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OPENING THE DOOR ON
I have spent the last four years of my life struggling to rehabilitate myself after an accident overseas nearly robbed me of my life. It left me with many injuries, of which Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has been the hardest to cope with and overcome. As a result of my accident I lost my home, business and financial independence, all of which took years to build up. People I considered friends dropped off one by one and I felt that my family just didn't understand. I became a victim of the abusive, insidious attitude and behaviour of the various systems that, through no fault of my own, had become a part of my new life. They added insult to injury by denying me the emotional and financial support I so desperately needed to assist my recovery. I spent the first ten months after my accident in a dowdy little room with bars on the windows within a community housing project. Whilst it provided me with the most basic of needs, it was in no way instrumental in my recovery. The only positive outcome of that particular experience was the learning I gained from associating with an area of the community I had never encountered before. I was the only female in the large housing project, sharing all amenities with the other male tenants. Fights, murder, suicide, drugs, alcohol and crime were rampant. It seemed everyone I connected with ended up dead, either by their own hand or someone else's. I spent most of that ten months closeted in my little "cell", living in fear and hopelessness. I was so desperately lonely and dispirited that I questioned the effort and strength it had taken me to survive my ordeal. Three years on I am proud to be able to say that I was back and better than ever! I grew from the experiences I endured. They gave me a strong sense of self, leading me on a path of personal growth that I might not have ventured upon without the accident and all its subsequent trials and tests of my personal character. I felt ready to think about my future and re-entry into the workforce. I wanted hands-on creative expression, so I took a part time job in female fashion, designing bridal wear, which helped me regain confidence in my own abilities. At the same time it provided me with access to real people. For the first time since my accident I felt like an active member of the community. I was contributing to my own income, which gave my self-esteem a well-deserved boost while satisfying my creativity. My goal was to be able to work from home where I could operate a "cottage industry", without the initial need for staff, while allowing me to indulge my own creative streak and at the same time give something back to the community. The "rag trade" has always been my career choice and main source of income, having spent over twenty years designing and creating women's clothing. I have found that, nine times out of ten, women expected me to have a magical ability to make garments that would make the mirror tell them they were a size or shape they physically weren't. This was neither the field nor the manner in which I wanted to work. I studied marketing to assist me in my search for a unique concept and an untapped market. I used children's fashion for one of my marketing assignments — my concept was all natural fibre, quality hand-knitted garments. I utilised a segment of our elderly population within the nursing home sector to knit the garments. I also did assignments analysing costume hire, clothing for amputees and people with disabilities, theatrical costumes and stage design. They all had potential but didn't excite me. I knew from my marketing course that enthusiasm was a huge factor in achieving success. Then, as fate would have it, I went to the Hero Parade, and a seed of an idea was planted, though I didn't realise it at the time. I had bravely decided, rather late in the day, to venture out on my own and, armed with my street map, I took the plunge and headed towards Ponsonby. I was overwhelmed by the variety and mass of people as my vision of a close car park receded rather quickly. I needed a positive omen to help me overcome the intimidating feeling I had, and still get when I venture out alone. I found it in the form of a car park just off Newton Road. I walked along Ponsonby Road feeling very proud of myself for simply being there when it was so much easier to just stay home alone. I had this strange sense of excitement, a feeling that something positive was going to happen. The diversity of people, the colours, the costumes (or the lack of them — those people must've been cold!) made for a fashion extravaganza. I was awestruck by the sheer joy and energy that exuded from the participants who were playing their parts to their full capacity. I loved it! I loved them for their ability to be so outrageously flamboyant and proud, so very, very proud of themselves, their outfits and their parade. I wanted to belong. I wanted to be a part of "them", not a spectator alone. My designer's eye took in the style and cut of the outfits I knew people had struggled to create. I wanted to be a part of their creation, lending my confidence, talent and ability learnt from years of experience in design and garment construction. I ached to belong, and that night I decided, while basking in the vibrant energies of the participants, that I was going to be a part of next year's Hero Parade. It started me thinking again. Although I still hadn't achieved the unique marketing concept I was after, a lot of things began occurring in my life that seemed to be leading me towards a decision. Like my introduction to the Tarot which I consulted for direction, and the androgynous/ hermaphrodite Pages and Princesses (which are people of both gender) who kept appearing in readings. As I hand-finished some garments I was working on, I caught an episode of Sally-Jesse Raphael who was interviewing an androgynous person Whilst ironing I saw Oprah Winfrey's show on cross-dressing. A colleague of mine told me of her sister-in-law in London who had a business providing outfits for cross-dressers and transvestites. And I saw a programme about a cross-dressing convention being held in Wellington over Queens Birthday Weekend. I still felt a passionate energy for the Hero Parade and knew it was an area I must explore. And then it dawned on me: SPECIALISE IN CROSS DRESSING! It was the perfect area for me to move towards and the ideas began to flow into my mind at an incredible rate. I started doing my homework and when I couldn't find anyone on the internet who specialised exclusively in this area, I began to plan my marketing concept and strategies with intense excitement and enthusiasm. .
Email: vickisaun@xtra.co.nz Mobile 021-252 9965 (+64-21-252 9965 outside NZ)
PO Box 74438
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