Chapter 6

Saturday morning Helen and Roberta looked after the shop while I welcomed our first customer to the new ‘Rebirthing Boutique’ as I was thinking of it. I took him through to the special changing area and got him to strip so I could do a full measurement, all the while chatting about what he was looking for and the look he wanted.

I had bought a pack of exercise books and wrote his femme name on the cover and listed all of the measurements on the first page. On the next page I sketched what I thought he wanted and he agreed that it fitted his imagined image.

I asked him if he had a corset or waist pincher and he said no so I asked if he wanted to try one when he came back and quoted him a cost. He agreed and we discussed what size we could get his waist down to. He agreed to come back the following Saturday morning and we went to the drapers to pick the material.

Over the course of the day I looked after the next three men in the same way. Monday morning I started cutting the four dresses and by Thursday I had them made up and hanging on a rack in the sewing room.

Our Monday and Tuesday visitors now had the fabric ready for me to start on their own dresses and I had been on to a supplier of corsets and waist controllers and ordered in a parcel of black and red ones.

They also sent me a catalogue of other ‘Trans’ products that they could supply. We could make quite a good profit if we sold these and it would allow our special customers to buy locally rather than having to go to London.

As they came back we got them dressed and Viva lent us Collette a half an hour for each make-up (as long as we paid her the same rate that she would have got). If they needed her we would have to do that part ourselves but, luckily, Roberta was pretty good.

As each one saw how good they looked I passed them over to Helen and Roberta to browse the stock and it was a real change for them to look at the dresses and skirts as a woman and able to feel the fabric, see how it looked on them and how they fitted with their new shape.

Helen was over the moon as most of them bought the dress we had made and usually took the waist controller as well as buying other items. It was turning out to be very lucrative.

I wondered that we would run out of this type of customer in a few weeks but, by the time I was ready to start my course, they were still coming in, even if at a, thankfully, slower rate. Now they were happy to be seen in our store they were coming back and buying off the rack, knowing that we could make alterations if needed.

By the end of August we had a steady group of about twenty to twenty five regulars and I knew that when some met another man in the store they became friends. They were becoming our friends as well.

On a few occasions Collette, Roberta and I had been asked to accompany small groups to a show as a girls’ night out and we all had a great time, sometimes getting hit on by groups of boys.

Collette and I had also been out with Jim and Tony a few times but it had not gone as far as bed again. I had, however, asked Jim to look out for a good car for us.

I now had my course timetable and it allowed me time at the shop to work with the special customers. We now had a good range of additional items they could buy, from stockings, corsets, padded bras and padded panties to a small range of make-up suitable for rougher skin.

Our front window now had a large picture of our wedding ladies with a banner saying ‘Belfry Boutique Belles’ and a smaller one of six of our special customers taken at one of our girls night out with ‘All these dresses made to order – enquire within’. I sometimes wondered which of the two groups were more pretty as our specials really did their best to look good.

The following week Jim called to say that a low mileage Audi had come into the showroom which had been traded on a newish BMW. I asked him if he could bring it around one evening so we could look at it. When he did my mother fell in love with it immediately and he left with the Cruiser so that his boss could put some numbers together.

He rang me the following day and gave me the bottom line which I thought was pretty reasonable. We discussed it as a family matter that evening and next day I rang him at work to tell him we would do the deal.

That evening he brought the Cruiser back so we could clean out our personal bits and pieces and to sign the paperwork. When he left with it we were now the owners of a lovely red Audi 80 Avant 2.6 litre.

Of course he wanted some reward for all his hard work and I spent the following weekend with him in a hotel in Bournemouth. It was fun, of sorts, but what he didn’t twig that his sudden onset of erectile dysfunction was down to me. Still, he was able to pleasure me with his tongue so considered that he was rewarded.

The shop was going strong and we had a steady stream of customers for special work. My main part of it now was to gauge the desires of our clients and do a sketch. Roberta was getting good at it as well but was not so hot on the drawing.

I would get her to imagine the outfit that the customer had imagined and draw it up myself if I had not been around for the initial contact. As I had started my course work we needed to employ a professional seamstress and we got an older woman called Kayla to work three days a week which kept us up to date with the orders.

Sunday I worked on projects for the college and went into the city Monday for a couple of tutorials. I was finding it much easier than some of the others in my group as I could see what the tutors wanted done as they were describing it and was getting very good marks for my projects.

I was very busy with my studies. One of the lecturers had taken me under her wing due to my advanced dressmaking skills and had given me the project of producing twenty outfits to be worn by my fellow students at an end-of-year fashion parade at the college. It would be judged as my term examination.

I was already well into the process and had spoken to the ten girls who would be the models and taken measurements. I had divined what they would like to wear and I knew that if a girl is wearing something they like, it will look much better on them. I also had promised that they could keep the outfits as the material was all supplied by the college.

As we got closer to Christmas we got very busy. We had advertised an evening dinner-dance for our customers and had booked a local hotel for the event.

I had to pitch in to help in the shop and also had the fashion parade to finalise. Luckily, one of the other students had musical experience and helped me put together the show. She suggested that, as we only had the twenty outfits to model, we needed something to fill some time in the middle so everyone could take their time changing.

I didn’t need to think twice before I suggested a mind-reading and magic act. The fashion show was on the first Wednesday of the month and I took the train into London. My lecturer, Judith Jericho, had gone all out to promote the event and had told me that we would be in one of the main lecture theatres that seated about a hundred.

We had a microphone set up on the edge of the lecture area and, at 11.30, Judith went to it and started the proceedings by welcoming the full house and explaining that the fashion show they would see was my term final and that I was a first term student.

She told them that every girl that walked out was dressed by me, even herself, as she stood resplendent in a creation that I had crafted for her. She told them that every woman felt good when they know they look good and announced that the show was just beginning.

My student pal started the tape and the first girl sashayed onto the platform. We had arranged it so that she would walk up and back, and when she walked up again she would move to the back of the area while the second girl came on. Of course, all the girls hammed it up and flirted outrageously with the audience, who lapped it up, seeing that most were fellow students. There was a bit of whistling but a lot of good humour.

Judith read from a prepared sheet until we had the first five lined up across the platform. They then walked off and the next five did their strut. I had made the first batch of dresses as afternoon to party wear and I must say they all looked good.

When the second five walked off Judith introduced me onto the stage. I had made myself an absolutely stunning evening gown and got a round of applause as I made my entrance.

I waved for quiet and told them that they were in for something different for ten minutes and then I performed a mix of mind-reading with conjuring. I picked out a few of the rowdier students to do the mind-reading with and their divinations brought some blushes from the subject with howls of laughter from the rest.

All too soon it was time for part two and I departed the platform to a huge round of applause. Then Judith took her place at the microphone again and took our audience through the next ten outfits.

This time all the girls were in evening dresses that they wore with great delight. All stayed on the platform when they finished the walk and, as the last one took her place, Judith introduced me again and I walked myself up and back to applause.

She picked out some of the others for their input as one girl had made all of our hats and another couple had contributed all of the jewellery. While I was standing there I looked out at the audience and suddenly realised that most of the staff from my areas of study were there and they all looked as if they had seen something they liked but there were a few that oddly looked a bit dour, with auras to match.

Judith told us all that lunch was on her and not to change as we would be gracing the staff dining room as she knew that several of the other staff would want to speak to us. The meal was a happy affair and I could see that there had been a certain change in status. Not only for me, and my fellow students, but also for our lecturer.

I was sitting next to her after yet another staff member came over to congratulate us all on the show and I mentioned to her that she seemed to have gained something this morning.

“Amity, I have been put down by some of the others since I started here. They didn’t like the fact that I come from a poor part of the country and had earned my place through sheer hard work, rather than coming from a great fashion house. They have just been subjected to a display of sheer magnificence from more than one of my students today and I am getting some of the reflected kudos. At the end of the show I could see some of the other lecturers looking miffed and you should not be surprised if you get offers to shift courses next term. I can’t stop you if you do go but I would be very happy if you stay with my classes.”

I told her that wild horses would not drag me away and she smiled.

After lunch we all went to change and I hugged all of my fellow students and thanked them for their help. The three that had contributed the hats and jewellery both thanked me as they had heard at lunch that their term results would be boosted by today.

They all thanked me for the outfits which were now safe in garment bags to take home. Back at Redhill I went to the shop before I went home.

In the shop I arranged my dress on a shop dummy and Helen had a sign which read ‘Want something really special for Christmas or New Year parties? Orders taken but numbers strictly limited.’

As I had finished college for the year, just needing to go in to get my results and course details for the January term, I would be available to make up any special orders. At the price we were charging it was thought we would only get three or four orders but had to close the order book before the end of the week with a dozen dresses ordered. This meant that we had just on two weeks to make them.

In the meantime, we had our evening with our customers to see to. It was a good evening, a great meal followed by dancing. On our table we had Helen and her husband, Roberta, Collette and Kayla, our part-time dressmaker; as well as Suzette and my mother.

There was a newspaper reporter and photographer invited and they had been told that it was to be expected that all of the ladies had been dressed by the shop. The turn-out was, to my eye, glittering and our ‘special’ customers did not look out of place at all. Some had their wives with them and most had bought from us during the year.

We had no speeches or other entertainment organised so it took me by surprise when the partner of one of our ‘specials’ stood up and tapped a glass for silence.

As the group quietened he said “Ladies and gentlemen, I am here tonight because of Helen and her shop. If it wasn’t for them I would never have met the true love of my life. It was their skill and expertise that allowed this magnificent woman beside me to burst forth from her camouflage and grace my days. I propose a toast to Helen and her great staff and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

When everyone stood up and raised their glasses to us we all blushed. Helen stood after that and thanked the guests for their custom and wished them all the compliments of the season.

The last couple of weeks up to Christmas became truly hectic with the special orders and a lot of sales from our more up-market range. I needed to go into the college to get my results for the term and was pleasantly surprised at how well I had done.

In my cubbyhole there were several envelopes which I put in my bag to read on the train home. One was a Christmas card from Judith and three were from other staff members offering to ‘fast-track’ my career if I moved to their classes.

A couple were from fellow students which I put aside to answer. The last was out of the blue, though, it was an invitation to see the owner of a fashion house in the city in the New Year, with a contact number to ring. It looked as if 1993 was going to be an interesting time.

On our last trading day we had a big party for the shoppers. It was drinks and nibbles all day and the management had put up a stage so that community groups could put on shows. They were interspersed with some carol singers to have an almost continuous performance going.

Unlike the supermarket and gift stores we only had a few last minute customers in the shop and spent much of our time having a good time. We were all in our best outfits and we had taken Helen over to see the girls at Viva where they worked their own magic on her as a gift for sending so many, well paying, customers to them.

It was a bit of a surprise when the Centre Manager came in and thanked us personally for our input into the success of the shops in the second half of the year. It seemed that most shops had shown an improvement of their turn-over since we moved into the bigger premises.

She pointed to the newspaper article and photos from the Saturday evening and said that it was this sort of thing that brought customers into the Centre, even if they were not here to buy a dress.

Christmas Eve the whole Group met at our church to exchange cards and little gifts and sing carols. It was my first Christmas as Amity and I really felt special. My schooling was doing well, the designing was helping out at the shop and the only thing that I now missed out on was someone to kiss under the mistletoe. Collette and I had been invited to a New Year party so there may well be a chance for me then.

The New Year party was at one of the local pubs and was a very boisterous affair. Most of the revellers were old school chums, my problem being that when I went to school with them I was a boy.

I did score a number of kisses under the mistletoe and a couple were very nice indeed. Actually, the best one was the previous captain of the hockey team and she even squeezed my breast.

We opened the shop on the first Monday after the New Year and there were a few canny women wanting to exchange their Christmas dresses or even getting a refund. We exchanged the best looked after ones for eighty percent of the purchase price and there was a bit of grumbling but mostly everyone went away happy.

Of those that were not able to be exchanged we pointed out the various tears and stains that proved that they had been worn. We offered these women a voucher for a twenty percent discount on their next purchase. None of our ‘special’ customers returned anything.

The New Year meant a new term for me and I went in and spoke to Judith about classes. She wanted me to fast-track my courses as she thought that I had plenty of potential.

The term would finish in April and she wanted me to put on another fashion show, this time featuring dresses inspired by Princess Dianna, who had just let it slip that she wanted to divorce the Prince.

I, personally, thought that she had very little genuine fashion sense and was only made glamorous by the efforts of some good designers, although some things she wore made her look as if she should have been on the top of the Christmas tree.

However, the project gave me a chance to go full-out on glam. She had roped in my earlier colleagues and there would be a real push in jewellery and accessories as it would give them a chance to gain good marks as well.

My time shrunk a bit more in the third week of January. I walked into the shop on Saturday morning and Helen was there with a tall, good looking, guy with wonderful skin.

He looked a lot like one of our ‘special’ customers but was a whole level above most of these. He introduced himself as Hector Livingstone and told me that he was the leader of a drag troupe. He asked if I would be interested in designing their outfits for the coming summer season.

I took him through to our special room and he marvelled at what wonders we kept in stock, here in the back blocks of Surrey. I showed him some drawings of the more glam dresses we had made and on a hunch I showed him the photos of the second half of my fashion show.

I then told him that I was to make some more gowns for this term with Princess Di as the inspiration. He said that there were eight in the troupe and they all had their own ideas but he did want to do something about a similar look, whether it was colours or styles didn’t matter.

I asked him to think about what he wanted and to describe his own gown and I quickly got the gist of what was wanted and drew it for him.

When I showed him my drawing he sat there for a few moments and then said “This is marvellous, if you could get the others right we will order four identical dresses for each of my troupe. When can you start?”

I told him to slow down a bit and send in his other friends over the next couple of Saturdays and I will see what each one wanted before putting together a picture of the total package. As I showed him out, I pointed out the photo taken of our ‘special’ ladies that was in our window.

I asked him if he thought that any of these were men and he ended up pointing to a couple that he said looked a bit mannish about the face. I laughed and he was staggered when I told him that every woman in the picture was like him. He looked very closely and declared that whatever we did, we did it well.

Over the next couple of weeks we had his troupe through the shop and had drawn what they imagined they would look good in. A couple thought that they would look fantastic in sequined minis but we managed to show them something better that would also fit in with the others.

In that period I rang the number I had been given at the fashion house and was given an appointment time in the first week of February.

Marianne Gregory © 2022