It was RuPaul Charles, the worldâs first drag queen supermodel, who coined the phrase âyouâre born naked and the rest is drag.â Itâs certainly intended as a positive message on the blurring of gendered stereotypes, but it also perfectly illustrates fashionâs flirtation with drag culture â of which weâve seen a resurgence in recent years.
His modelling contract with MAC Cosmetics in 1993 was female impersonationâs first breakout into the mainstream fashion world, with national US billboards featuring him in full drag. However, the foundations for this inevitable foray were laid a decade prior, in the underground ball culture of the 1980s.
Centred in New York City, the gay and transgender community would gather in clubs to participate in highly structured runway competitions. At a time when both poverty and LGBT homelessness were prevalent, the balls allowed its participants to aspire towards the luxury and decadence of the fashion world. As these individuals continued to read up on Vogue and wear stolen designer clothes, the term âvoguingâ was coined. Contrary to popular belief, Madonnaâs titular 1990 song and video âVogueâ did not invent the highly stylised dance move â rather it served only to immortalise dragâs influence on the fashion world, catapulting ball culture out of the underground.
One of the first purveyors of voguing, Willi Ninja, walked for Jean-Paul Gaultier before working as a runway coach. A league of successors followed â let us not forget the inimitable Miss Jay Alexander, declared by Tyra Banks as a ârunway/diva coach extraordinaire,â who featured for no less than 18 seasons on Americaâs Next Top Model. Itâs obvious then that drag has, albeit subtly, paid its dues. Whatâs encouraging however is that the fashion world is finally repaying the favour; whereas the world of fashion once influenced drag, now its taking its cues from gender bending â just in time for dragâs renaissance age.
Fashion designer Marco Marco, who has styled the likes of Ke$ha and Katy Perry, featured several notable drag queens in his new collection for LAâs Style Fashion Week. Female impersonators have also recently turned music video stars for pop icons such as Cher and Lady Gaga (who is regularly influenced by drag culture), but contrary to Madonnaâs âVogueâ, these references arenât exploitative, theyâre celebratory.
Of course, the fashion world is no stranger to gender ambiguity without dragâs influence, but if last yearâs response to male model Andrej Pejic taught us anything, itâs that gender ambiguity is still considered âotherâ outside of magazines.
Itâs critical then that drag continues to have an active role in fashion â not just to enrich, but to educate.