10 Questions for Alice Kim + 3 for YOU
ByHello my dears,
I want to formally introduce you to my friend, Alice Kim.
Alice and I are partnering up to bring you “The Ultimate En Femme Fashion Guide” on November 10 … and we’ve got some goodies in store for you in the meantime. 
I posted an interview with Alice below and now I want to interview YOU. Keep reading and then post your answers to my questions in the comments section!
10 Questions for Alice Kim
Alice is a New York based image and style consultant with over 12 years of fashion experience. She has designed for Saks Fifth Avenue and produced a line of clothing that was featured in Bergdorf Goodman and speciality boutiques across the U.S. She is the founder of the image consulting company, Veritas Image, and her mission is to help TG women improve their lives by transforming their images.
1. Why did you decide to become an image and style consultant?
While working as a fashion designer for some time, I came to a point where I asked myself, “Is this what I want to do for the rest of my life?” I still loved fashion, but at the same time, I wanted something more fulfilling that directly helped people. After some self-assessment, the conclusion was that I had no particularly marketable skills besides my fashion expertise. Luckily, that skill-set was the perfect stepping stone to becoming an image and style consultant.
2. What do you love most about helping TG women improve their images?
I feel a genuine sense of fulfillment when helping TG women because they face a lot of challenges that most genetic women tend to take for granted. So when a TG woman improves her image, it’s that much more transformational and rewarding. Also, it’s been a rather humbling—as much as an eye-opening—experience for me. I thought I pretty much knew it all until I got hit over the head with TG challenges. They keep me on my toes and requires me to get creative. I appreciate that it keeps me from being lazy, and that I’m always learning something new.
3. What is the one fashion item you think every TG woman should own?
A really good, reliable, feminizing dress that totally flatters your body. The dress is the single item of clothing that represents femininity, so you’ll get an instant feminine boost every time you wear it. It’s an entire outfit in itself, so you don’t have to worry about coordinating separate pieces, and understanding what goes with what. Having said that, it’s also very versatile in that it works as a canvas upon which you can switch up jewelry, scarves, belts, jackets … you name it.
4. What’s your biggest secret for developing a sense of style?
Get to know yourself. Most people think style comes from wearing fabulous clothes, and to a certain extent, it’s true. But the real secret is to really know who you are as a wonderfully unique individual. When you know yourself, you automatically know what you are and what you’re not. Quite naturally, you’ll know how to select clothing that looks fabulous on you according to your body, coloring, age and personality. A great sense of style comes from you wearing the clothes, not the other way around.
5. Which celebrities do you think are great fashion role models for TG women?
Angelina Jolie: She’s a wonderful example of feminine strength and beauty without overdoing anything. She’s usually seen wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, yet no one can contest her hotness. Yes, of course it’s easy for her—she’s only one of the hottest women alive—but really, there’s also a lot to say about her inner confidence and attitude. Michelle Obama: I think most TG women can relate to her tall, muscular physique, which she pairs so wonderfully with a modern, simple yet statement-making wardrobe. Our First Lady dresses just right for her body and age and never looks outdated or dowdy like many of her predecessors … with the exception of Jackie O, of course.
6. What are your favorite trends for Fall/Winter 2009?
Personally, I absolutely love the glam rock/dystopia trend with lots of studs, straps and the motorcycle-inspired “Mad Max” vibe. I also love the bold colors and shapes happening in clothing, shoes, bags and jewelry—this is great news for TG women. Oh, and tall tall boots—a must if you want to amp up your sex appeal.
7. What one trend do you want to see die?
Oh boy … it’s hard to pick just one. I never ever liked the bling-bling trend, with rhinestones and crystals dripping all over jackets, bags, jeans, and even cell phones. It’s just very tacky. I would have also said velour track suits, but I think that’s already dead now … I think. I hope.
8. Confession time: What was YOUR biggest fashion disaster?
Back in high school, I remember wearing MC Hammer pants with a Michael Jackson-inspired military jacket. Actually, the jacket was pretty cool, but the pants … they were truly unfortunate … the crotch drooped down to my knees. And I seriously thought I looked cool.
9. What’s your favorite piece of clothing in your closet?
I must confess I don’t have a big wardrobe, and I tend to prefer simple things that I wear over and over again. But if my closet was burning down and I had to save one piece of clothing, it would be my perfectly worn-in pair of Levi’s. However, it would be nice if I can salvage my next favorite—a $5 black t-shirt—so I won’t have to go around half naked.
10. What is one great fashion tip you can share with our readers?
Forget the boobs for a moment. Instead, make sure you do what you can to shape and define your waist. The waist/hip silhouette is the most important physical indicator of the female body, so the more you can work on that area, the better. The best way to do this is to wear some volume at the bottom, like a full skirt, and nip your waist with a belt. The volume of the skirt helps shrink your waistline by contrast, and does the added job of creating the illusion of more hips. OK–now back to the boobs…. 
3 Questions for YOU
Ok, your turn!!!!!! My interview questions for YOU:
- What is your favorite peice of clothing in your closet?
- What was your biggest en femme fashion disaster? (Just for fun and to acknowledge how far you’ve come …)
- What is one fashion tip you can share with me and the rest of the girls?
Post your answers in the comments section below! (You get extra points for posting a photo of your favorite piece of clothing.)
Love,
Lucille
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1 My favorite outfit is my black pencil skirt with my silky chocolate brown top. I like to wear it with my black boots and accesorize it with a simple necklace. I feel fabulous everytime I wear it.
2. More than once, in my excitement to get goung, I have rushed making up my face and I ended up with really garish eye shadow and way too rosy red cheeks. I looked like a clown!
3. Just relax and enjoy being a girl
1. favorite thing is a short pleated skirt that fits just right
2. disaster. wearing a pair of tight jeans and forgetting that they has a rip in the back that showed my panties to everyone
3. Don’t over do it and just be your feminine self
One of my favorite outfits is this lounging gown that is sexy and comfortable.
My fashion tip is that we should fit in with the other GG women we are with. Looking like you belong is definitely more comfortable.
1. My favorite pieces of clothing are: my St. john’s jeans, and Via Spiga black knee high boots. The jeans are soooo comfortable, and I get a lot of compliments on the boots from GG’s.
2. I don’t recall
3. Know your sense of style, develope your own twist on the current style. Read the fashion mags for ideas. Be nice and make friends w/ the sales associates in your fav stores and shops. They can give you great advice and let you know when things go on sale. I’ve met two of my best girlfriends this way.
Tah tah
1. Casual Denim Skirt and Top.
2. More than a few, but that’s how we learn.
3. Dress your age, appropriate to your sourroundings then relax and enjoy.
1. Love my leather…be it a skirt,dress,pants,jacket or boots! 2. During New Years eve party someone bumped into me and spilled swedish meatballs all over my dress! I sent it to the dry cleaners several times and they never did get the stain out completely! 3. Think before doing! Have fun! Diana
1. My favorite piece of femme attire is my denim skirt or maybe my Privo shoes. It is just a comfort thing. I love lots of my summer tops and am not looking forward to the upcoming months of less revealing clothing.
2. My biggest disaster lots, I guess maybe wearing a black bra under a thin pink sweater.
3. Make yourself as comfortable as possible.
Always present a not unattractive person.
Try to make others comfortable in your presence.
Hello Lucille,
I am sorry, but I cannot possibly go with the general tendency to “dress to blend in”, or: dress according to your age” etc…
When I walk the downtown core and the malls here in Victoria, BC, Canada, I find that the women are dressed dreadfully…
I feel that if I am required to dress to blend in, I’ll have to dress like a woman that is crossdressing to look like a man. It’s all jeans, pants, or worse. No color, all dreadful clothing. There is no way in this world that I will dress like them. I dress to stand out from the gray mass and when I do that, I enjoy all the attention from the guys and countless compliments from women I encounter…
Even today at the doctor’s office, a woman found it necessary to tell me in front of all the women that were waiting their turn there, that I looked gorgeous in my outfit… I enclose a picture of what I looked like today. (it’s the one with the skirt with the frill on the side)
I dress in what I find looks good on me and I can’t care less about the advise of the so called “fashion specialists”… I am utterly surprised that even on the weekends, when I go dancing with my genetic girlfriends, most women are dressed as dreadful as ever… All are wearing pants and the women seem to have forgotten how much more a man appreciates to see woman in a skirt than in pants, while dancing…
I have a wall to wall and floor to ceiling closet in my bedroom, with 2 rods in there one above the other and the closet is filled to capacity with clothes. And that are only my summer clothes. My winter clothes are stored in 2 large steamer trunks in the basement.
And you know what? I don’t like one piece above the other… I love them all equally and wear them with equal pleasure depending on my mood.
And don’t start talking about the cost… Most of my clothes come from thrift and consignment stores. I seldomly pay more than $5 for a skirt or a sweater or blouse. But you have to shop, shop and shop, and buy immediately when you see something you really like… So, IMHO all the talk about the high cost of a great wardrobe is BS… Everyone can afford a garment that doesn’t cost more than a coffee at Starbucks…
So, I don’t have one piece of clothing that I like more than any of the others. One day I feel like wearing a tight pencil skirt and the other a wide full skirt (always with a petticoat or crinolines under it)… Usually, when I find a skirt at the thrift store, I bring it right away to my seamstress to have it made tighter and/or shorter. (cost? usually $5.00) I like the feel of a tight skirt tugging around my legs and I also like the looks of showing my butt in a tight skirt… see pictures…
I also attach a few pictures from me in a mini skirt… I LOVE wearing mini skirts and again, I get a lot of compliments from total strangers when out and about in them… The guys hurry to open doors for me… when crossing the street, I don’t even look at the traffic anymore, because every car stops for me… When out dancing, guys stumble over each other to dance with me…
So, to hell with all the talk about dressing to my age…and dressing to blend in… Let the other women do that and I am happy to fill the gap and get the attention…
People estimate my age between 35 and 50, depending on what I wear and do you know how old I really am?
I am 66 years old…. But that should remain our little secret… and you know what? I have countless girlfriends. (GG’s) that are in their 20’s…
So, this is my rant…
Love and hugs,
Dita.
My favorite is a long skirt that I made for myself using the material from 2 pair of old faded bell bottom pants from way back then. I wear it with a black tea shirt with the neck cut out and finished to lessen the effect of my shoulders and then a large belt to cinch my waist a little and enhance my hips that my mother says are unusually wide but not that wide. I wear this with a pair of flats. The skirt fits tight around my hips and flairs out wide at the bottom. It gives me a very feminine feeling when I walk and the tightness make me move my hips just right to enhance my appearance.
The worse was a dress given to me. It was the wrong shape for my body and showed off all the wrong things. It didn’t help that my breast were not yet fully formed.
My best advice wear things that flow over your body to conceal as much as possible that your body has a mans shape but most of all release your mind and just be the person you see when you close your eyes and imagine.
I Have three types of clothing a black skirt white blouse and a Jacket. Or a pink dress and a Jacket. Or at last a Bergendy dress with a Jacket that matches. these are all tern ons and I ware them for diffrent feelings. But I cant say I ware one more then the other.