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The AfterEllen.com Huddle: Cross-dressers

There’s something sexy about a woman in a tie. Gay women can appreciate a good gender-bend, especially when the woman donning the menswear is just plain hot to begin with. Christina Hendricks recently posed in a button-down shirt and slacks, and the recent commentary on Ellen Page‘s “asexual chic” look had us thinking about the resurgence of the trend.

So team: Who’s your favorite cross-dresser? Ready, break!

Heather Hogan My hands-down, all-time, favorite-ever gender-bending female has got to be Anne Hathaway from when she did Twelfth Night at Shakespeare in the Park. It’s not that it’s my second-favorite Shakespeare or that she charmed the pants off every critic or that her performance made the tabloids shut the frak up about her incarcerated ex-boyfriend. Nu uh.

The reason Hathaway is my favorite gender-bender is because she has always, always, always looked to me like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. And then she put on Viola’s dude suit and she looked just like Gaston! It’s like she’s a Disney character any which way you dress her!

It kind of makes it even aweome-er now when I hear Gaston sing, “Here in town there’s only she, who’s as beautiful as me …”

thelinster: Katharine Hepburn was sexually fluid before the term was invented.

Sigh. Kiss me, Kate.

Grace Chu: Sometimes when you are reintroduced to a music video from your childhood, you see it in a different light. Last Sunday, while I was at Mix Cafe and Lounge in Astoria having dinner, Janet Jackson‘s video for “Alright” was projected onto the video screen.

While not as memorable as her singles “Rhythm Nation” or “Nasty,” “Alright” came with a snazzily choreographed video reminiscent of mid 20th century musicals in which Jackson runs around town with the boys wearing a zoot suit. Of particular note is the section starting around the 2:45 mark. Is she getting a little flirtatious with Cyd Charisse of Singin’ in the Rain, or am I reading queer subtext into something that has no queer subtext whatsoever? You be the judge.

Mia Jones: My favorite cross-dresser, if you can even call her that, is Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. She is not afraid of looking like a boy as the world watches, discusses and puts her on the covers of magazines. She’s already got enough pressure as one of the chosen children to pop out of Angelina’s womb; everyone expects her to be gorgeous thanks to her famously beautiful DNA.

Well, she certainly is gorgeous, she just likes daddy’s clothes more than mommy’s – I did too at that age! Have you seen the cute boys’ clothes they have at Baby Gap? Hello – I want to wear some of those, too!

Dorothy Snarker: Marlene Dietrich, so famous you can use just her first or last name and everyone will know and bow reflexively in worship. Marlene, that screen siren who redefined cool elegance in the ’20s, ’30s and beyond. Dietrich, that cross-dressing goddess who defined what a woman in a suit should look like then, now and forever.

That she did it so early and so often makes her a trailblazer. That she is still the gold standard makes her an icon. If you’ve never seen Morocco, then you’ve never really seen a woman in a tuxedo.

Trish Bendix: I loved The Organ, so I was so psyched to see their frontwoman Katie Sketch take a turn at modeling in UK Vogue back in 2006. The spread was called “The Boys Are Back in Town,” and Katie surely made some readers a double take when they glanced at the page and thought, “Wow, that’s hot.”

Her androgynous good looks caught the eye of Marc Jacobs, who then used her in an ad campaign. So cool!

Your turn: hit us with your best woman in some slacks or a nice tailored pantsuit.

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