdays and Christmas, well, I'll just drop that little hint ...

Now Luigi my chauffeur has just parked up the Ferrari in the Quadrilateral, Milan's fashion district, and I am wandering about the outlets with my camera for a bit of inspiration. What do you think of these for sparkly frocks? I've done the hard work, you only need to pick one.

Chanel, ever classic:

Now, Emé has some interesting items...

 

Long burgundy leather dress maybe, but not with that tie! (ugh! ties are for boys and they're made of slugs and snails and puppy dogs tails, as we know.) The burgundy leather shorts with pop sox? No way! 

But then we spot this:

Perhaps that's more what we're looking for this season. Emé is a bridalwear shop most of the year. *Sigh!*

 

These items from Pronovias, also bridal much of the time. How about the blue ones?

 

Silver and shiny here at Collini:

 Oh, my!

I like the black with gold sparkles or brocade a lot, but trousers are not my thing for a party. Best go with the LBD and sparkly bolero on the right.

 

What has Valentino to offer this year? The window displays are a bit incoherent ...

 

But this is what seem to be in mind:

 

Elisabetta Franchi always gets top marks for her business attire (noted for another time) ...

 

But then there's this very Roaring Twenties style here. I'd have to lose a lot of weight to look good in these:

There's this sparkly silver and fluffy black item. I don't think I'll ever be daring enough to go around dressed like the model in the poster behind, though!

What for me is a No is something like this where every item - leather jacket, tulle skirt, leather trousers - might work separately but they don't go together so well:

 

Some interesting bags:

 

  

Not sure I like the bags in Louboutin's. Quite like the boots, though.

Milan is probably the most LGBT friendly city in Italy so I imagine that Jim and Jack are delighted with their bags from Zadig & Voltaire!

And now for jewellery ... This lady's covered in it, with sparkly creatures on her skirt:

And this guy kept staring at me ... which doesn't encourage me to enter.

 

Well, those are some of the things that caught my eye when I was looking for classy sparkle. I didn't buy anything - the fashion shops are for people with money to burn. 

It was a typical November day here, slightly foggy and damp, but the bustle of people and the warm glow of shops made it lively and welcoming, as this picture of Milan's fabulous nineteenth-century shopping arcade shows.

 

Sue x 

Hot stuff, or dresses for empresses

 It's very hot so I am taking things gently, especially in the afternoons when the sun is at its fiercest. Blogging is a gentle task so here we are!

Firstly, thanks to readers for their recent support over my sudden dysphoria. I guess the heatwave brought everyone to the seaside early and all those healthy women suddenly turning up en masse with next to nothing on really hit hard: I should be one of them, I thought; I'm missing out, I told myself. 

I've been returning to equilibrium, especially as, without boasting, I don't look too bad in a bikini myself, with a bit of curvature in the right places to fill both parts. Less around the tum would be better but we are working on that. I lose appetite in summer, which helps, as does more activity.

Thanks also for your support over family health troubles. My relative will be in hospital for quite a long time now and all we can do is await the final outcome of his treatments. He's not dying, though, and that's the main thing.

Now, I know that the weather is not conducive to heavy clothes but today I was looking at a magazine that describes an exhibition now on in Paris celebrating Charles Frederick Worth, who more or less invented haute couture as we know it. He seems to have been the first to use live models to strut his creations, put fashion house labels in his clothes and introduce seasonal collections. He dressed Europe's most elegant ladies in amazing outfits back in the nineteenth century when women's fashions were just stunning. No hoodies and leggings in sight! 

I mention this because, let's face it, we all fancy ourselves in a floor-length satin dress, don't we? I mean, take this Worth ballgown in pink tulle modelled for us here by Empress Elizabeth of Austria. I really, really want this (and if becoming an empress is what it takes to get it then, hey, I'm up for that!)

 

Not to be outdone, here is Empress Eugénie of France in a ravishing white satin and lace gown. Yes, please. 

An evening dress in green. Corsetry is the answer to all waistline issues! 

Imagine going to a trans club in one of these outfits. Then if some admirer annoyed you could declare, in your finest cut-glass Victorian duchess voice, "Unhand me, you ruffian!" as Hubert, a true gentleman, steps in with a stern, "You scoundrel, Sir!" and removes the irritating admirer, who is promptly led away to a life of hard labour in the colonies. You then marry Hubert and have sixteen children, nine of whom are destined to die of consumption, cholera, scarlatina, etc. Ah, the good old days! When life was short but the frocks were long. 

Anyway, I though I'd share the gorgeousness with you. As the curators say, there's a public fascination with fashion these days, but people are forgetting the history of fashion. This aims to reawaken that consciousness with its 400+ sumptuous items.

Here's the official exhibition web page in English: Worth, Inventing Haute Couture

A review in English: A Journey to the Origins of Haute Couture at the Petit Palais in Paris 

There's a long video in French on setting up the exhibition, with a lot of views of the dresses and accessories. I didn't post this link originally but Susie has viewed it and commented below like the dedicated girl she is, so here it is after all. English subtitles are available. Worth is pronounced Vort by the French. (Disappointingly, most of the curators and restorers here are in jeans. "Standards, ladies, standards!" as my imaginary duchess would say.)

 

More generally on the subject, here's an introductory video on Worth with lovely pictures and photographs, and showing real dresses on mannequins: 

Worth on Wikipedia: Charles Frederick Worth and House of Worth. 

The exhibition is on at the Petit Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill, Paris, till early September. Oh, and my birthday's coming up; just a hint. 

Sue x

Uniforms: there's short, and then there's regulation micro!

On British Airways last week I noticed that the uniform is now, well, less than uniform. The hemlines vary enormously in length, the shoes in height and the tights seem to be any shade and thickness. It's obviously a change from the very strict dress code they and many airlines seem to have had in the past with everything coming from specific designer(s) and sources. My T-dar is constantly alert to changing styles (even though I often wear the same boring old stuff myself!) Frankly, airline hostess is not a job I'd ever want to do myself. Love the look, hate the job.

The other uniform style that was more uniform but in a way that worried me was all the schoolgirls in London seeming to have tiny microskirts as regulation school uniform. I cannot possibly criticise others for wearing impossibly short skirts in public without being a monster hypocrite as I have myself been seen in public in items that hardly suit women of my age (see below)! But I do worry about underage girls getting the wrong kind of attention given the troubles in that regard at my own school. Maybe that's just my bad experience talking. But I hope today's teenagers are safe. Yes, I firmly believe anyone should wear what they want and be left in peace to do so but, sadly, realities are what they are. 

As I waited for a bus on a typical June morning in London, where a cold thin wind blew the drizzle about, the schoolgirl on the hard slanting seat next to mine at the shelter shivered in her regulation microskirt, goosebumps at attention. Personally, I've never once worn a skirt without tights but, anyway, this bare-leg microskirt look seems to be the norm among the uniformed young in the UK whatever the weather. Good luck.

My final observation is that UK female police and nurse uniforms are pretty universally geared to trousers. Practical, no doubt, but maybe my British friends can now enlighten me, since I haven't seen British TV for years, as to what British comedy is doing now without emergency service staff in short uniforms and stockings? That was once a staple of British comedy. 

 

A dip in the archives 

I go short in public (or: nice legs, shame about the face):

 

 

Crazy hair and crazy tights

Sue x

Milan fashion report

 What's 'in' this season: a light-hearted report from your roving fashion reporter ...

Hello, darlings, I've just parked up the Ferrari and have gone for a stroll in the Quadrilateral, Milan's fashion district. It's always a pleasant sight in the run up to Christmas, with special window displays, Christmas decorations and streets lit prettily. 

Via Monte Napoleone, the heart of the Quadrilateral, has just become the most expensive piece of real estate in the world. One square metre of retail space will set you back around €50,000, sometimes more, so even a small boutique needs an outlay of many millions. Ironic for a street that's named after Napoleon's ministry to manage government debt!

 

Via Monte Napoleone

It's more of a showcase rather than a place that actually does retail business. There are few price labels in the windows - frankly, if you have to ask the price, you really shouldn't be shopping here! And the fact that in many outlets the deliberate emptiness of floor and shelf space should tell you that here money should be no object. 

(There is a top tip from me right at the end of my post if you want fashionwear at reasonable prices in Milan or in most other fashion capitals.)

I'm not sure why the No Entry sign here is looking sinister but maybe the eyes were painted by someone who was squinting for non-existent price labels ... or one who found one and disapproved of what was written on it.

 

So let's have a look at some of the Christmas windows, some pretty, some over-the-top garish.

Here's Marchesi, a 200 year old sweet shop, always very elegant.

 

I think pink bonbons compliment the cerise font of this blog, don't you?

 

Mmm... In contrast, Cartier is trying to make a statement. I'm not quite sure what.

 

Hermès has gone for champagne-quaffing, jazz-playing horses. But of course.

 

I used to translate Acqua di Parma advertising briefs into English and their shop is always shipshape and not unpleasant, with greenery and fairy lights. Given that they sell cologne, it smells nice too. That classic shade is known as Parma yellow after its adoption for official purposes by the former sovereign Dukes of Parma.

These guys have gone for a more Santa's Grotto look.

Rosantica handbags has chosen a Russian nutcracker mannequin. A hand-made bag would suit any soldier, I'm sure.

This is a nice shop that sells nothing but gloves in all colours.

Loewe has gone for a marine look this year.

Marina Fossati jewellery is a bit chunky!

 

Plain but effective display from Bulgari.

 

Now, I always reserve a special spot for Valentino as their style and displays are somewhat unique. They first suggested to me that all-out pink was going to be the style of 2023 (which it kind of was but not as much as expected). Here's their store in the heart of the fashion district.

And some of the windows showing a decidedly '70s retro look, a sort of harem meets Abba style.

But it's this window below that had me agog! The gold minidress with sheer Abba-esque sleeves, turban and orange ribbed tights. So if you want legs like carrots, this could be the look for you...

 

What is more disturbing is that the next day, at the main station, this window display outside McDonald's had nothing but carrots in vases, each reflected in a large mirror to double the carrotiness. I have no idea what's going on with the carrot fixation around Christmas 2024, but I find it disturbing! 

 

Can you have too much Vitamin A? And if so, what happens? Presumably your legs turn orange, with or without the Valentino tights.

Back to the streets, now. This vintage tram is not spared retail excess, being decked out with Atmosphera interiors, including curtains!

And many large retailers also go for all-over advertising. Here's one of the many trams currently in Sephora livery.

To think that these classic streetcars still in everyday service are actually older than most in the tram museum I saw in Britain in September!

Enough of the brash clash with the classic for a moment, here we are in Via della Spiga, which is quiet as it's pedestrianised. A spiga is an ear of corn and the golden corn ears over the street are a nice touch, I think. I love the pretty little trees with simple golden fairy lights.

They're either native bay trees or fir trees, but every shop has one or two outside.

There's less in the way of dining here, but the entrance to this restaurant is in a very beautiful quiet courtyard and the warm Christmas decorations are inviting. 

 

Let me take you from the Quadrilateral now to the grand Victorian arcades, the Gallerie Vittorio Emanuele II. Sue's News & Views has been here before, of course, but every year is different.

A selection from the main four stores' windows, starting with Yves Saint Laurent:

Prada:

Giorgio Armani:

Swarovski:

There are, of course, other outlets here: boutiques, stores, cafés and restaurants. Marchesi again; their cake shop this time rather than the sweet shop we saw above:

Boutique with lovely bags:

Savini restaurant has been here since the arcade was built in 1867 and is a local institution:

Well, that's my necessarily select tour of the stores in the world's fashion capital this Christmas. I saw a lot else in Milan, like the Christmas market round the cathedral, ate out at various nice places, and also had an early Christmas dinner, but I'll save that for another time. I also hunted for and found a local inspiration for my American readers who may be fearful about liberty and democracy from 2025. 

Oh! My Ferrari seems to have been towed away by the police whilst I've been chatting to you. Such a bore! I'll just have to buy another. After all, money's no object, right?

Sue x

NB Sue's top tip: if you do want recent fashionwear, but at reasonable prices, then visit the fashion houses' warehouses where the last items in the latest lines and previous seasons' items may be found at much less cost, with some bargains.