carefully measured where the holes should be and in a jiffy she had perforated the left ear lobe and a moment later also the right earlobe. Two small golden earrings were inserted in the holes. Not a drop of blood. There I was with golden rings in my pierced ears. It was lovely.

When my earlobes were healed two weeks later the new photos were made. This time proud as I was I posed with my earrings on in all

the photos.

―

One day the stocking photographer asked me if I was interested in a trip to Paris. Naturally I was highly interested. "But not as a tourist," he said, "but as a model!"

I stared at him.

"My colleagues at several of the big French fashion magazines not only use girls, but also men as models when showing women's clothes," he said.

I tried to swallow several times. He only knew me as his stocking model and had never seen any of the photos I had made for my mother and aunt. Maybe, however, he had seen the catalog, and recognized me. He now told me, that the fashion magazine “La Mode Moderne" often used men as models of womens' clothes. They needed such models very much. The small differences in the proportions of the male body from the female body were often an advantage when presenting the dresses etc. and some of the modern dresses and suits were absolutely better presented by men, who naturally were made up completely as girls. He told me that several of the professional female impersonators at the big cabarets and night clubs had extra jobs at French fashion magazines as girl models. He could guarantee that I would get a good job at once and they were well paid.

The photographer procured an invitation to me from the above men- tioned magazine in Paris. The magazine would pay the journey and the stay in Paris until the result of the photos tests could be seen and maybe a contract would be signed. It was a great decision for me to make and I had to talk everything over with my mother and aunt. Both of them thought, however, that I should go to Paris. Yes, my aunt was quite excited. It would be a wonderful time for me and it would be a great help for me too later in my work with fashion.

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