Co-edited by Mariette Pathy Allen and Jesse Egner

“Vicky’s story is unusual in that she was a successful artist both as a man and as a woman. As Dirk, he was Executive Art Director of a publishing company in New York. As Vicky, she served as Art Director of Drag magazine and worked on other publications as well. She was stylish in both worlds. Vicky and I kept in touch until she died suddenly in 2005. Sherry, who shared her apartment, told me to take anything of Vicky’s that I wanted. I discovered two Saks Fifth Avenue shopping bags full of Vicky’s art from the 1970s and 80s. They contained the whole process of creating finished images starting from little sketches on napkins and scrap paper. This book is the outcome of wanting to share the gems I found in those shopping bags.“ —Mariette Pathy Allen

This is the first book about the life and work of Vicky West, an illustrator and art director who became an artist in an activist community that she helped to create. In her search for compatriots, Vicky attended meetings of the first club for heterosexual transvestites while living in Los Angeles as well as drag balls presented by early “homophile” organizations after she moved to New York City. None were a good fit for an erudite bisexual trans woman with a taste for S&M. So, Vicky joined with others to create the Queens Liberation Front and the most inclusive trans community publication of the era, Drag. This book contains 64 original drawings by Vicky West, many featuring themes of “forced feminization” and explicit depictions of sex. It also includes 18 photographs of West by Mariette Pathy Allen, and many of Vicky’s published illustrations in layout. In all of her drawings, Vicky imagined different versions of her perfect, feminized self, providing a model for aspiring trans women across the United States. This book makes her legacy available for new generations of gender-expansive people. -Publisher