Daniella's Ramblings

On Friday 14 July Priscilla’s Services held a cheese and wine evening in conjunction with my friend Lesley from The OPC. The OPC is a vintage clothing and collectibles store very close to our home and Lesley is a very supportive person. After one of our clients from Priscilla’s Services suggested it, we chatted with Lesley and came up with the idea for the evening.

Lesley provided us with a lovely, private and friendly venue, The Boys catered with a selection of delicious pates, cheeses and bread. Of course there was wine too. And well we simply arrived. The idea for the evening was that it would give crossdressers and transgender people a safe place to be themselves in a social situation, interact with other people, possibly meet some new friends and of course try on some clothes, something that we do not often get a chance to do, all while snacking on some tasty tidbits.

In a show of amazing foresight, I visited The OPC on the Wednesday before the event and found a spectacular pearl necklace and bracelet set that I thought would go perfectly with the outfit I had planned. I bought it before anyone else could beat me to the punch! My good friend Anna from Anna’s Emporium had given me a pair of stockings to review a few weeks ago and this was to be their big night out (watch out for a review in the near future). I wore a green velveteen dress I had bought at Jet a few months ago and that I had not yet had a chance to wear and as it was a winter’s night I finished it all off with my black stiletto boots. Irene did my makeup and I think she outdid herself this time. As ever a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are five thousand words for you to be getting on with.

Please excuse the slutty flashing of the stocking top but I wanted to show my readers what the stockings look like when I write my review (spoiler alert, they are fabulous).

Keeping in the theme of the evening, Irene wore a vintage black dress and as always she looked spectacular.

We arrived at the venue a little early and everything was set up already. Lesley and Llewellyn from The Boys Catering had done a fine job. This is certainly the best way to entertain. It was lovely to meet Llewellyn and it was a pity that he had to leave early. Lesley had also invited a friend of hers Zoe and it was fantastic to meet such an open and interesting soul. After a short while our guests started arriving. Unfortunately two people who had wanted to come could not make it on the night, but this was offset by the unexpected arrival of someone who had not booked with us. The more the merrier! Everyone looked fabulous as always!

Twelve people arrived on the night, which was probably just about the right number. Lesley had made sure that we were private by blacking out the windows and we were warm and toasty as she had thoughtfully provided a gas heater as well.

Zoe was brilliant at finding just the right combinations of things that would look good on people and she supplements Lesley brilliantly in this regard. I enjoyed chatting to a number of our guests and it was nice to reacquaint ourselves with some old friends.

I believe everyone had a lovely time trying on clothes, finding rare ‘gems’ in the jewelry section and having the opportunity to shop in a semi-private situation was fantastic. I certainly had a great time.

A big thank you to Lesley for opening her shop and her heart to us and of course to Zoe and Llewellyn for their help and yummy food respectively.