Wearing Lafayette 148 |
Renato Pozzetto femulating in the 1977 Italian film Gran Bollito (Black Journal). You can view the film on YouTube. |
Wearing Lafayette 148 |
Renato Pozzetto femulating in the 1977 Italian film Gran Bollito (Black Journal). You can view the film on YouTube. |
Commenting on Wednesday’s post about going to my bank and hair salon en femme on Halloween, Jasmine asked, “Do they now know about that side of you or was this just a thing you did at Halloween and have not been back en femme since?”
I don’t know what they know. I have not returned en femme, but when I returned after Halloween, I discovered I was the talk of the town.
Bank Redux
I went to my bank to withdraw money to buy groceries after my Halloween en femme visit.
The teller (Miss K) was the first woman I saw walking into the bank on Halloween. The other two women staffing the bank were not working that day. One (Miss C) is the teller I often deal with at the drive-through window. The other (Miss L) is the branch manager, who refinanced my mortgage. So they both know me well as a regular customer.
Miss K handled my withdrawal and then she brought up the topic of Halloween. She said my “costume” was the best she had ever seen. Then she asked me if I had a photo on my iPhone so she could show Miss C.
Of course I did and she called Miss C over to see my photo. Needless to say, she was floored. Then she asked Miss L if she had seen my Halloween costume photo.
Miss L replied, “No, but I heard about it.”
Evidently, my costume was the talk of the bank staff. (I dress to impress!)
I showed Miss L my photo and she was amazed, too.
Salon Redux
I also had an appointment at my hair salon. My hairdresser, Miss K, was off on Halloween, so after she seated me at her station, she said, “I’m sorry I missed you on Tuesday. The girls said you were beautiful.”
So I immediately retrieved my iPhone and showed her my photo that Miss C took on Tuesday.
She took my iPhone, examined the photo closely and remarked, “You look like a businesswoman.”
“That's what I intended.”
“You do look beautiful!”
Wearing Joie |
Charley Chase (right) femulating in the 1934 film Four Parts. |
Hard to believe, but one of my favorite Halloweens was five years ago even though it seems like it was just yesterday. I just reread the post describing that outing and I am sharing it with you again.
I slept late (I've been doing that a lot since I retired) and pretty much abandoned my Halloween plans because I would be getting such a late start. So I performed my normal morning routine, then sipped a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper.
My wife and I always read our daily horoscopes to each other for amusement, but when I read mine, I was enthused rather than amused.
Wearing Elisabetta Franchi |
Warren Fremming and Chuck Bratton femulating in the 1972 film All About Alice. |
Robin Williams and John Lithgow femulating in the 1982 film The World According to Garp. |
Three years later, my company did it again and so did I wearing a pinstriped skirt suit, high heels and all the trappings of a businesswoman. I am sure that some of my co-workers who were familiar with my previous Halloween appearance en femme, were starting to wonder about my wardrobe choices. Some made amusing or pointed comments about my costume, but no one ever questioned me about it.
My company did not celebrate Halloween again. Occasionally, a co-worker would show up in costume on October 31, but without the company imprimatur, most people did not costume up.
After waiting nine years for the company to do something again, I took matters into my own hands and showed up at work en femme on Halloween 2013. Since the company was not celebrating Halloween, my co-workers had no reason to suspect I was in costume. Instead, I successfully played the new female hire again. And I became a Halloween tradition by appearing en femme for the next four Halloweens – that’s five consecutive Halloweens in a skirt and heels.
I assumed by then that some of my co-workers thought that something was up regarding my wardrobe. Little did I know that by the time I retired, nearly all my co-workers assumed I was trans-something or other. This was a revelation to me when after retirement, I attended the company Christmas luncheon en femme.
At that luncheon, I apologized to a number of my friends for giving them the wrong impression that my Halloween appearances were nothing more than a very authentic costume. In each case, my friends admitted that they saw through my ruse and figured that I was trans-something! (That framed photo on my desk of me en femme probably did not help keep my secret identity a secret!)
Thing is that by the time of my five consecutive appearances in businesswoman drag, I did not care what people thought. But I did find it amazing that no one ever asked me about it. If they had, I would have told them the truth, but it never happened.
Another thing is that if I knew that everyone knew, I would have found more opportunities to show-up at work as a businesswoman, for example, on other holidays, my birthday, days of the month ending in the letter Y, etc.
And so it goes.
Wearing Reiss |
Pat Henry femulating in the 1968 film Lady in Cement. |