NatalieH
09-12-2006, 01:05 PM
At one of the near-by towns there has been an annual amateur fashion show to
raise money for community organizations. We had never gone before, but this year
my wife thought it might be a good place for Natalie to have her first time out in public,
aside from Halloween. It's in a funky/artsey area of town, so I thought (and hoped) it
would be a tolerent crowd. So, the nite before I spent 3 or 4 hours deciding what to wear
(dressy, not too formal - don't have a lot of funky stuff). Settled on a electric blue beaded top, black pants with front and back sheer panels that give the illusion of a skirt depending on how I'm standing, and a black jacket with sequins and fringe across the yoke and shoulders. (All items from the local thrift shop.) The night of the show my prep time was about 4 hours, with my wife doing my makeup. Packed purse, jumped in the car, and took off, wife driving. Damn! Something sounded funny - oh, yeah...panels of pants were caught in the door, hanging outside in the rain. Got them back inside, made it to the event site early...told wife that I might just wait for her in the car, she said no way, you've spent way too much time to waste it, so out we got, and almost walked into someone from the "straighter" part of town who knows us, and has never seen my wife without me. Busted already, and haven't even gotten in the door! Then, standing outside waiting for a gg friend, a woman standing close to us started yelling at some of the people just inside the door, screaming about this being an event for only rich white people to attend (tickets were $20),
and "yeah, bitch, I'm talking to you!" (That was not directed at us). She continues to carry on, attracting as much attention as possible, with us standing about 10 feet away - so much for staying inconspicuous. But, that was it for bad moments.
Once we got inside, bought our tickets, met up with our friend, all was fine. It probably helped that the lighting was dim, and the crowd was mostly young and funky, but soon it was obvious that everyone was there for the show, and to meet friends, and not to stare at me (big surprise, huh?). Turned out the "straight" guy was involved with the show, and so was everywhere. My one regret of the night was not having made it a point to talk to him and directly confront the issue of who I was. The rest of the evening was great, with a good multi-media show playing along with the fashion show, whose theme was "make you own fun" and "be yourself", both ideas that sounded just fine to me. The highlight of the nite,
for me, was after the show: I was outside waiting for the others when one of the models
walked by in her underwear, with feathers still in her hair. I said something like "I love your feathers", she asked me if I had liked the show, and we talked about it for a minute. Major break-through...she treated me like a regular person! This sounds so simple, maybe trite, but for me it was wonderful - I was almost floating. On the ride home all I could think was that it had all been so easy.
No, I didn't "pass" in terms of convincing anyone that I was a woman, but I passed in a major way by being accepted for who I was. I'll take that anytime. (And no, that's NOT "passing-bashing"!) So what's next? Dunno yet, still too high from the night. Stay tuned.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. And big thanks to all of you here who, thru your stories, have inspired me over the past year - it's so good to know you're out there.
Natalie
raise money for community organizations. We had never gone before, but this year
my wife thought it might be a good place for Natalie to have her first time out in public,
aside from Halloween. It's in a funky/artsey area of town, so I thought (and hoped) it
would be a tolerent crowd. So, the nite before I spent 3 or 4 hours deciding what to wear
(dressy, not too formal - don't have a lot of funky stuff). Settled on a electric blue beaded top, black pants with front and back sheer panels that give the illusion of a skirt depending on how I'm standing, and a black jacket with sequins and fringe across the yoke and shoulders. (All items from the local thrift shop.) The night of the show my prep time was about 4 hours, with my wife doing my makeup. Packed purse, jumped in the car, and took off, wife driving. Damn! Something sounded funny - oh, yeah...panels of pants were caught in the door, hanging outside in the rain. Got them back inside, made it to the event site early...told wife that I might just wait for her in the car, she said no way, you've spent way too much time to waste it, so out we got, and almost walked into someone from the "straighter" part of town who knows us, and has never seen my wife without me. Busted already, and haven't even gotten in the door! Then, standing outside waiting for a gg friend, a woman standing close to us started yelling at some of the people just inside the door, screaming about this being an event for only rich white people to attend (tickets were $20),
and "yeah, bitch, I'm talking to you!" (That was not directed at us). She continues to carry on, attracting as much attention as possible, with us standing about 10 feet away - so much for staying inconspicuous. But, that was it for bad moments.
Once we got inside, bought our tickets, met up with our friend, all was fine. It probably helped that the lighting was dim, and the crowd was mostly young and funky, but soon it was obvious that everyone was there for the show, and to meet friends, and not to stare at me (big surprise, huh?). Turned out the "straight" guy was involved with the show, and so was everywhere. My one regret of the night was not having made it a point to talk to him and directly confront the issue of who I was. The rest of the evening was great, with a good multi-media show playing along with the fashion show, whose theme was "make you own fun" and "be yourself", both ideas that sounded just fine to me. The highlight of the nite,
for me, was after the show: I was outside waiting for the others when one of the models
walked by in her underwear, with feathers still in her hair. I said something like "I love your feathers", she asked me if I had liked the show, and we talked about it for a minute. Major break-through...she treated me like a regular person! This sounds so simple, maybe trite, but for me it was wonderful - I was almost floating. On the ride home all I could think was that it had all been so easy.
No, I didn't "pass" in terms of convincing anyone that I was a woman, but I passed in a major way by being accepted for who I was. I'll take that anytime. (And no, that's NOT "passing-bashing"!) So what's next? Dunno yet, still too high from the night. Stay tuned.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. And big thanks to all of you here who, thru your stories, have inspired me over the past year - it's so good to know you're out there.
Natalie