NYLON PARTY at T.R.A.C.S

T.R.A.C.S at Timothy Plaza on River Island

 Land Mark: http://slurl.com/secondlife/River%20Island/221/249/22

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers, more specifically aliphatic or semi-aromatic polyamides. They can be melt processed into fibres, films or shapes. The first example of nylon (nylon 66) was produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station. Nylon polymers have found significant commercial applications in fibres (apparel, flooring and rubber reinforcement), in shapes (moulded parts for cars, electrical equipment, etc.), and in films (mostly for food packaging)

Nylon is a thermoplastic, silky material, first used commercially in a nylon-bristled toothbrush (1938), followed more famously by women's stockings ("nylons"; 1940) after being introduced as a fabric at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Nylon is made of repeating units linked by amide bonds and is a type of polyamide and is frequently referred to as such Nylon was the first commercially successful synthetic thermoplastic polymer. Commercially, nylon polymer is made by reacting monomers which are either lactams, acid/amines or stoichiometric mixtures of diamines (-NH2) and diacids (-COOH). Mixtures of these can be polymerized together to make copolymers. Nylon polymers can be mixed with a wide variety of additives to achieve many different property variations.

Nylon was intended to be a synthetic replacement for silk and substituted for it in many different products after silk became scarce during World War II. It replaced silk in military applications such as parachutes and flak vests, and was used in many types of vehicle tires.

After initial commercialization of nylon as a fiber, applications in the form of shapes and films were also developed. The main market for nylon shapes now is in auto components, but there are many others.

Nylon Characteristics

• Exceptionally strong
• Elastic
• Abrasion resistant
• Lustrous
• Easy to wash
• Resistant to damage from oil and many chemicals
• Can be precolored or dyed in wide range of colors
• Resilient
• Low in moisture absorbency
• Filament yarns provide smooth, soft, long-lasting fabrics
• Spun yarns lend fabrics light weight and warmth

 Some Major Nylon Fiber Uses

• Apparel: Blouses, dresses, foundation garments, hosiery, lingerie, underwear, raincoats, ski apparel, windbreakers, swimwear, and cycle wear
• Home Furnishings: Bedspreads, carpets, curtains, upholstery
• Industrial and Other Uses: Tire cord, hoses, conveyer and seat belts, parachutes, racket strings, ropes and nets, sleeping bags, tarpaulins, tents, thread, monofilament fishing line, dental floss

Bill Pittendreigh, DuPont, and other individuals and corporations worked diligently during the first few months of World War II to find a way to replace Asian silk and hemp with nylon in parachutes. It was also used to make tires, tents, ropes, ponchos, and other military supplies. It was even used in the production of a high-grade paper for U.S. currency. At the outset of the war, cotton accounted for more than 80% of all fibers used and manufactured, and wool fibers accounted for nearly all of the rest. By August 1945, manufactured fibers had taken a market share of 25%, at the expense of cotton. After the war, because of shortages of both silk and nylon, nylon parachute material was sometimes repurposed to make dresses.

Etymology

In 1940, John W. Eckelberry of DuPont stated that the letters "nyl" were arbitrary and the "on" was copied from the suffixes of other fibers such as cotton and rayon. A later publication by DuPont (Context, vol. 7, no. 2, 1978) explained that the name was originally intended to be "No-Run" ("run" meaning "unravel"), but was modified to avoid making such an unjustified claim. Since the products were not really run-proof, the vowels were swapped to produce "nuron", which was changed to "nilon" "to make it sound less like a nerve tonic". For clarity in pronunciation, the "i" was changed to "y".

An alternative but apocryphal explanation for the name is that it is a combination of New York and London: NY-Lon.

CROSS-DRESSING PARTY at T.R.A.C.S

Last Saturday at T.R.A.C.S. I want to say thanks to all the guests for all the work they took to feminizing there male avatar and the female avatar to look as a male. None of the guest just changed their gender.
Thank you so much. It means so much for me.

One of the trivia questions was who played the role of Edna Turnblad, Tracy's mother and agent in the 2007 movie Hairspray. 

It was John Travolta.

Travolta's casting as Edna continues the tradition of having a man in drag portray the character, going back to the original 1988 film, which featured drag queen Divine as Edna and at Hairspray's Broadway version, which featured Harvey Fierstein as Edna. Executives at New Line Cinema originally expected the part to be filled by an actor accustomed to playing comic roles, tossing around names such as Robin Williams, Steve Martin, and Tom Hanks. However, Travolta was aggressively sought after by producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron for this role because he had starred as Danny Zuko in Grease, the second most successful movie musical to date, beaten only by Mamma Mia!.

CROSS-DRESSING PARTY at T.R.A.C.S

T.R.A.C.S at Timothy Plaza on River Island

Land Mark: http://slurl.com/secondlife/River%20Island/221/249/22

Cross-dressing, Trasvesti and Drag

Today we have a Cross-dressing Party at T.R.A.C.S. 

It is not the first time we have a crossdressing party. In 2013, on Sunday February 10^th to be exact, Club Satyricon, owner sevenarts Dreamscape, organized a special event to elect the first and magnificent "Second Life's Drag Queen", lady of all Sims and clubs 2013.

Here are a few links of posts:

DRAG QUEENCONTEST 2013 part I

DRAG QUEENCONTEST 2013 part II

DRAG QUEENCONTEST @ T.R.A.C.S

DRAG QUEENCONTEST in SWEETGRASS

SL DRAGQueen Grand Finale

Cross-dressing is the act of wearing items of clothing and other accoutrements commonly associated with the opposite gender within a particular society. Cross-dressing has been used for purposes of disguise, comfort, and as a literary trope in modern times and throughout history. It does not, however, necessarily indicate transgender identity.

Charlie Chaplin from 1914’s A Busy Day

Travesti (literally "disguised") is a theatrical term referring to the portrayal of a character in an opera, play, or ballet by a performer of the opposite sex. Some sources regard 'travesti' as an Italian term, some as French. Depending on sources, the term may be given as travesty, travesti, or en travesti. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of Foreign Terms in English explains the origin of the latter term as "pseudo-French", although French sources from the mid-19th century have used the term, e.g. Bibliothèque musicale du Théâtre de l'opéra (1876), La revue des deux mondes (1868), and have continued the practice into the 21st century.

Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origins of the word are debated, but "drag" has appeared in print as early as 1870. One suggested etymological root is 19th-century theatre slang, from the sensation of long skirts trailing on the floor.

Queen in their “I Want to Break Free” garb, 1984.

"Drag queen" appeared in print at least as early as 1941. The verb is to "do drag". A folk etymology whose acronym basis reveals the late-20th-century bias, would make "drag" an abbreviation of "dressed as girl" in description of male transvestism. The opposite, "drab" for "dressed as boy", is unrecorded. Drag may be practiced by people of all sexual orientations and gender identities.

A Drag Queen is a person, usually male, who dresses in drag and often acts with exaggerated femininity and in feminine gender roles. Often they will exaggerate certain characteristics such as make-up and eyelashes for comic, dramatic or satirical effect. While drag is very much associated with gay men and gay culture, there are drag artists of all sexualities. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly in dedication, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once, or those who simply prefer clothing and makeup that is usually worn by the "opposite" sex in their culture. Drag queens can vary widely by class and culture. Other drag performers include drag kings, women who perform in male roles and attire, faux queens, who are women who dress in an exaggerated style to emulate drag queens, and faux kings, who are men who dress to impersonate drag kings.

Jo Calderone, Lady Gaga's male alter ego. She introduced Jo to during the opening monologue

of the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards.

Drag kings are mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of their routine. A typical show may incorporate dancing and singing, sometimes live or lip-synching to pre-recorded tracks. Drag kings often perform as exaggeratedly macho male characters, portray marginalized masculinities such as construction workers, rappers, or they will impersonate male celebrities like Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and Tim McGraw. In the late 1800s and early 1900s several drag kings became British music hall stars, and British pantomime has preserved the tradition of women performing in male roles. Starting in the mid-1990s drag kings have begun to gain some of the fame and attention that drag queens have known.

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) Tony Curtis (1925–2010) Jack Lemmon (1925–2001) 

Annie Leibovitz made this portrait of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in 1995. In the photo, Curtis and Lemmon,

at that time both 70 years old, are wearing makeup reminiscent of Some Like It Hot, while Lemmon is wearing a nightgown and Curtis is in his underwear holding Lemmon’s hand.

The iconography is obvious, but the passing of time twists the context and creates a new way to see these two actors.