Fantasia Fair 2010: A Half-Week of Memories

These are random thoughts and memories of my half-week at Fantasia Fair.

***

Saturday, there were heavy winds in our neck of the woods of Connecticut. When I went grocery shopping that day, I did not wear outerwear and felt chilled after my outing.

Wake up Sunday and I felt like a cold was coming on — perfect timing for Fantasia Fair.

I loaded up on zinc lozenges, vitamin C, oranges, orange juice, and allergy meds and managed to stave off a cold. Monday I had some congestion in my throat and a headache, but by Tuesday, I was all better.

***

I have only one complaint about Fantasia Fair: the map they provide to get around to the different venues is not too helpful. I am very good at map-reading, but the Fantasia Fair map got me lost twice during my half-week.

The problem is that the map is too general. For example, if venue X is on Commercial Street, the map should clearly indicate that X is on Commercial Street. Instead, the map indicated that X was located somewhere in a block bordered by Commercial, Bradford, and Standish Streets.

Hoofing in heels, you need accurate maps especially if you are a newcomer or infrequent attendee to the Fantasia Fair venues.

To make matters worse, the venue was actually in a bar named Y that is attached to the B & B named X!

***

Tuesday afternoon, I was signed up to attend the "Essence of Style: Image Consulting" workshop run by Hera Navassardian in her Klymaxx Unlimited boutique on Commercial Street. Hera is an expert makeup artist, one year younger than I, but looks 15 to 20 years younger. She is a real classy lady and even served pink champagne during her workshop.

After pouring champagne, she asked us our names and was interested in mine because it was unusual like hers.

Then she asked us our concerns.

I said that I am never sure of my fashion sense and as an example, I proffered the outfit I wore that day: gray cable sweater dress, pink floral scarf, brown tights, black "ghillie" slingbacks, and silver earrings.

She said I looked perfect.

I said jokingly, "Well, I guess I can leave now."

Hera than performed a makeover on my new friend Cosette.

During the makeover, she described the virtues of putting on a primer before putting on your makeup (but after putting on moisturizer). She claimed that the primer smoothed your face, which improved the application of makeup as well as helped the makeup to last longer on your face.

I had a sample of primer from Sephora in my makeup toolbox, so the next day, I tried it during my makeup regime and was sold on it. It definitely made my face feel smoother to the touch and made a big difference when I applied makeup over it, especially when I did my eyeshadows and eyeliner.

Later that day, I returned to Hera's shop to buy a bottle of primer.

***

The brick sidewalks and uneven pavement of Provincetown are unforgiving on high-heeled feet, so I wore flats and carried my heels in a bag whenever I had to walk any farther than two or three blocks between my B & B and various venues. My feet thanked me.

However, fashionista that I am, I decided to wear my gold booties out and about on Wednesday. By mid-afternoon, I was hurting and changed to flats when I revisited Hera's shop to buy primer.

My feet hurt so badly that I had to wear flats the rest of the day.

I learned my lesson and will never wear heels out and about for extended periods of time in future Provincetown visits.

***

I had an encounter with a "tranny chaser."

The chasers show up in Provincetown by the boatload during Fantasia Fair because we provide a lot of potential for chasing.

After the fashion show, Cosette and I went to the wine and dessert tasting party. When we arrived, a chaser had my friend Brigitte cornered. He was chatting her up the whole time we were at the party (about an hour).

When we decided to leave the party to go to a bar across the street, Brigitte managed to break free of the chaser. She told us that he was very rude because he assumed he could have his way with her just because Brigitte was transgendered.

We moved on to the bar and the chaser showed up shortly after we arrived. I was his next victim.

He tried to chat me up, but I would have none of it, so he moved on to his another victim.

***

My favorite dress at Fantasia Fair turned out to be the "Disco Dot Trapeze Dress" that I bought at the 11th hour at Fashion Bug. (My second favorite dress is the charcoal portrait collar dress in the photo at the top of this posting.)

The only problem is that I could not wear any of the bras I brought with me because the neckline of the dress revealed the bra straps. So I went braless.

Nobody noticed until I mentioned it to one girl and she was so impressed with what I had that she thought I was on hormones. She was even more impressed when I told her I was not on hormones.

***

I regret not modeling in the fashion show this year. A few people asked if I was modeling and were disappointed when I said I was not.

I planned not to model from the get-go because I wanted to avoid the rehearsals for the fashion show and thus, have a more relaxed Fantasia Fair this year.

Wait 'til next year.