I am not a fashionista. Hell, I'm not even a Maxxinista.
I'm just a rather androgynous dyke who prefers comfortable clothes and shoes.
But I know that there are people who are fascinated by fashion, so I shall share the following story.
Apparently Lifetime…and previously Bravo…have produced a show called Project Runway. Sorry, I never watched a single episode. In season 8 of Project Runway, openly gay Hawaiian Andy South made it to the final round, when he was defeated by Portlander Gretchen Jones.
Well, the news is that Andy South is no more.
In place of that person, we have Nong Ariyaphon Shouthipong. Nong began posting photos at her Facebook page this past March, sans announcement. Recently her sex was changed on the page from Male to Female.
Apparently, though, she actually told the world what was up in the February edition of Hawaii's eXpression! Magazine. It's just that most of the world failed to notice.
Nong Phon is just a part of who I am, a side of me some people are familiar with and others are not. She is not all there is to me, but a part of who I am as a whole.
People who are close to me know who I am and I have continued to receive support, especially from my mom who is still by my side every step of the way. She is my role model and I learned everything I know by observing her strength as a woman.
--Nong
Recently Nong Phon posted the following:
Much has changed in a year. And much has not. Love my cousin and sister. A year of intense growth shared.
It is not surprising that there is already speculation as to how much surgery ahe may have had.
Meanwhile, former America's Next Top Model contestant Isis King has landed a gig modeling a line of pro-gay message t-shirts for American Apparel. The line was produced on behalf of GLAAD, which received 15% of all Pride Month sales.
A fragment of the transgender community is vastly displeased with GLAAD for the portrayal of a transwoman, presumably heterosexual if she likes men, promoting gayness. But many of us reject the divisiveness of Ashley Love's MAGNET, which objects to a transwoman modeling clothes for sale to gay people, claiming that it erases her trans identity. I suppose then that they likewise object to her modeling clothes for non-transgender people…so actually they object to her working.