We crossdressers are a creative bunch. With a little paint, some strategically shaped padding and no little imagination we can create a feminine exterior to match our interior being. Admit it now, when your are dressed from head to toe and there is no one else in the house haven't you ever stood in front of the mirror and sung some pop hit by your favorite female singer and thrilled to the applause from the looking glass? Maybe you've even succumbed to temptation, donned fishnet stockings and something daring, propped up the camera on the dresser, set the timer and taken pictures that were a bit provocative. If you are on line I know darn well you have checked out the pictures at alt.trans. These days a crossdresser can create a convincing appearance; heck, some of us can even do so outside the protection of our living rooms.

But in all my years I can't recall seeing a crossdresser wearing a spaghetti strap top, at least not one who hasn't had breast enhancement surgery. I love those tops, they were popular in my youth where the braless look was celebrated with gusto. As a budding feminist I worked very hard not to drool like a maniac as I surreptitiously watched breasts swaying under the thin cloth. What could be more feminine than a low cut top with those slim cords holding it on the shoulders? Herein lies the problem, when I wear something low cut my cleavage displays an unacceptable expanse of silicone from my breast inserts. To make matters worse just how is a crossdresser as big as I am to go without a bra? The glue simply won't hold those babies on my chest. It seemed to be an insurmountable problem.

That is until I attended an outdoor festival on a sunny spring day. Either the young women of today are more conservative than my contemporaries or the Fashion Gods have intervened. There were plenty of tank tops, spaghetti straps and cleavage in view, but darned if every one of those girls wasn't wearing a bra.

Having grown up with a prudish mother with firm opinions about clothing, the idea of letting your bra straps be visible would have made her blanch. I'm afraid that I have inherited her sensibilities for it shocked me to see all that exposed foundation garment. I guess I'm not the liberated crossdresser I thought I was. There is no way to conceal a bra with these garments, they simply can't hide a bra strap. Well, the proclamations of he Fashion gods are many and weird, it is not my place to question.

If a boyfriend was present there was the frequent and surreptitious struggle to align the straps without him noticing. It soon became a game to see what color bra a girl was wearing and see if it matched her top. This is not the only bit of color matching ordained by the Fashion Gods this season. A rather large percentage of these girls had flamboyant tattoos on their backs, and as most of these tops were cut low in the back as well I could color match the bra band to the tattoo. Sometimes it boggles my mind to realize how little it takes to amuse me.

All of this is great news to crossdressers. We are no longer limited by the braless look, at least for this season. The popularity of tattoos is an even greater boon. Even a recovering Hell's Angel in a skirt wouldn't seem out of place in the variegated artwork I saw. Besides, everybody will be looking at your illustrations and not at your face, so you can stop worrying if your makeup has run and the beard is showing through. If someone asks about the blue shadow just tell them it's the latest fashion in tattoos.