blktgirluveronly
11-18-2008, 10:50 AM
Just sharing an article in case someone's interested...(Source: NY Daily News)
High heels are pesky things. They get caught in sidewalk grates, come in styles high enough to cause the wearer nosebleeds and, truth be told, aren't terribly healthy for feet. Not everyone can walk in them, particularly men.
Which is why folks make their way to Mary Veronica, aka Miss Vera, head of Miss Vera's School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls. Over the last 12 years, Veronica estimated she has helped more than 5,000 people - most of them men - learn how to walk in heels.
She hasn't lost a client's ankle yet. "This school has been publicized all over the world," she said. "It was really an idea whose time had come." The Linden, N.J., native made her name writing for sex magazines and starring in adult movies - Veronica and longtime friends and adult stars Veronica Hart, Candida Royalle and Gloria Leonard remain close, chatting online daily. Like most businesspeople, she started the school to fill a need. A longtime friend who was leaving New York had a male client who wanted help learning how to dress like a woman. The client was a 38-year-old attorney, Veronica said.
She worked with the man for a weekend, then with another half-dozen of her friend's clients. The school really took off when she put an ad in a magazine that targeted people who enjoy cross-dressing. "The phone started to ring off the hook," she remembers. She chose the name because "every school has a Miss somebody," she said. Many women take the high-heel walking course, said Veronica, who teaches it at a dance studio in Chelsea.
"We have an excellent teacher - a championship ballroom dancer," she said. "But it takes practice." Other classes offered by the school are all taught by professionals, including makeup artists, an accredited voice teacher and photographer Mariette Pathy Allen, author of "The Gender Frontier." The male students - who come from as far away as Japan, New Zealand and parts of South America - aren't necessarily gay, she said. They - and there are many of them - simply enjoy dressing in women's clothing. "All of them want the same thing," she said. "They don't want to be parodies of women. They want to look good. What we want is not impossible."
Courses start at $550 and can run from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks. Men learn to walk and do their own makeup. Transgender dressing doesn't carry the stigma it once had; Veronica takes her charges out shopping and for a night on the town in full cross-dressing regalia. She's in negotiations with several producers to helm a reality show where men will be transformed into women on camera. A recent casting call still surprised her - while most of her clients are men in their 40s or older, more men in their late teens and early 20s showed up.
She's also looking for a larger space to accommodate the growing classes. "The school has helped the transgendered movement come out, but it was ready to come out," she said. "Now if you want to cross-dress, you can go to a convention every month of the year. You can join a support group or go to a GLBT center in your town." The next walking in heels classes will be held Dec. 3 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., and on Dec. 9 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuition is $49.
High heels are pesky things. They get caught in sidewalk grates, come in styles high enough to cause the wearer nosebleeds and, truth be told, aren't terribly healthy for feet. Not everyone can walk in them, particularly men.
Which is why folks make their way to Mary Veronica, aka Miss Vera, head of Miss Vera's School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls. Over the last 12 years, Veronica estimated she has helped more than 5,000 people - most of them men - learn how to walk in heels.
She hasn't lost a client's ankle yet. "This school has been publicized all over the world," she said. "It was really an idea whose time had come." The Linden, N.J., native made her name writing for sex magazines and starring in adult movies - Veronica and longtime friends and adult stars Veronica Hart, Candida Royalle and Gloria Leonard remain close, chatting online daily. Like most businesspeople, she started the school to fill a need. A longtime friend who was leaving New York had a male client who wanted help learning how to dress like a woman. The client was a 38-year-old attorney, Veronica said.
She worked with the man for a weekend, then with another half-dozen of her friend's clients. The school really took off when she put an ad in a magazine that targeted people who enjoy cross-dressing. "The phone started to ring off the hook," she remembers. She chose the name because "every school has a Miss somebody," she said. Many women take the high-heel walking course, said Veronica, who teaches it at a dance studio in Chelsea.
"We have an excellent teacher - a championship ballroom dancer," she said. "But it takes practice." Other classes offered by the school are all taught by professionals, including makeup artists, an accredited voice teacher and photographer Mariette Pathy Allen, author of "The Gender Frontier." The male students - who come from as far away as Japan, New Zealand and parts of South America - aren't necessarily gay, she said. They - and there are many of them - simply enjoy dressing in women's clothing. "All of them want the same thing," she said. "They don't want to be parodies of women. They want to look good. What we want is not impossible."
Courses start at $550 and can run from a couple of hours to a couple of weeks. Men learn to walk and do their own makeup. Transgender dressing doesn't carry the stigma it once had; Veronica takes her charges out shopping and for a night on the town in full cross-dressing regalia. She's in negotiations with several producers to helm a reality show where men will be transformed into women on camera. A recent casting call still surprised her - while most of her clients are men in their 40s or older, more men in their late teens and early 20s showed up.
She's also looking for a larger space to accommodate the growing classes. "The school has helped the transgendered movement come out, but it was ready to come out," she said. "Now if you want to cross-dress, you can go to a convention every month of the year. You can join a support group or go to a GLBT center in your town." The next walking in heels classes will be held Dec. 3 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., and on Dec. 9 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuition is $49.