So yesterday (Saturday 27th of October) I went out to the London MCM Expo, which is a huge comic con where people of all ages go dressed as there favorite anime/sci-fi/comic/movie etc characters to check out the stallls and talks. I went as Mana from the bands Malice Mizer and Moi Dix Mois, which meant I spent nearly the whole day (about 14 hours straight) dressed up in the most fantastic gothic dress, high heels, a blouse, full make up and my house mate did my hair for me. It was amazing, and most of the day was not quite how I expected it. The first thing was that I didn't feel nervous, not once, for the whole day. I walked straight out of my door, down the high street and got onto the train to London with my girlfriend (who was also in costume) and one other friend of ours. It felt brilliant. I got a fair few looks on the train and the underground until I got near to the Expo itself, but nothing much. It was also hard to tell exactly why they were looking. It could have been because they knew I was a man in a dress (anyone that could hear my voice would realize that), they couldn't tell, or just because people will generally stare at a 6ft goth chick anyway. I definitely passed to at least one guy, we caught him staring at my girlfriend, then straight after he walked passed me on the stairs and did a sort of fake trip so that he could look my top, then did much the same to my other friend who was in front of me. I suppose that's flattering in a way, although it's definitely much more creepy.
The expo itself was brilliant. I didn't realize that it was more like a massive anime bootfair, so at first I felt a little disheartened as I didn't have much money to spend, but after seeing a talk with the cast of the upcoming Primeval: New World (including Andrew Lee Potts, who I am a big fan of and my girlfriend even more so) playing Borderlands 2 and receiving a free t-shirt from them, meeting some professional comic book artists and buying some of their books, seeing and meeting all the other awesome people dressed up and getting two professionally done photographs of myself, I was certainly having a blast. (all of the photo's done were taken by other people so I will upload them when I've got them)
There were two things that put a little bit of a downer on the whole thing though, not much but just a tiny bit. The first was how totally worn out I was from walking around all day, to the point I have a fairly bad blister from the heels, but that's nothing I can't handle. The main thing is that I was supposed to meet Kimberly Faye, a fellow member on this site, but my phone is not working properly (I can get it to work for a few minutes by taking the battery out for several hours and then putting it back in but that's it) and my sim card doesn't work in my girlfriends phone for some reason. I thought I had her number written down but it didn't work, so if you're reading this Kim I'm really sorry and totally gutted that I missed you, we will have to arrange something soon (damn technology).
Something I noticed though, is that I didn't exactly 'feel like a woman' as some people say they do, but nor did I just feel like 'a man in a dress'. I just felt like myself. I think the more you're in the closet the more exciting and 'forbidden' it feels to dress up, and when you start to get out there and feel a bit more accepted, while obviously it feels great, it also feels much more normal that way.
Can't wait for Halloween now, as I'll be going to a fundraising party at my uni where I'll bump into people I actually know ^_^
