Elvis and Makeup

"'Okay,' [Elvis] said sitting on the edge of the bed, watching [Felicia] put on her makeup, fascinated by the deep flake of her powder-patted cheeks, the cherry pout of her lips and the heavy blue eye shadow that made her look older. He was amazed not just at how much makeup made her aware of herself, but by how much he wanted to wear that mask" (173). 

There are several instances when Elvis mentions makeup and identity change throughout GraceLand, but this is as explicit as the narrator has been thus far. There is certainly a strong tie to makeup and sexuality, but what draws Elvis to the makeup is not strictly the feminine aspects of it. Elvis instead desires both the aesthetic of makeup, as well as the transformative process that it has on identity. Elvis enjoys wearing makeup in the early part of the novel, but since he no longer works as an Elvis impersonator, he no longer gets the chance. He realizes that he could wear makeup in public if he wanted, but he would be putting himself at the same risk that transexual prostitutes face. His desire for makeup is much less a sexually transgressive desire, but more of a desire for constructed, controlled external identity.