the third sex

I keep in my apartment a supply of schoolgirl white socks. My maid buys them and I put them away with the other props until such a time as a young ladyboy who would look good as a schoolgirl arrives for a shoot. There is something transforming about white socks. As long as a model is small and fine-boned, the socks will enhance her appearance. I think it adds to the sense of vulnerability. A model dressed only in white socks, and nothing else, is a tremendous turn-on.

Finding very young looking ladyboys who would look good in one of the schoolgirl uniforms I have is something of an obsession. There are plenty of them out there, of course. And many of them really are still at school, or at college. Some arrive wearing their own uniform, although if I photograph them I have to be careful about badges and buttons, so I prefer using what I have in store.

College uniforms in Thailand tend to be standard: a black skirt with a white blouse. But the high schools use a variety of standard patterns, with only the private schools having their own-design uniforms. So the tartan skirts and ties and the blue-and-white uniforms you see on some models on the site are authentic enough, purchased by my ever-loyal maid from a standard high-street supplier.

In fact, the real uniforms are far more exciting than the creations you find in the sex shops in London. I have gone looking for uniforms at outlets such as the Ann Summers store in Oxford Street, and not only are the prices sky-high, the selection is poor and the designs depressingly bad. Click onto any of the sex shop websites and you will see what I mean. So I stick with the real thing.

This business about dressing ladyboys for a shoot is an interesting one. In recent months I have tended to stay with the street clothes the model was wearing when she arrived. This, in the main, is because they have been wearing visually pleasing gear. There was a time a while back when everyone – EVERYONE – turned up in denim jeans or a denim skirt. That became very tedious. But denim seems now to have gone out of fashion, I’m happy to say.

So nowadays I await the arrival of a new model with some anticipation. I have already briefed my scout to tell her to wear something she likes, and although some turn up looking a bit frumpy, others display a real dress sense. In Bangkok you can buy very fashionable clothing at the markets for dirt-cheap prices. The textiles are normally pretty good, either local or from China, and the mass fashion business is a large and creative one. In fact, many ladyboys find employment in that business, as designers or vendors.

But, as I say, it is white socks that do it. So simple, so transforming.