The Vampire's Lair has moved.
Drag is hot in the media, too. Julie Andrews has revived
Victor/Victoria as a Broadway musical to rave reviews if the New York
Times is any measure. (I wonder if Transgender will cover that
next?) Robin Williams and Broadway actor Nathan Lane will
reprise La Cage Aux Folles on the silver screen as The Bird
Cage this month. (By the way, we had it all wrong in these pages a
while back-Williams is playing the macho Renato and Lane is playing
Albin/Albert). Finally, the week of Valentine's Day saw RuPaul as
the hostess for the SciFi Channel's Strange Love film festival. At
the other end of the spectrum is the ad for Bijan with Bo
Derek. To the far left is the shapely Ms. Derek in bra and panties
donning a silky shirt. At far right is Ms. Derek fully clothed in a
menswear suit complete with shirt and tie.
From the net comes this message by a friend, Jami Ward: "On another
note, I want to broach a subject with you. I don't know how you feel
personally about the whole O.J. Simpson deal, but I'm more than a little
irked by it all. And now there's his video! Well, I do volunteer work at a
local shelter for abused women, and one of the staff members there said
that as a form of positive protest against that tape, rather than just
boycotting it, folks have started taking the $29.95 cost of the tape and
donating the money to a local women's shelter instead. Since you have a
greater public presence than I do, I wanted to ask if you could disseminate
this idea in a future column or anywhere else you see fit. I will also be
asking Cindy Martin (TGForum), and anyone else I can think of, to do
the same because I believe it's an idea that deserves exposure. I would
like to think that with enough grassroots activism, the shelters would make
more money than O.J. from this." Well put Jami and a great idea, too.
Readers, it's up to you to act.
I spent a weekend last month in Toronto with Virginia Prince as
guests of Paddy Aldridge at Wildside. Paddy set up a gig for
Virginia and me so we could talk with members of the Ontario transgender
community. I had a great time and met lots of new folks as well as renewing
some old friendships. The Canadian transgender community is slowly coming
into its own and its likely we'll see some important community leadership
emerge from our Northern sisters. I met briefly with leaders of Gender
Mosaic, Xpressions, and the Monarch Social Club.
Xpressions expressed some interest in affiliating with Renaissance. That
would make us a truly international organization. Way kewl!
Well, it's time to get down to fashion notes and news... Science and
Technology triumph again. This time it's pantyhose without seams. Yes,
truly an amazing feat. And Calvin Klein, that little devil, is the
first to offer it. Sorry, no price quoted, but first-adopters of new
technology never worry about what it costs.
Thank Goddess most of us (and most other women for that matter) don't pay
attention to the runway crowd. I mean, really. Gobs of blue eyeshadow and
unruly hair. Yecch! Most drag queens look better than the runway models.
Earth to fashion world... wake up!
So what is up with the fashion world? Here's six hot looks for Spring...
Citrus Juice colors... The Trench look in both coats and dresses...
Split-personality skirt lengths, either macro-ankle length or micro-thigh
length... Definitely-Not-June-Cleaver shirtdresses... Slack suits...
Pop-Art prints on everything. The one color I really dislike this Spring is
the light, lime green. It reminds me of the color of some 1968 Plymouth
Dusters.
They say Practice Makes Perfect... marie claire magazine had a
makeup artist estimate how long it took certain fashionable women to put on
their face. Leading the pack with the shortest time was Linda
Evangelista at 1 minute: no foundation, no eye makeup, just blush and
lipstick... Next was Courtney Cox (Friends) at 30 minutes...Famke
Janssen (The latest James Bond arch villain) at 1 hour... and trailing
the pack at 2 hours was Loni Anderson. Anderson's makeup was
characterized as "very high maintenance, superglam Hollywood" including no
less than 12 steps. Gee, I don't feel so bad at 45 minutes.
Down the aisle, past the torque wrenches...Sears has gotten into
cosmetics in a big way with their Circle of Beauty section in stores
nationwide. What's so cool about this for tg people is it's self-service.
Just open a big drawer and pick out what you need.
Biological Bust Boosting? Researchers at the Carolinas Medical
Center and the University of Michigan have experimented with
growing breast-like tissue for implantation. Fatty cells similar to breast
tissue were cultivated in vitro and then attached onto soft sponge-like
forms. These forms were implanted in lab rats where the tissue continued to
develop and even vascularize. Someday, it might be possible to create an
implantable breastform from the patient's own body tissue. No rejection.
Computers and computer modeling are becoming more commonplace daily. The
latest trend is to use computers and 3-D modeling to preview the results of
plastic surgery. Making the rounds of medical conventions is a software
package that lets plastic surgeons "see" the results of surgery without
touching a scalpel. The patient's face is captured onto the computer screen
via a video camera and the surgeon can then manipulate the image.
Speaking of images, women seem less satisfied with their bodies today than
10 years ago. According to a recent study of 800 women between the ages of
18 and 70, more than 45 percent were displeased with their weight, waist,
hips, buttocks and legs. Only 16 percent said they were content with their
body. The same survey done 10 years ago, turned up only 30 percent who were
dissatisfied. Interestingly, in both studies African-American women were
much more satisfied with their appearance than other groups, probably
because of African-American culture's greater acceptance of differing body
shapes. We have become so accustomed to seeing images of runway and
advertising models, who represent a statistical extreme in terms of body
shape, that we begin to believe all women should look like them. One
designer who seems to really know women's bodies and how to design good
looking clothes is Dana Buchman.
You know you're mainstream when they start making fun of you...Donna
Karan sued a New York T-shirt manufacturer for trademark infringement.
He was selling T-shirts with DKFU on them. But Ms. Karan has missed
a few knock-offs, like the cartoon in the New Yorker with a couple in
leisure suits reading DKNJ, and the D(Y)K(E)NY T-shirts.
Quotable: "A fashion is merely a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are
compelled to alter it every six months." -Oscar Wilde.
I'd swear a TV asked this question. Someone wrote in to Glamour
magazine and asked if a sequined cocktail dress was appropriate for a
daytime wedding.
This is a test. Punctuate the following: Woman without her man is a savage.
Chanel has a mission: introduce unorthodox nail colors that will
double sales like Vamp did last year. First they tried Pink Alert which is
the color of bubble gum. Their newest is Metallic, a silvery polish that
gives a slight pearlescent shine.
I'm sick of seeing white (as in snow), but that's the latest word for
spring-white eyeshadow, nail polish and lipstick. Everybody's gotten into
the act, too, like Bobbi Brown, Chanel, Lancôme, and M*A*C. Prices
range from $17 (Bobbi Brown shadow) to $50 (Chanel shadow). Try using chalk
dust and Whiteout. It's cheaper.
So, those are my opinions, but, hey, what do I know? I think if you turn your back on this community, eventually it will turn its back on you.
Comments? Email them to CyberQueen@cdspub.com.
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