I claim to be a child of the sixties, but that’s not quite true; in terms of date, sure, conceived in June 1968, arrived (with questionable bits) in March 1969, but since my memory only really starts around 2010 (cough, PTSD) it’s a numerical claim.
Pictured – spoiler, nailed the 60’s chick vibe and look. Check out those earrings!
However I absolutely love the 60’s look; there’s something about a beehive and a polyester mini dress that ticks my boxes. Yeah, I love the 40’s, 50’s and even, don’t tell anyone, the jumpsuits and terrible dresses of the 1970’s, but the 60’s stood apart as a time of radical fashion change.
Pictured – ten years earlier and she would have been in petticoats, house dress and in the kitchen…..
Enough history though, I found a site (Retro Stage) that had proper 1960’s style mini frocks, and in a moment of impulse (i.e. red wine was present) I ordered a load of different ones, and visited my favourite Etsy shop, Wig in the City, to order a beehive do.
I love the wigs from Chris at WitC; he goes out of his way to style them appropriately, given my head, so they always look luscious. I have talked about this before, but as a cross-dresser (I lose track of what we are allowed to call ourselves nowadays in this insane, one-sided anti-woke environment) there are beautiful moments of, well, endorphin rush. The only way I can explain it, and it won’t make sense unless you have ever experienced it, is it is like a rush of warm chocolate up your spine. Not the cold blast of an adrenaline buzz, but a rush that actually leaves you breathless, and more importantly it leaves you feeling open and raw, but in a good way.
Pictured – no idea why but I love the collars/buttons and flowers on this kind of frock.
I get that when I look into the mirror for the first time after putting a wig on. That moment of ‘damn, who is that?’, where the brain gets momentarily confused and for a delightful second, or even a millisecond, the brain goes ‘that’s a woman’. You know, before the lack of confidence kicks in like a sad little bully at the back of the room and starts to look for flaws.
Anyway, I ordered a proper ginger beehive from WitC; a bold choice because beehives have a tendency to not work well. I’ve had a long think about this, the beehive is an insane hairstyle and very much of its time, but it has been kinda hijacked by the drag community.
Pictured – concentrate on the frock and the boots, don’t look at the left knee; that was when I fell on cobbles at LFF courtesy of heels and wine…..
Drag – I’m not a huge fan, not because I dislike it, but simply because drag is an odd one that is clearly gay culture, but has somewhat been adopted by the mainstream media without understanding what it is. There’s this weirdness at the moment in the minds of a lot of people who can’t separate the performative art of drag and the reality of gender non-binary. Drag is meant to be loud, socially confrontational and a statement; it’s pure gay culture.
Now, in the realm of beehives and sixties fashion there’s is a standout drag personality, Trixie Mattel. I love her clothes, but her makeup style is pure confrontational drag, and good for her. But it colours people’s reactions to those clothes and hairstyles, which makes beehives and proper 60’s minidresses a bit of a no-go area for anyone wanting to reproduce the style in a feminine way.
Pictured – ahh, proper 1960’s orange. Plus this was the frock that really wanted to get up inside me due to the static. Too much information?
This is not a slight; if you are T, CD drag, whatever, you know there is a radical difference between the styles and looks, but the average person in the street doesn’t. Case in point, I was stood in Canal St during Sparkle with a proper T-Girl who lives as a woman. I was dressed pretty inappropriately (short frock, rainbow hairband) but she wasn’t, and this very drunk little gay chap came up, very young, and said ‘I love your looks, I want to be a drag queen’. As you can imagine this went down like a lead balloon with my companion.
Anyway, gone off-topic. I ordered a beehive from WitC knowing it would be an authentic look, and had a day with Patti at Wowgals where we focused completely on trying to recreate the proper 1960’s look. I brought some knee-high white PVC gogo boots (yeah, absolutely needed for a proper look), and Patti did a wonderful job of nailing the 60’s makeup. Unusually we went for a light lipstick, which was odd for someone who loves red, but it fitted the aesthetic of the look perfectly. Cue a day of trying various proper 60’s frocks; big flowers, bright colours, static-loving material (made me laugh, some of the frocks were so friendly, especially after sitting on the furry blanket, that it almost felt an improper level of interest in my butt crack – see previous image).
Pictured – spare a girl a light, darling?
It worked perfectly and I had a riot. For anyone interested, I left a number of the frocks and the wig at Patti’s so others can have a bash; if you’re like me you have to try it once, just to feel what it is like. Interestingly the thing I noticed the most, other than having to duck a lot to avoid the extra six or so inches of hair atop the head, was how almost naked I felt with no hair on the back of my neck.
I’ve had long hair since 1983, heavy metal was a nice place to pretend to be masculine, so having an updo that lifts everything off the back of the neck was yet another difference to the norm.
So, in conclusion, a lovely look and a lot of fun. Not one to go outside with because, at 6ft 2in before gogo boots, even with a perfect replication of the 60’s look people are going to instantly see drag, but still, huge amount of fun.
Stay beautiful, more blogs incoming, and try something different occasionally, see what it feels like….
Pictured – what do you mean, ‘a wives’ duty’? I just did my lipstick…..
transretrogurl 