TRALEE PEARCE Fashion Reporter
I n the hours leading up to Toronto's Gay Pride Parade on Sunday, a single battle cry can be heard well above the earnest slogans demanding same-sex marital benefits and stronger anti-hate legislation: "What are you wearing?"
For if the personal is political, the wardrobe is certainly its calling card, whether in the form of a snazzy pair of shorts and a crisp T-shirt or skyscraper platforms and a RuPaul platinum wig. "Remember, the vast majority of people in the parade will wear what they usually wear when they want to look good," says Michael Gilbert, a York University philosophy professor and cross-dresser. "But it's also a day when, if you want to be more outrageous and declarative, you have permission."
As fashion shows go, just about anything imaginable gets an outing: PVC fetishists, drag queens, cross-dressing men and women, drag kings and even boyish lesbians for whom a frilly bra or prom dress might be considered "high drag."
Gilbert says beneath the pancake makeup or false mustaches of the cross-dressing contingent are some heady gender-bending issues. "Cross-dressing raises a very important question about gender: How did it come to be that women are supposed to expose themselves and men aren't? Just look at the Academy Awards as an example," he says.
Naturally, some male-to-female cross-dressers make a beeline for professional help in the early stages of their transformations, lest they conjure up the stand-out, clunky Oscars cross-dressing of South Parkfs Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Makeover artist and retailer Paddy Aldridge, owner of Take A Walk On The Wild Side (www.wild-side.org) on Gerrard Street East in Toronto's gay village, has been providing a storefront dress-up service for more than a decade. "It looks like a quiet little house," says the ex-stripper of her tickle-trunk locale. "They can walk right in and look at our photo album of previous customers and choose whether they want to blend in as a woman or stand out."
For $120, Aldridge will provide a transformation including the makeup, wig, lingerie, clothing and heels that would transform any guy, gay or straight, into his female ideal, whether she be a sleazy diva or a navy-suited power broker.
"We don't let them see themselves until they're completely transformed," she says, as the sound of an electric razor buzzes in the background. Some men don't want to go out in public. They simply spend the day and leave Wild Side looking just as they did when they came in. As their interest develops, and especially if budding cross-dressers aren't out to their families, she'll also provide locker storage for the femme ensembles.
Aldridge solves the pressing issues for these men: how to get the cleanest shave (grow a few days stubble and shave in the shower), how to mimic breasts and hips and where to find women's shoes in "men's" sizes. Aldridge has created a club-like environment with a dash of tender therapy thrown in — clients have been known to burst into tears at the first sight of their true, transgendered selves. She's got six overnight spots for $50 a night (breakfast and parking included) for out-of-towners who want to paint the town red in their new look. Don't even ask about the pillowcase laundry turnover. "Some men will check in for a week. It's like a theme park. I'm like a den mother without rules. They come in at 5 a.m.!" she squeals.
Things are different through the looking-glass; women who eschew cocktail dresses for three-piece suits are largely doin' it for themselves. Roberta Best, 32, who cultivates a boy-girl aesthetic, hunts fornatty vintage men's wear at spots like Value Village. For Pride Day, she's concerned a suit and tie might be a little warm, so it'll probably be a retro bowling shirt and silver board shorts, while her girlfriend wears something frilly and girlie; both will don sparkly body paint and shades.
"I'm going for the dad-on-vaca-tion look," she deadpans. For the record, that's dad minus the black knee-highs. Yes, as effortless as some make it look, everything is meticulously planned, each detail
potentially profound. It's all part of the day's loaded fashion statement, says Best. "In the 12 years I've been going, the Pride parade has gone from being about political T-shirts to being more about camp," she says. "Now it has become even more so, to separate yourself from the tourists. So in that sense, it's re-poliricized."
this article appeared in The Globe and Mail - Saturday June 4, 2000
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