Talked to my wife a bit more yesterday, and she said she definitely loved / got a thrill out of being naked at all the parties especially. Not that she needed an ego boost, but she said it was just great fun to hang out with people that way, especially people she'd gotten to know over the years.
But she said what made it the most fun was that although she felt like she already knew most of the artists, she really didn't get to know them "as people" -- who they were, where they were from, what their day-jobs were, their politics, etc. -- that whole process of getting to know them a LOT better, SOCIALLY... She said it was just a ton of fun to do that in the nude, like that's just who she was in that social circle. She was the naked one in the group, always naked, she never had to worry about what to wear.
Yeah, she got paid for it, but at the parties, it truly was a pass-the-hat kind of thing, and everybody just put in what they wanted to, $10-$20 usually. My wife said she almost felt kind of guilty taking money for it after a while, since she loved doing it so much. But the passing-the-hat thing was part of the community aspect of the group, and everyone wanted to be seen as contributing.
She was aware that, without anyone intended for it to be that way, that part of what she got paid for -- or at least part of what motivated people to 'donate' to her (if you can call it that) -- was her sparkling personality that would have at least partially lit up the room (at least a little bit), even if she had clothes on. But that, coupled with her just hanging out with everyone while she was nude, in a typical party-like social atmosphere, was a little like lightning in a bottle. Not every model would have been as comfortable doing that, nor would they have been as "social" too.
She occasionally did model with a second nude model in the same sessions. Not at the parties, but for the more formal classes. And she said the other models were always nice, but some of them were.... Well, they weren't exactly "socially awkward", but they weren't as appropriately fun and outgoing (but in a calibrated way) as my wife was, and still is.
My wife has always been great at parties (even with all her clothes on). And by parties, I mean social engagements of all sorts. Cocktail parties, big family-friendly gatherings, super bowl parties, you name it. Not crazy, loud-music parties so much (not her thing), but the kind where you get to engage with people. She's a great listener, but also tells great stories, and she really knows how to engage people in give and take, and isn't afraid to do that if the whole room (or half the room) is listening in on a particularly lively discussion at the center of it all.
I'll have to see if she can remember any specific stories. Me too, for that matter.
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