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Out & About — Summer Sizzler Party

The Editor | Jun 24, 2013

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Miss Summer Sizzler — Cha Cha

By Stacey Carla Stevens

“Semi-out” gatherings seem ever more popular these days. The Internet provides almost total secrecy for those too shy, but more and more girls and their admirers seek something a little less virtual. Near Boston, gatherings like the seasonal parties hosted by John Warrener, founder of Glamour Boutique, have seen attendance mushroom lately. In 2012 John’s spring and Halloween events attracted 50 to 100 of us. So far this year participation has more than doubled. March’s “Spring Bling” party attendance was a surprising 135. John added a new “Summer Sizzler” party June 14 and numbers approached 200. Tiffany Club of New England is helping sponsor John’s parties this year after seeing its own First Event transgender winter conference grow double-digit percentages the last few years. Is it just Boston or are more of us around the country ready to get out as long as “out” is safe and not too public?

Take the recent “Summer Sizzler” for example. It attracted lots people and lots of different types. Most were us ‘Cinderella’ types escaping from our dreary daily world for an evening of glamor. There were many men, maybe 20% of the crowd. As usual, they seemed a little shy, mostly hanging out together close to the bar. Who can blame them? Being an “admirer” means going out without the “disguise” factor that dressing provides most trans girls. Plus lots of the “girls” are married or not interested in men, and it’s probably very tough for a guy to know who to approach.

The Wedding

A number of the t-girls were accompanied by their wives/partners. Spouse support in the transgender community appears to be growing. One lucky couple even publicly renewed their vows in a special ceremony that evening, trans white wedding dress and bouquet included! But most girls were without their mates. As usual lots of the cocktail conversation was about what wives did and did not know and how good or bad things were at home.

The trans women were pretty diverse too. I met at least one girl out dressed for the very first time, and she looked amazing! Others have been around for decades. Many danced, usually with the other girls, to music provided by DJ Paula Howard who is also president of Tiffany Club. Others surrounded the dance floor, possibly scared to join the fun. Even more sat around the numerous tables and chatted. Some stood near the bar flirting with the men.

Lots of effort obviously goes into planning outfits for big events like these and everyone looked great. Twenty lucky souls looked even better after getting Glamour Boutique makeovers, which John had running most of the day, both at his Auburn store and at the party, held at the Indian Meadows Country Club, well off the main road in Westborough, shielded from public view.

First runner-up — Tina

John’s parties usually include a voluntary “beauty” contest where attendees can vote for the girls choosing to compete. This time it was for “Miss Summer Sizzler.” Voting criteria are necessarily pretty vague and the contest often seems more about lobbying and popularity than looks. This is probably just as well given the egos many of us have invested in our appearance. There was even some out-and-out vote buying, with one contestant offering me a little vial of perfume, “good stuff” she said. Miss Cha Cha won the title of Miss Summer Sizzler 2013. Tina took first runner up, and Vanessa, that amazing first timer, second runner up. Vanessa may be learning about her award here for the first time as apparently she had a curfew and went home early. She was missing when the awards were announced.

A word about our host for the evening: John Warrener is an icon in the transgender world. In 1995 he founded Glamour Boutique as an Internet mail order business supplying breast forms, corsets, clothing and accessories nationwide. Many of us purchased our first “girl things” from John. When the business outgrew his home, he opened a Glamour Boutique store near the Mass Pike, 850 Southbridge Street, Auburn, and eventually a couple of others out west too. Five years ago, John sold the online business, which is now run out of New Jersey. But he kept the Auburn store and has started a second online site which competes with his old website now that the two businesses are fully separate. By the way, John is the best source of inexpensive jewelry I’ve found, with a big selection of clip-on earrings and some hoop bracelets that fit over your hands! John often appears at his parties as Chrissy, but not this summer. Who has time to dress when business is booming?

So how did the evening end? Thankfully we are on daylight savings time as the bewitching hour did not come until 1 a.m. True to form, many of us ‘Cinderellas’ then headed home to our drab lives enriched by the experience of the evening. Some of the new princesses nabbed themselves a Prince Charming and headed to one of the nearby motels, wisely avoiding being caught behind the wheel of a pumpkin with too many drinks in their system. At least that is what I figure they must have been doing. Luckily yours truly avoided that need and was able to get home for some sleep. After all, I had a scullery to clean the next day.

(This article was acquired for TGF by Linda Jensen who also did some editing on the piece.)