Introducing our Eye Candy of the Month: Tami
We’ve been wanting to share more of Tami with our readers for some time now. Tami has been a great supporter of Glamour Boutique for many years. She has always done really well in our contests – I mean, just look at her, she’s gorgeous! She also regularly shares pics of here lovely new outfits and lerts us share them in our Tami Tuesdays feature from time to time on social media. We love Tami’s sens of style. As a beautiful mature lady she changes up her look even with different hair styles. We think she is an example to girls everywhere and so we are thrilled to be able to share her with you. Enjoy!
Let’s start by telling everyone where you are from?
I grew up in Portland, Maine; but I now live in Atlanta, where I have resided for more than 30 years. One could say that I am a Yankee at heart, but now a southern girl – I want to say southern belle, but I can’t quite bring myself to that!
When did you first start dressing and how did it come about?
Even as a youngster, I was fascinated with my mother’s clothing, especially her lingerie. She was a very modest woman for the most part, but she wasn’t concerned about being at home and getting dressed to go out with my brother and me around. This was in the days when woman wore slips and girdles with stockings. I’m sure that was the most significant developmental part of my childhood interest in women’s clothing.
As a prepubescent boy I loved the feeling of the soft, feminine fabrics that went into undergarments and dress linings and I came to try them on, feeling both very excited and very ashamed. As I went through puberty, these feelings became sexual in nature, but I didn’t have any thoughts of trying to present as a woman. As I got older, I became more interested in wearing these sorts of clothes, but this was still restricted to slips or nighties and panties.
As I reached my 50s these desires morphed gradually into the feeling that I wanted to express the gentle, stereotypically feminine person that I am as a woman. I am not effeminate at all when I am in male mode, but the feminine part of me is truly my core. Dressing thus became a means of expressing who I am inside. For the last 20 or so years I have been dressing fully (on occasion) and striving to perfect my presentation. I know that I will never do that, but I am coming closer!
How did you come up with your Femme name?
I’m afraid that I wasn’t very creative! My given last name is often heard as “Brown” when I am asked my name, so that was easy. My parents often called me “Timmy” as a child (although that’s not my first name at all). Changing that to Tammy was an appropriate feminization. The good folks at GB than once mistakenly addressed me as Tami in an email, and I rather like it; so I adopted that spelling. There is also a performing drag queen here in Atlanta whose stage name is Tammy Brown, and I thought that I could get a little separation from her!
How often do you dress?
There are two quick responses – one is “not enough”, and the other is “as much as possible”. Neither is really correct. On average I probably dress 2 or 3 times a week, generally for somewhere more than 2 hours and less than 8. Two hours is enough time to do a reasonable job with my clothes and makeup and still be able to enjoy the femme time. Eight is generally all the time I might have given my life constraints (see next question).
Very rarely, I can spend an extended time en femme, if I am alone for a few days. Even then, I will typically only be dressed for 36 hours or so. I don’t have any desire to be 24/7 or to transition.
Are you married/in a relationship? If yes, are you able to share your female self with your partner?
I am in a relationship and have been for 35 years. She knows that I dress, and she knows that I do dress fully. She doesn’t know that I do go out dressed. She does not participate, nor does she have any interest in doing so. We do talk about it, although not very much, and I do think that she is genuinely trying at least to understand. She knows where I keep my clothes, and she respects (or doesn’t want to know, perhaps) my privacy with respect to them.
You take fabulous pictures. Tell us what goes into getting the perfect ‘Tami’ photo?
(1) Luck
(2) Patience
(3) Persistence
Then, a lot of attention to detail and lighting. I try to have makeup as well done as possible and I try to accessorize my outfits in a complementary fashion. I also choose wig styles and colors carefully. I digitally adjust some lighting and exposure.
What are some of your favorite outfits/fashions?
That’s a really hard question to answer! I do love to be “dressed up” in cocktail (or even dressier) dresses; but some of my very favorites are simple silky “fit-n-flare” floral dresses, especially in spring and summer. I am not crazy about pants even though I do recognize their practicality in certain cases. To me a dress, hosiery, and heels are the requisite attire.
Stockings or pantyhose?
Either, depending on the outfit. 99% of the time it has to be one or the other! Pantyhose if the dress is figure revealing (tight, in other words) because they give an all over smooth look. Otherwise it’s a question of my mood.
Heels or flats?
Heels, heels, heels! Flats only if there’s going to be a lot of walking or if I haven’t dressed in a while.
Favorite places to go when dressed?
I love to shop – what woman doesn’t? I often go to my counselor dressed, and sometimes I just will go for a walk in a park. Lunch with a friend, too.
Go to accessories for a night out
Pearls and a pretty purse. Drop earrings and my gold Apple watch.
Who is/are your female role model(s) and why?
It’s perhaps surprising that I don’t have any one specific female role model. Most of my advice/inspiration has come from friends on the internet, most notably a couple of groups of CDs on the photosite Flickr, and from my now retired makeup artist, Phoebe Cross.
Tell us some fun facts about yourself. What are your hobbies (either when dressed or not), likes, things you do in your spare time, or anything else you would like to share?
I love to play golf (I’d love to do so dressed, but haven’t) – I used to be pretty good (high school and college varsity), but now not so much. I work on our landscaping and I love to cook.
Any stories you would like to share about yourself and your journey?
OMG, the first time I truly went out in public. I was encouraged by a local girlfriend whom I had gotten to know on Flickr. We met in the parking deck of a sparsely populated mall in the suburbs where she thought there wouldn’t be too many people. We rode down the elevator only to have it stop before we were to get off and a man got on and started to make conversation. I was mortified! Stacie helped me and made a little small talk and we got off OK. The mall was unexpectedly crowded, but after the close encounter in the small elevator, nothing more could faze me!
If you have social media, what is the best way for others to follow you?
I’m on Flickr and Facebook, either as Tammy Brown (FB) or Tami Christina Brown (Flickr)
Before we go, would you like to send a message to your fellow girls out there or a closing statement.
Be honest with yourself – accept who you are – and be not afraid; but be aware and be careful!
