the third sex

The ladyboy who had just arrived for a photoshoot looked fine to me, except for what she was wearing. She was dressed as the Sugar Plum Fairy. And it was only lunchtime.

I looked at the totally unselfconscious figure standing in front of me. Butterfly-style hairband, sparkly blouse, and a filmy white ballerina skirt. She had travelled on the bus dressed like this, all the way from one of the suburbs to my place.

This was far from being an isolated incident. I had one model turn up at lunchtime dressed in a gold lame dress and fishnet stockings. Another with a short dress made from gauze and with her bra-less tits hanging out. Another in hot pants so small that her bottom cheeks were visible. One in a pink pyjama suit. One in a cocktail dress with sequins and wearing six-inch heels. I could go on.

Why is it that ladyboys spend so much time and effort into making their faces and bodies look so beautiful, and then trash it all by dressing like something out of a pantomime? And aren’t they aware that, while at nighttime maybe this doesn’t look too grotesque, early on a hot Bangkok afternoon, in the merciless glare of the sun, they absolutely do not look sexy.

Ladyboys don’t seem to have an off-switch when it comes to going over the top. Some of them deliberately want to shock, some are pushing the limits of their own creative impulses, some are using it as a kind of body-shield and hiding their own insecurities in plain sight. Others, however, simply don’t have the faintest idea about female fashion or decorum.

This, I would think, is what happens when a young ladyboy from the provinces arrives in Bangkok and suddenly finds an endless supply of inexpensive clothing available at markets, boutiques and department stores. You would look hard to find anywhere else in Asia that is quite so productive, and quite so cheap, in terms of the local garments industry.

Thailand is in fact famous for its fashion and garments shopping – go to Pratunam, which is the centre of the rag trade, and wander around its huge market and its malls, and you will be overwhelmed by the sheer quantity. The same applies to smaller markets such as Klong San and Huay Kwang. The output, and the demand, are phenomenal. Place a ladyboy amongst all this, and perhaps it is not surprising that impulse purchases are made that maybe are regretted later: but with the budget blown, the clothes are worn regardless.

Anyway, I unpeeled my Sugar Plum Fairy. She had a neat little wand. In the end I was quite taken by her. But I did let her find her own way out of the building, without the polite accompaniment I usually offer my models.