Farewell Soho! Part 1

It's official! I am no longer a Soho Queen!

(Note: this turned into a very long post and I started writing it in early July. I decided to split it up for ease of reading. Part 2 coming very soon, on this page!)

Yesterday was my last day in my little Soho Palace, all my furniture and possessions left in a van last night. Today I spent a few hours cleaning and putting out the rubbish, and then locked the door for the last time!
I should perhaps explain why I've decided to write a blog post about this! I have lived in Soho for quite a substantial time, almost 8 years. After being a Stokey "Girl" for a while I moved in with my boyfriend in Soho in 2003, and we lived together for over 5 years. On top of that I have always worked in Soho, since coming to London in 2000, and have taken a keen interest in the local life, culture and gay scene, working closely with charity organisations based in Soho.

After almost 6 years my boyfriend and I broke up. For a while I thought that this was my natural cue to leave London, and I even did, for 2 months. I went abroad, the aim was to start a new life, but no matter how I looked at it I felt like I had left my heart and soul in London, in Soho! So I came back, I found a flat in Soho and got on with it!

This is when I "found myself" so to speak. I had friends, sure, but they were mostly part of my ex's group, and I felt the need to go out and make my own social circuit so to speak! So, I bought some supplies, made an outfit, and ventured to Trannyshack! Having heard and read about the club, and having done drag in the past (link) it was something I was keen on doing again and getting back into.
Going alone to a place like this can be daunting, and I was a little tense as I walked in, but the crowd were very welcoming and I had a blast! The first time there, and I met some very interesting people and formed some great connections, and I wanted more!

My sewing machine became busier than ever, knocking up little numbers as often as I had time to sit down! Next, I went to an event at G-A-Y at Astoria, and bumped into my old friend Cookie Monstar, who at the time didn't know I had gotten into doing drag! Cookie and I go way back, but she had spent some time away from London so we had lost touch. Now back together we started hanging out a lot, and as Cookie is a brilliant and very busy performer I started coming to most of her shows. She did a regular Sunday spot at Molly Moggs in Soho, hosted by the magnificent Dame Julie Paid, and after a while the three of us got together and created the West End Girls. For our first production we took on a mini version of Priscilla the musical, a 45minute extravaganza with more than 10 costume changes, complete with a 10foot glittery stiletto! We performed our show at various locations around Soho with great success.


Click image to watch video on YouTube!

By this time, I had moved into my new flat, literally on the doorstep of Trannyshack! I set up my sewing machine and got busy, making costumes for the shows. My little one bed soon became more reminiscent of the wardrobe department of a theatre, with dresses, boas, wigs, handbags and shoes!

(To be continued!)

Kylie on a cupcake!

There's a place where you can get a little piece of heaven... with Kylie on top!



Cox Cookies & Cake (yes that is their name) had a special on Kylie cupcakes this weekend, in honour of the pint sized pop princess' shows at the O2 arena (last show tonight by the way!

The only bakery I've ever heard of opened by a shoe designer, Patrick Cox, had sparkling cupcakes adorned with images of Kylie, as well as some topped with glittering pink "K"s, and the shop playing only Kylie tracks.



Attention to detail is key, and the staff wear studded black leather aprons and black jeans, and the walls and floors are glossy black, shelves trimmed in bright neon strips! This is not your typical bakery, but more like a cake covered disco! Lush!

Should you find yourselves in Soho, make your way to Brewer street to sample the delights! Should the Kylie promotion be over, worry not, as their regular range is deliciously naughty, featuring black and red skulls made from icing, fizz whizz cola cakes and bling cakes with sugar diamonds. There is also an XXX rated range with boobs and bodies and biceps!

Cakes have never been naughtierwww.coxcookiesandcake.com

Two Queens, a biker jacket and a pair of peep toe stilettoes.

This is a true story, whether or not you choose to believe it, however, I am not saying that this is the actual reason for the outcome described at the end... (No peeping! Sorry, bad joke!)

Some time late last summer, or was it fall, I went out with some friends on a friday evening to go to a club we all like to hang out at, for no other reason than it being local to all of us. It was a slightly nippy evening, and I had decided to wear my vintage black biker leather jacket, you know, the type James Dean was often pictured in, with red satin lining and silver metal zips on every pocket and down the front.

The zip pull had long broken off, and I had replaced it with a charm from a broken necklace, a small skull charm, fitting the Biker Rock Chic look. Anyway, as you can imagine, the temperature is slightly different in a busy-ish club, and I soon got too hot to wear my jacket. And so it was that I took it off and here is where the story starts.

There was a small seating area next to where we were standing so I left my jacket there, thinking it would be safe as there were only us and another group of people standing here. We were chatting and having a few drinks, dancing on the spot and generally having a good time, when my friend says:

"Isn't that guy wearing your jacket?"

I looked behind me, and lo and behold, one of the guys from the group next to us is most certainly wearing my Biker Rock Chic pride, all while doing a camp little shimmy! I stared in disbelief, and I guess it was noticeable as one of his friends pointed at me as if to say "You've been busted!"

The guy turns around, looks at me and says, stupidly:

"Oh, is this your biker jacket? Hmm... not very trendy is it?"

I stared incredulously and replied:

"Indeed it is mine, and I suggest you wear it no more!"

To which he replies, by means of turning to his friend:

"It isn't trendy though, but maybe you could make it trendy! How about sending THIS down the runway next season? Hahaha!"


That's when I realised that one of his friends was Alexander McQueen... Now, I have seen him around in London before, but he's not really that noticeable and I don't mean that nastily, he just isn't.. so I hadn't noticed! Well, needless to say I got my James Dean garment back and refrained from further comments and unnecessary bitchiness and left them to drunkenly design the next McQueen collection based on borrowed items from nightclub punters..

Fastforward to last week, my friend Louise had bought her weekly Grazia and we were looking through it to see what celeb has done what to whom, when I came over this picture:


ALEXANDER MCQUEEN Skull zip front ankle boots £595.

All I can say is I am now waiting for the Forgotten Umbrella dress in the spring/summer 2010 collection, as I can't find my umbrella...