Dina’s Diner 9/29/14
RUNNING THE RUNWAY
Goucher
The New York Times Sports section had an interesting article that combined sports and fashion on September 12, 2014. It was headlined “On Catwalk, Runners Replace Models for a Sportswear Company.”
The Oiselle company used a lineup of real female athletes to model its line during a recent show in New York City. Among the runway models were a 45 year old doctor who recently ran a 5 minute mile, Kara Goucher, a former Olympian, and Lauren Fleshman, 33, a former five-kilometer champion at Stanford.
Most athletic-wear companies use professional models to show their clothes on the runways. Last year, Oiselle used a mix of professional models and some athletes. “But this year we decided to go with only our runners. There’s something about them; they’re just different,” said Sally Bergeson, Oiselle’s founder. The company hired former supermodel Christy Turlington to coach the athlete-models in how to navigate the runway.
Under Armour, the ubiquitous athletic wear company, launched a new women’s line but chose supermodel Giselle Bundchen (wife of the Patriots’ Tom Brady, too) as it’s “face.” The professional models are rail thin and may be in great shape but the ripped, lean body of an athlete is something else again.
The athletes also have “normal” lives. Lauren Fleshman gave birth to a son and posted some photos showing her post-pregnancy flabbiness that generated some controversy. Kara Goucher also has a son and a professional athlete husband. She will wear one of Oiselle’s track outfits in November’s New York marathon. “Before she had [her son], Kara felt untouchable, she was superhuman. But now she’s a mom and in a lot of ways, she’s just like me.” said Oiselle’s Bergeson.
Runner Lauren Fleshman told the Times, “We’re trying to expand people’s definitions of what might count as an athlete or as a model. Fashion is about showing your best side but sports is about winning and losing. I bring my A-game to everything I do but I think by being in this show, I’m able to show both sides.”
Hmm, letting the public see both sides of the same person. Sounds kind of interesting.
OF BOOBS AND BARBIES
There have been a spate of stories about women transforming themselves into “human Barbies,” anime” Lolitas, and huge-breasted blow-up dolls. And I for one think the whole thing . . . is pretty fantastic. It may not be for everyone. Imagine the world populated by fantasy women. Okay, maybe it wouldn’t be that bad after all.
Sarah Marie Summer
And who should be more in the corner of these limit-stretching, blouse-straining, surgeon-enriching ladies than us: crossdressers? While not true of many transgenders, becoming a short-term feminine fantasy image is what a lot of crossdressers aspire to.
The Huffington Post had this brief item on September 18, 2014. “Sarah Marie Summer, a model with a bra size of “8M,” is believed to hold the distinction of having Australia’s largest (fake) breasts. But she says she wants to go even bigger. “I want to look silly and I want to be huge,” she told Australia’s Women’s Day. “They make people smile and that makes me happy, so that can’t be a bad thing.” The 23-year-old says she was 17 when she had the first of her three breast enlargements, and has claimed she is “addicted to boob jobs.” She said she has gone up 18 bra sizes.”
A website called PopDust.com had this brief article about a woman with a dream on September 16, 2014. “A woman has forked out a fortune on plastic surgery to turn herself into “the idol of her dreams” — a human, living, blow-up sex doll. Putting a whole new twist on that weird Ukrainian Human Barbie trend, Victoria Wild has splashed out over $50,000 to become a walking, talking, inflatable love toy. Popdust has photos and videos of her bizarre transformation. The 30-year-old has undergone a rhinoplasty, Botox, permanent lip implants and three breast augmentations, to boost her boobs up to a staggering 32G. Not surprisingly, Wild still isn’t satisfied with her look, and plans on three more boob jobs in her bid to become even more ludicrously top heavy, in addition to butt implants. “Who wouldn’t want to be treated like a bimbo doll? It’s such a sexy look,” Wild, who lives and works as a model in Cannes, France, tells NewsDogMedia. “People stare at me in the street and I love the way I stand out.”
Do you recognize a trend here? Both ladies are really doing it because others seem to enjoy their appearance. Far from being narcissists, these women are selfless humanitarians. And when you get right down to it, aren’t most crossdressers just trying to bring more feminine beauty into the world while at the same time erasing one unnecessary male from the scene? Oh, we are so-o-o-o-o misunderstood!
JUST GIVE ME A SHOT, DOC, AND PUT ME BACK IN THE GAME
Pump, her, up.
The New York Times Thursday Styles section had a different update on breast enlargement in the August 21, 2014 edition. The article, headlined “What a Difference a Day Makes” describes a new short term boob job involving that old favorite, that princess of fluids: injectable saline.
Some cosmetic surgeons are willing to inject saline solution directly into the breasts to create a temporary (about 24 hours) enhancement. It’s often given as a “test drive” for women considering full-blown implantation boob jobs. But now some ladies are requesting the quick shots to pump them up for weddings, bar mitzvahs, vacations, and other special short-duration occasions.
Amanda Sanders is an image consultant in New York and she opted for the injections twice for those events when one’s boobs must be simply perfect. She was photographed for the article and told The Times, “It was worth it (the cost is $3,500). I could wear halter tops and a string bikini and feel really sexy. I’m in the business of vanity. I have to look the part and be the part.”
Some cosmetic surgeons are opposed to the procedure. “I can’t see that there’s a huge risk in but you’re stretching the skin out. You’re altering the architecture of the breast. I would be concerned you would be taking out some intrinsic support in the breast.” said Dr. Michael Edwards in Las Vegas.
Support-schmupport is what Courtney Daal, a 27 year old bride probably said when weighing the advantages of a quick breast shot. The Times said she went from an A-cup to a C-cup for her wedding day through the magic of saline. “I wanted to not be too enhanced but look my best.” She told The Times. Her new husband noticed and asked if she was “wearing something” but she could happily and truthfully reply, “No, it’s all me!”
MAKING A LONG STORY SHORT
She wears short-shorts.
Last year at this same time, I wrote an item about the prevalence of short-shorts on young women attending a college football game. Two Saturdays ago, we had another glorious warm September game day and the short-shorts were in full bloom — or should I say skimpy bloom?
I’m pretty sure I would not want my daughter to be wearing some examples of the shorts I saw on these college-age and even high school-age girls. And I bet some fathers were either disapproving or in absentia when their little darlings skipped out the door. But thankfully, the fuddy-duddy-ness of old guys is always trumped by the determination of teens to do what they want.
So I was able to study again the short-shorts phenomenon in an environment as fertile as the the Galapagos Islands is for tortoise research. There was the foursome who made me think they might be secretly competing with each other to see whose shorts had a lower belt-to-hemline ratio; the blond that sauntered down the stadium stairs whose fringed denim shorts were barely containing their precious cargo; the twenty-something (a little older than most) who had found a pair of delicate black and opaquely transparent shorts; and finally the slim Asian co-ed whose bottom-of-her-bottom was catching a breeze where the shorts simply didn’t have enough material to do their appointed job.
The area of the hips and derriere of a woman has the pleasing curvature that most men cannot even fake with padding. So the short-shorts thing — though sexy as hell — is not a fashion statement for crossdresers to adopt. Try as we might to emulate all that we admire in the female body, it’s sort of nice to know that the goal is sometimes just out of reach.
Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment, Transgender Opinion
About the Author (Author Profile)
I started crossdressing and going out publicly in 1988. I joined the Renaissance group in the Philadelphia area that year and later became chapter leader for two years in the '90s. I always enjoyed writing and wrote for the Renaissance newsletter and magazine throughout my membership years. I've been writing for TGForum for several years now. I also contributed items to LadyLike magazine and other TG publications before the advent of the internet. My hobby-within-a-hobby is singing live as my alter-ego Dina Sinatra and I have had the opportunity to do that with several accommodating performers and in a number of venues over the years since the mid-1990s. In the Diner column items here, I try to relate crossdressing or transgender themes (and my own pet peeves and fetishes) to the larger world -- and vice versa.Subscribe
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