Fabulous!

Last night was the Yes! I'm a Feminist party.  It exceeded our most hopeful expectations.  The event space was completely packed with people, all of whom seemed to be having a great time.  Quentin Baxter played, and he was phenomenal.  Gullah Cuisine and Sugar provided food, and we had enough alcohol there that every person could have taken a bottle of wine.  People were happily wearing their Yes! I'm a Feminist pins and shirts.  Quite the party, thanks to the Women's and Gender Studies Community Advisory Board and all the hosts who made it happen.

And now on to the truly important stuff (or, at least, the stuff I can talk about only here):  how I looked. I'm someone who hasn't worn make up since junior high.  I don't really ever do anything to my hair, other than tie it back in increasingly impatient styles that keep it out of my face as it gets dirtier and dirtier.  I'm not fashionable.  Drisana--a very generous make up artist who's also majoring in WGS--scheduled me for a hair style, and she did my make up for the party.  I also had a host of people assisting me with my clothing.  Making me fabulous was a group effort.

Here's me looking very much like my typical self:

This is a work outfit. Please notice the jeans (but also a button-up shirt!  Professional!).  It's the "before" shot.

Drisana and the stylist decided I needed a blow out.  This sounds like a huge event--"Omigod, it's going to be a blow out!"--but it means that someone is going to take a million years blowing dry your hair, while pulling it out with a brush.  Here's the blow out in progress:

The WGS Advisory Board members seemed to find my straight hair a little startling--they said they actually had a hard time finding me in the event space because they kept looking for my mass of curly hair.

Then Drisana did my make up.  She is talented--it was really interesting watching her work.  She never put just one color onto me--she'd squeeze something from one tube onto her hand, then squeeze something from another tube, and mix them together with a paintbrush before painting my lips or my eyes.  She had an enormous box full of powders, creams, tubes, brushes, sponges.  And she was quick!  Here's what I looked like--the after shot (with Drisana):

And here I am with the whole party outfit on:

Pretty fabulous, right?  I was also wearing two-inch heels, so I was impressively tall.  One of my former students said, "It's like Alison in drag!"  And that's truly what it felt like:  I felt like I was performing femininity in a very intentional way.  Like a stage act.

It was great fun, but it's not going to become a regular part of how I present myself to the world.