Spring is here...clearly a good excuse to go clothes shopping

After some rather heavy duty posts on this blog recently it's time to start having a bit of fun here again and what more fun can a gurl have than shopping for new outfits?

So come on girls, spring is here at long last, you can put away the woolen dresses and jumpers and yes the sweaty pvc and latex numbers (unless you want to sweat some weight off), and start looking for some sexy clothes out there for the spring and summer of 2012.

Some people drool over porn on the internet (men mostly) but i have to say what gets me going is finding new clothes and styles and, bankrupting myself buying new things to wear out. i can spend hours (and i do!) staring at dresses and so forth on the web and wondering if i'd look good in it or if Scarlett Thorne (my fashion guru as well as the Mistress i serve) would approve, fortunately She usually does.

With that in mind and out of the kindness of my own heart i have decided to do a bit of research of what is hot now that spring and summer are upon us.

But before i wade into the array of fashion delights hitting the shops and magazines, i think i need to offer some tips for T-girls. Unlike most 'real' girls, most of us trannies have stuff to hide such as body hair or chest hair or fake boobs or whatever. It means that things like low cut tops and deep V-necks are difficult as is the general lack of coverage in the warmer months.

This means that trannies on the whole need to still look for high neckline tops and use flesh coloured tights to cover their legs. You can also expect to sweat more so you should invest in odourless deoderants (no fragrance) to cover the smell but don't make you stink like a boy which would ruin the feminine effect. Try this one for £4.

i should add that this post is really meant to help tranny girls in finding nice clothes to go out normally and enjoy their femininity in the big wide world rather than just partying. There will be a a future post on fetish wear.
Now with that advice out of the way on to clothes hunting.

According to Elle magazine, floral is definitely in...well to be honest when spring arrives floral usually is but i have to say i love this Whistle's dress they have highlighted, even if the £150 price tag makes me whince a tiny bit.

This Izabel dark floral dress for going out in the evening at BHS for £30 is a much better buy though.

And for those who like the floral look there is little better than this lovely and pleasingly short Geri day dress from Next at a mere £25.

Or check out this Te Amo (Italian for i love you, and i do) dress from New Look, my current favourite shop. The dress is just £29.99.

You can even get some really sexy floral garbs underneath. Like this bra just in at New Look for £24.99.

And there is some great new footwear out in the style. The shoe of the moment is still the wedge and i love this pair which has just landed at Barratts for a slightly costly £45.

Or for those who enjoy country pursuits...those farmers can be frisky get your hands on these wellies also from Barratts for a mere £15.

Moving on, that arbitor of good taste Vogue this year has said that the stle of spring 2012 is marine or Water World. Hard to argue when you see beautiful dresses like this...somebody please buy me one.

But a similar theme seems to have emerged with this pretty dress Alison Spot dress from Monsoon for £75. It's never the cheapest shop, but the quality is really good, although you do have to dry clean items more often than not.

And there seems to be a feeling among many of the fasionistas that this year could be the year of subtler more pastel colours. Certainly Stylemetv is pushing that with shoes as well. Look at this wonderful pair of Tesla  sandal shoes highlighted on the website.

i should warn you these shoes come in a £475 but with the warmer months upon us sandal high heels appear to be the coming thing and there are plenty of much cheaper models around, not least at New Look, Barretts or even on ebay.

On the subject of shoes, noever a bad subject to dwell on, Vogue tells us that Mega Mules are the shoes for spring 2012 and again, apart from price, it's tough to argue. Look at these.

Now this brings me on to the colour of spring 2012, which i think this year could be yellow. Somehow it manages to get the subtle pastel look but also work for those who want a bolder approach. for the latter check out this fabulous dress from Next (by the way stripes are also in this year) for £45.

For sheer elegance though i have completely fallen in love with this Cambridge Dress from Monsoon for £95...i might wait for the sale.

i must admit for make-up i turned, as i always do, to Boots, it doesn't sound glamorous but it's a great place to buy make up from. i really recommend trannies and girls that you get Collection 2000, it's an inexpensive good quality brand and you rarely go wrong with it.

But according to Boots spring 2012 trend cherry red lips are the thing, well again when aren't they? Also go for subtler looks with blusher and eye shadow. A style i like already is the smudged eyeline look. easy to do.

There will be a more detailed post on make-up coming later.

It's hard to know where to start with accessories, because there are so many things out there. but my final hot tip for 2012 girls is to go patriotic (or British if you're from another land) for 2012. It's the Olympics in London and the Queen's diamond Jubilee. There are loads of lovely Union Jack accessories out there, not least from Next which has completely gone into the spirit of the moment.

Worth considering this tasteful pink floral Union Jack bag from Next for £26.

Or also from Next this sequin evening bag for £28.

As i said, for those of you disappointed that i have not done anything on fetish wear, fear not. There will be a separate post on that coming shortly.

Well girls or gurls, enjoy your shopping trips as much as i'll enjoy mine.

If you want help or advice as a tranny or a sub contact me on trannyagony@live.co.uk or on Twitter on @DaniTallulah.

boy, cross dresser, tranny, T-girl, gurl or girl - what the Hell am I?

This week saw the world mark the annual International Women's Day, which is one of the few things the Socialists managed to achieve in the USA.

But while the day is about the struggle for women's equality in the vanilla world - women after all have a higher rank than almost all men in the BDSM world - i want to use its commemoration to look at the question of what is female identity, an issue that is very close to my heart as a tranny.

i celebrated International Women's Day as a woman or a girl. i actually spent a lot of it maiding for Mistress Scarlett Thorne in @TrannyFlat, but leading a double life where i switch from one sharply contrasting identity to the other has led me to question just what it is that differentiates the man or boy in my vanilla life and the woman or girl in my tranny sub life.

i should say now that i consider myself to be a girl/ woman/ female. i am in my heart and my head if not in my genitals, and the male existence is not actually the real me but a facade to keep a lot of other people happy. In other circumstances i think i would have opted for sex change surgery.

However, recently i was attacked on Twitter for the way my female persona is portrayed. The tweet of mine which caused offence was while i was waiting to pick up my family from a holiday after i'd spent three days solid as a girl.

i tweeted: "waiting for #vanilla family trying to think like a man which is hard after three days as a girl..."

At the time i thought it summed up my struggle with a dual identity but apparently it was "insulting" and in the discussion that followed it seemed that i was considered to be an example of a general problem with trannies using "outdated models of women."

Interestingly, i was told i should use the word "gurl" not "girl" to describe myself, in other words not a real female and pigeon holed in a particular term.

The conversation then got into what i can only call tranny snobbery about cross dressers not being real transvestites. While there are some men who are just cross dressers, the accusation is often unfairly used against those of us who can't lead a TV life full time.

On the intial argument though, i guess it's hard to say that i'm not guilty of using what some believe to be sexist stereotypes, although i believe that much of this is about context and everybody who follows me here or on Twitter knows which context i write in and that is as a tranny sub.

But it did get me thinking again about sexual identity. i'm actually bi-sexual in terms of being sexually attracted to people which further confuses things.  Am i being gay when i suck cock or straight as a woman or a lesbian with women or straight as a man?

As i say being a sub is entwined with my life as a girl, although the two are distinct they are hard to separate. This means that i express myself as a maid or sometimes a slut or whore and generally subservient as a woman. But on the other hand i am in thrall to a very powerful female role model in Mistress Scarlett Thorne. Some in the vanilla world may see a Dominatrix as a simple whore and degrading for women, i see them as enpowered and in many cases inspirational, particularly Mistress Thorne.

But those words i use about myself - maid, slut and whore  - are also often taken in a negative context by feminists but they are things i take pride in and actually have worked hard to achieve in a relatively short time and i know many other T-girls feel the same way. They are not things you can become overnight and the business of feminising yourself or being feminised is not as easy as it sometimes sounds.

It is interesting that one of the the latest feminist movements is the slut walk which goes to show that words can have their own power for different groups. It is a bit like black people using the n word about each other. It is totally different if the n word comes from a white person's mouth.

So apart from the sub identities what is it that makes me a woman? Is there more to being a woman or girl than keeping my legs closed when i sit down, as Mistress has taught me to do, or the female clothes i wear? Does wearing make up make me more of a woman? Or is it the way i walk swinging my hips? Or is it even the style of my girl's hair? Is it a greater interest in fashion than football? Is it that i like rugby for the players not the game? Is it taking a less aggressive attitude to life? Is it being able to have girly chats or the subjects which interest us more?

i would say that it is all these things, although some would point out that they could apply cross gender. One thing i'd say is that my love of sport since i started my transition has almost disappeared while my previous non-existant interest in clothes and fashion has become all consuming.

Is there a hunter/ gatherer thing in the old cave men and women analogy? Certainly i have gone from hating shopping as a man to loving it as a woman.

But better people than i have wrestled with what differentiates a man or woman, girl or boy in modern western society where roles are no longer distinct. It gets even more complicated when we delve into the transgender world where even after operations some people will refuse to consider us the sex we really are.

For trannies, especially those of us who can only live as a woman in the shadows on occasions, it is easy to grab on to the stereotypes to express a female identity because it is out there and clear. However, we trannies have to deal with even more prejudice than women from all sides so it is perhaps not surprising we seek safety in what seems to be a clear identity.

Speaking for myself, when i am dressed and sitting talking to Scarlett Thorne i feel a 100 per cent girl, She considers me as such and not a man at all. i know i act differently, my voice is different, i think differently, i take a different attitude to problems and my demeanour is different. i cannot put my finger exactly on what the difference is because it is a collection of small things but as a person who lives as both a man and a woman i know in my heart exactly what it is.

Unfortunately, for once i have not provided a clear answer or advice here, but in the end man, woman, boy, girl, gurl, cross dresser, tranny, sissy or T-girl it is perhaps a question of how you consider yourself and how you wish to express your identity.

In this sense my identity is growing stronger everyday as a girl not a gurl, as one who is proud to be a maid to a Mistress, a slut and sometimes a whore. So for me the answer to the riddle is for each of us to find our own way to a place and identity where we are comfortable and happy.

Anybody who wants help or advice as a tranny or a sub please email at trannyagony@live.co.uk or tweet me at @DaniTallulah.