By “Sun” Dee
Last Sunday I wrote about attending a U2 concert dressed, something I thought I would never do. Recently I rocked out again, for a New Pornographers concert in Melbourne. A good concert, albeit a much smaller venue and about 15,000 fewer attendees.
I had two challenges.
The first was relatively easy. I knew a half-dozen of the group’s songs, but I wanted to learn more of the likely concert songs. I did the modern thing: I Googled their recent concert set lists, downloaded the most frequent songs from Spotify to my phone, then binge listened to the songs for several days leading to the concert.
The second challenge was a bit more daunting; how to go dressed without my wife knowing. Leave our apartment in boy mode, find somewhere to change and do makeup, attend the concert, then change back. As I was taking the train, changing in our car wasn’t an option.
A quick call to my favourite Dangerfield store and I had a place to change; SA Amelia, who I had met before, said sure. I eventually figured out a way to carry my girl stuff (clothes, makeup, shoes, purse, wig, etc) in a string backpack.
The concert was Thursday, but on Wednesday I realized my wife was doing something with a friend, so I could have two days out back to back. I packed my girl stuff, and headed on the train to Dangerfield.
I walked in and saw Delyse, who had seen both the boy and girl me, and she was happy to see me. I went to the desk to say hi to Amelia, and she didn’t recognize the boy me. She apologized; I said, no that’s good, because we always worry that people will recognize us when we’re out dressed (FWIW, I’ve gotten the same reactions before from others).
I jumped into a change room, did my makeup, put on a Princess Highway dress (the llama dress) that Delyse had helped me buy last year, and pulled lots of things to try on. Try something on, emerge from the change room, gather opinions from Amelia or Delyse; lather, rinse, repeat.
As usual, I got the royal treatment, tried on lots of fun stuff, and bought a sweater. I also had a dress I really liked but I deferred making a decision until Thursday to let another SA, Lily, give her opinions. I changed back to my boy clothes and took the train home.
Thursday, concert day, arrives and my wife decides to go out of town to visit my niece and her family, so I could dress at home. I just needed to carry my boy clothes in the string backpack this time, to change back post concert.
Take the train dressed to Dangerfield (no issues). The only kicker is I need to wear my running shoes to and from the store, because it was too far to walk in heels (I carried the heels). Fortunately, I’ve seen lots of women wearing running shoes carrying bags with their formal shoes, so I just went with it. It is the first time I’ve worn running shoes with nylons (even though it’s technically summer here, it was in the 60’s, cool enough for hose).
More trying on. Lily, another favourite SA, is working. Get her opinions on what looks good. We (Delyse, Lily, Amelia, and I) all decide the blue dress is the one to get. I have two other summer dresses and a pantsuit that I really like, but I put the decision on these on the back burner. That gives me an excuse to visit again, which they encouraged me to do. I promised my angels a return visit before I jet back to the US.
I changed into my green dress (running shoes instead of heels), ate dinner at a Chipotle style Mexican restaurant, and went to the concert. After the concert, I found a separate handicapped women’s restroom with a lock, and changed into boy mode. Arriving back at our apartment my wife was in bed (but not asleep), so I was able to get my backpack (and new purchases) in the apartment without raising suspicion.
Two fun days, well worth the degree of difficulty to execute.
