Fancy/cross dressing at Glastonbury, enlighten a foreigner

[moogster]

I was wondering: where does the British festival fancy dressing comes from? Why is it that popular for guys to cross dress, and I'm guessing most of them only do this at festivals. Or they should watch a bit more of Drag Race and learn. Is it like this at all fests or is it more a Glastonbury thing?

It's not something you really see at Euro festivals I think, or anyway it wasn't until recently.

Anyone care to enlighten me about this piece of British festival culture?

 

PS: I think it's great!

[balti-pie]

Its a classic british tradition thats been around for absolutely years -  rooted in vaudeville/end of the pier and pantomime dame entertainment, so thats from the 1800's onwards really. The comedy of men dressing up as women is such a long standing tradition that is both tacky and terrible, and all the better for it! It's such a peculiarly british trope. I love a bit of Ru Paul's drag race and to be honest i do think the british seasons have been the most entertaining - there's so much history of it in the UK, and the queens have been far more interesting and boundary pushing (and hilariously bitchy) than the slightly more professional and bland US competitions. That might be my inherent cultural bias coming to the fore, admittedly . . . 

In terms of at a festival, i think its just a microcosm of wider society. Cross dressing isnt particularly rare or taboo, so pulling it out at a festival is almost normal. And the bigger and hairier the man the better, for the juxtaposition of it all. Plus as festivals are getting hotter (the last three glastonburys ive been to can attest to that, 17/19/22 have all been pretty bloody warm at times) its quite nice to get a bit of air to parts of the body that dont typically get aired! 

[balti-pie]

Just now, balti-pie said:

Its a classic british tradition thats been around for absolutely years -  rooted in vaudeville/end of the pier and pantomime dame entertainment, so thats from the 1800's onwards really. The comedy of men dressing up as women is such a long standing tradition that is both tacky and terrible, and all the better for it! It's such a peculiarly british trope. I love a bit of Ru Paul's drag race and to be honest i do think the british seasons have been the most entertaining - there's so much history of it in the UK, and the queens have been far more interesting and boundary pushing (and hilariously bitchy) than the slightly more professional and bland US competitions. That might be my inherent cultural bias coming to the fore, admittedly . . . 

In terms of at a festival, i think its just a microcosm of wider society. Cross dressing isnt particularly rare or taboo, so pulling it out at a festival is almost normal. And the bigger and hairier the man the better, for the juxtaposition of it all. Plus as festivals are getting hotter (the last three glastonburys ive been to can attest to that, 17/19/22 have all been pretty bloody warm at times) its quite nice to get a bit of air to parts of the body that dont typically get aired! 

EDIT - ive forgotten to mention the Shakespearian tradition of all parts being played by men, so the female love interests were male as well, this is 1600's etc etc - its really, really, really old

[moogster]

I'm wondering if that old and lame French stereotype of British men being gay is linked to this.

What about the "For Thursday I have a shark outfit, Friday I'll be a toilet"  thing. Relief from social conventions?

And why am I not seeing kilts?

So many questions... What a great festival 🙂

I saw a bit of the British drag race and loved the filthy mouths. Must check the French one where apparently someone dressed as a used condom, on prime time on public TV. Spitting a bit to make it real 😁

[Crazyfool01]

2 minutes ago, moogster said:

I'm wondering if that old and lame French stereotype of British men being gay is linked to this.

What about the "For Thursday I have a shark outfit, Friday I'll be a toilet"  thing. Relief from social conventions?

And why am I not seeing kilts?

So many questions... What a great festival 🙂

I saw a bit of the British drag race and loved the filthy mouths. Must check the French one where apparently someone dressed as a used condom, on prime time on public TV. Spitting a bit to make it real 😁

It’s just bloody great to see people smiling at / with you … it’s such a great place to do that 

Edited July 20, 2022 by crazyfool1

[moogster]

1 minute ago, crazyfool1 said:

It’s just bloody great to see people smiling at / with you … it’s such a great place to do that 

So participating to the Glastonbury experience then? Makes sense.

I am jealous of your last purchased hat I have to say.

[Crazyfool01]

4 minutes ago, moogster said:

So participating to the Glastonbury experience then? Makes sense.

I am jealous of your last purchased hat I have to say.

It’s about becoming part of the experience for me rather than being an onlooker viewing the experience or viewing it with a mobile phone .  Glastonbury used to be.a bit more that people made the entertainment a lot more than now with the advent of lots of the late night areas … I made the hat 🙂 

[moogster]

4 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

It’s about becoming part of the experience for me rather than being an onlooker viewing the experience or viewing it with a mobile phone .  Glastonbury used to be.a bit more that people made the entertainment a lot more than now with the advent of lots of the late night areas … I made the hat 🙂 

Do lots of people take a pic of you?

(I meant the cap with lights on it. Not THE pyramid hat)

Edited July 20, 2022 by moogster
The heat makes me type weird

[spg]

Ladies day (Sunday) has been a long standing tradition at plenty other festivals like endorse-it, outcider and cursus to name but a few

[Crazyfool01]

4 minutes ago, moogster said:

Do lots of people take a pic of you?

(I meant the cap with lights on it. Not THE pyramid hat)

Yes several hundred stopped me but many took photos without me knowing ( got ya ) … it’s all a little about pushing out of my comfort zone and forcing me to interact with people more than I ever would in my day to day life …. I’m someone very different for those 5 days to the grumpy homeshop picker . That’s the essence of fancy dress 

[Tranquility of Solitude]

2 hours ago, moogster said:

why am I not seeing kilts?

The very thought of wearing a kilt at a festival in the height of summer fills me with dread. Kilts are very, very heavy, and woollen. It’s bad enough wearing one for a day at a summer wedding. It’s the main reason not to wear anything underneath it.

[CaledonianGonzo]

You usually see one or two kilts - but alongside the reasons mentioned above is they're pretty expensive and could pretty easily get trashed at the G.

[Ayrshire Chris]

If you wore a kilt and it rained heavily it would become unbearably heavy assuming it was a real wooly kilt. Going commando at the festival also ain’t a good idea if you end up falling over in the mud. 

[WestCountryGirl]

It's very much not limited to festival culture either. Go out any Saturday night in a popular stag do (bachelor party) location and you will see countless grooms-to-be trussed up in a comically small dress. 

It's all just for a bit of a laugh, basically 🙂 Although what I hear from those I know who've done it echoes the comments above that the lads enjoy the freedom of a skirt for a change! 

[Boomtowner]

3 hours ago, Tranquility of Solitude said:

The very thought of wearing a kilt at a festival in the height of summer fills me with dread. Kilts are very, very heavy, and woollen. It’s bad enough wearing one for a day at a summer wedding. It’s the main reason not to wear anything underneath it.

Got to disagree, always wear my kilt at Glastonbury on the hot days. Far cooler than shorts with a nice draft, and wool is far better in the heat than cotton. 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Boomtowner

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

5 hours ago, moogster said:

I was wondering: where does the British festival fancy dressing comes from? Why is it that popular for guys to cross dress, and I'm guessing most of them only do this at festivals. Or they should watch a bit more of Drag Race and learn. Is it like this at all fests or is it more a Glastonbury thing?

It's not something you really see at Euro festivals I think, or anyway it wasn't until recently.

Anyone care to enlighten me about this piece of British festival culture?

 

PS: I think it's great!

I think there are two elements within your post. The first is that you mention 'fancy dress'. Well, fancy dress is not limited to cross dressing. There are swathes of people who will gladly 'do' the fancy dress thing in the UK. When you say 'It's not something you see in Europe', do you mean 'all' fancy dress?

I don't know for sure, but I'd say that the cross dressing element is as others have said above. However, nobody mentioned that there may be an element of latent homosexuality as well. I have assumed this from the numbers of male gay blokes that I know (getting on for at least 50% of my mates. I hope that the other 50% aren't reading this, but I'd say that they are in denial!) who like to dress up in women's clothes. Maybe I'm wrong in that assumption (Assumption is, after all, the Mother of all fuck up's). I'm sure it'll be pointed out if I am.

The other angle would be those who are inclined towards being would be trans.( well, that element of trans that applies, that is). However, I can't go into that area, as I have no direct or indirect involvement in that area.*

 

* I did used to dress up in female clothes, but got that out of my system by the time that I was 20. I am 57 now.

Thank you moogster for raising this topic. Hopefully the thread will be a runner, and we all may learn something. 🙂

 

[Avalon_Fields]

Bit too confessional perhaps but our gang over the years have dressed up as Amy Winehouse, Slash, Priests, Nurses, Shirley Bassey, and more besides.

Luckily for the festival we seem to have moved on…

[Crazyfool01]

10 minutes ago, Avalon_Fields said:

Bit too confessional perhaps but our gang over the years have dressed up as Amy Winehouse, Slash, Priests, Nurses, Shirley Bassey, and more besides.

Luckily for the festival we seem to have moved on…

and not for us ..... photos please 🙂 

[MrZigster]

4 hours ago, crazyfool1 said:

and not for us ..... photos please 🙂 

I'll second that.

[moogster]

9 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

I think there are two elements within your post. The first is that you mention 'fancy dress'. Well, fancy dress is not limited to cross dressing. There are swathes of people who will gladly 'do' the fancy dress thing in the UK. When you say 'It's not something you see in Europe', do you mean 'all' fancy dress?

 

I meant that it's more limited to Carnival or Halloween, maybe indeed stag/hen dos but not really festivals

All very interesting really!

On cross-dressing, in a way one could say that it's a bit offensive to women to consider dressing like them "funny", when a it's easier for a woman to "dress like a man"(except when you are looking for something like safety shoes or other professional outfits, but I digress). But this makes it acceptable, I can imagine the amount of men who wouldn't be caught in a dress is much lower in certain European countries than in the UK.

Anyway I've taken a decision, I am applying as a trader for next year: "moogster's summer kilts and men's dresses". 

Follow up question: there was cross dressing in Little Britain ("but I'm a lady") and I know the show is frowned upon these days. Does that include those specific characters too? 

 

9 hours ago, Avalon_Fields said:

Bit too confessional perhaps but our gang over the years have dressed up as Amy Winehouse, Slash, Priests, Nurses, Shirley Bassey, and more besides.

Luckily for the festival we seem to have moved on…

No, you should keep on! I WANT PICS too!

[gigpusher]

10 hours ago, Avalon_Fields said:

Bit too confessional perhaps but our gang over the years have dressed up as Amy Winehouse, Slash, Priests, Nurses, Shirley Bassey, and more besides.

Luckily for the festival we seem to have moved on…

I also am totally up for seeing photos of these!!

[Crazyfool01]

The only time I can remember that I’ve dressed as the opposite sex 

[moogster]

15 minutes ago, crazyfool1 said:

The only time I can remember that I’ve dressed as the opposite sex 

nice legs! Hopefully still on display at Glasto these days!

[Avalon_Fields]

11 hours ago, crazyfool1 said:

and not for us ..... photos please 🙂 

My big mouth....

[Avalon_Fields]