My extra late halloween post.

My Halloween Costume

• Top: Maurices
• Skirt: Torrid
• Petticoat: Torrid (here)
• "Knee" High socks: We Love Colors (here)
• Shoes: Payless (here)
• Other shoes: Gabriella Rocha via Zappos(here)

My Wife's Halloween Costume

• Top: JC Penney
• Skirt: Hot Topic
• Tights: JC Penney
• Shoes: Payless (here)

We decided that our costume this year would be "twin" school girls. Since the party was going to involve a lot of dancing, my wife and I chose to wear identical flats. On Saturday, my wife was going to wear a different costume (I guess that one will just roll over to next year), and I was going to wear a nice pair of Mary Jane style heels with this costume. I'm glad I took both pairs of shoes for the pictures, because I really like the heels and I've been saving them back from the blog for this costume.

Earlier this year, my wife and I found a really cool hair salon from a friend's recommendation, unfortunately after our one and only visit, we found when booking another appointment that our totally awesome hair stylist no longer worked there. Instead of asking for a different stylist, we just did what most people do when presented with a frustrating low priority task: procrastinate until its a high priority. We ended up not booking another appointment until last week. We had both arrived at the point of really needing a haircut and I had a brilliant idea.

Brilliant ideas are a scary thing right? Thankfully this brilliant idea didn't involve Nair, and turned out much better. We booked our hair appointment the day of the party we attended. When booking the appointment, I asked if it was okay for us to come in costume. They said yes. Emboldened, I sheepishly asked if it was okay for me to come in crossdressed in costume. Silence. Oops was the thought that flashed in my mind. Followed by getting put on hold. Apparently, that request prompted her to ask her superviser. But she said that was also okay.

Fast forward to the day of the party. We arrived at the hair salon, and the stylists later said they were impressed with my confidence. I didn't point out that sudden moves, loud noises, or even a stiff breeze would have revealed how thin my confidence truly was. I was aware that some of the customers in the salon were staring a hole in me. Thankfully it was a fairly light crowd that afternoon. We lucked out with our new stylists. They were awesome, and just like the first visit, the real shocker turned out to be that I'm straight. The stylist had neighbors and friends that are drag queens, so crossdressing was no big deal to her. We mostly ended up talking about clothes and shopping. The stylists did an awesome job with our hair, and we were both extremely pleased.

After the hair appointment, we had some time before the party for pictures in an obscure nearby park. Since this really is a special post, and because I was exceptionally happy with my makeup and hair, I cropped the pictures a little higher (um, we also forgot to get a few planned shots in all the excitement, and yes, my amazing wife took all the pictures, except the ones of her, I took those). Since I've discussed hair removal before, some notes on these pictures: I just shaved really good with a new blade, and then we used concealer, and covered it with a powder foundation. This actually worked great, but the concealer showed through in some pictures later in the night when we used the flash. The problem is partially that I don't like full coverage foundation, and we've had trouble matching my skin tone as well. It kinda gets expensive to keep trying different foundations too.

We ended up getting there a bit early, and the first batch of attendees were mostly not in costume. That did change as the night went on, but it was still surprisingly light on people in costume. We didn't know anyone at the party. Honestly, it was probably easier that way. However, I was not the only guy in a skirt. There was a guy who seemed to fit the comedian category, and there were a couple of guys in kilts (Seems like I missed a category in my previous post).

While we were sitting out a song and watching other people dance, I was approached by a guy who asked me to dance. At first I thought it was just someone being silly and I said, "Noooo". Feeling a little awkward, my wife did jump up and agree to dance with him. He seemed a little off put, so my wife later reported the conversation something like this:
Wife: "Oh, don't worry, you just surprised him."
Guy: "Him?"
Wife: "Yeah."
Guy: "Uh... that's a pretty good costume" trailing into nervous laughter.

One woman forgot that it was costume night and asked if we were dressed for a sorority function. Another guy was teaching some dance lessons and asked if we "ladies" wanted to join the lesson. We declined. One woman told me, "You make a convincing girl". It was becoming clear that while not everyone was fooled, that some people really did think I was a female.

The main event turned out to be the costume contest judging. They asked the girls to line up so they could "strut their stuff". Quite reasonably, I thought, not every girl wanted to "strut their stuff" and so there were some holdouts hiding in the audience. The girls in line started cajoling their peers to get in line too, most of them eventually acquiesced. Finally, they started calling out to me.

At first, I thought it was a joke, I really did. But it was apparent that at least some of them were serious. I finally told them that I was a guy in front of everyone, and after a bit of pause one of them pointed out that I was in a "very confusing state". After that, I decided a low profile was best and didn't join in the men's line. Honestly though, I was also hoping that if we were going to be judged that it would be for a "ensemble" costume since my wife and I went together. I also found it interesting that several of the guys who got in line were not in costumes, unlike the women's line. The comedian crossdresser ended up placing second, and in strutting his stuff, did some comedic overplaying of femininity, and that's not something I was interested in doing, so ultimately, I'm glad I didn't participate in the contest.

I certainly take it as a compliment that some people thought I was a female, and I even admit that I enjoyed it. I want to point out though, that even if I were go out on a "regular" night dressed to the nines, being counted as a girl is not my goal. In conversations with my wife, I mentioned that I felt that I was getting stared at a lot. My wife pointed out that it felt more like being out with one of her female friends from college, in particular, the way males were looking us over. On a lighter note, I have never danced in a skirt, that part was also lot of fun. The spinning was one of my favorite parts! A lot of the people who did figure it out were extremely cool about it. The night ended up being a lot of fun, and this year ended up being a lot different than last year.