OUT OF THE PAST

99

Reprints From Old Copies of "LONDON LIFE"

Dear Sir:

I have read with keen interest the letters you have published dealing with female impersonation, and as my husband has met with success himself in this direction, I thought your readers would wel- come a short account of some of his early experiences in skirts.

Shortly after the great war, my husband and I had our honeymoon in Germany, where we met some Germans with whom we had become very friendly during a period of internment there. We had a wonderful time visiting various shows and cabarettes and going to parties. For one of these parties, we had to go as members of the opposite sex,-i.e. my husband as a girl and myself as a man.

We had been told beforehand that there would be a prize for the couple achieving the most striking affect and our friends seemed keen to make us the winners. I didn't mind at all but my husband was not looking forward to the evening with much enthusiasm. Never- theless, he agreed to take part as everyone else would be doing the same thing.

It was evident that these Germans had had some experience of this type of party before, because they immediately fetched out a variety of female dresses, shoes, stockings, hats and wigs.

After much measuring and fitting, my husband, who is slightly built with smallish hands and feet, was rigged out. I insisted on his wearing a fairly tight corset, not merely to keep his long silk stockings taut, but also to give him some sort of a figure.

As undies, he had a white silk vest, pale green satin cami- nickers, pale green satin slip, and a padded brassiere to add to the general effect. His dress consisted of a shade darker green georgette frock, with close fitting corsage, not too low in front, but reach- ing to the middle of the back, with skirt flared at the hips and fin- ishing at the knee (Ultra short skirts were then the fashion). This of course gave him an opportunity to show his limbs to good effect, and this was in his favour, as he is by no means muscular in appear-

ance.

27.