Fashion editor Alice Keegan retraces the history of drag fashion
Drag fashion isn’t just wigs and striking makeup. It is an art form, a means for creative liberation, and a celebration of identity - a technicolour world of triumph. Its history is rich, each bright colour and sequin a symbol of resilience and proof of the triumph of the community that put it centre stage. A platform for exploration and expression, drag collates costume, makeup and performance.
Drag’s early history can be traced back to Ancient Greek theatre, Egyptian ceremonies, Japanese theatre and more. Historically it was limited to secret settings because all forms of cross-dressing were outlawed in several countries, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries.
While women were prohibited from performing on stage, gay men were often presented with the opportunity to express themselves, indulge in new personas and adorn feminine looks. In Kabuki theatre in Japan and Peking opera performances in China, men cross-dressed as female characters. This practice was also frequent in Shakespearian theatre.
There was a vibrant LGBTQ subculture in surprising places, including underneath traditional English pubs, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, despite its illegality. Members of the community were forced to play with boundaries of subversion in underground safe havens. Drag performers could also be found in establishments known as ‘Molly houses’, and certain queens began to build up their own fanbases. There were utopias for younger queer people to feel included and accepted, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation. During the roaring 20s, men would impersonate women in vaudeville shows. Most notably, silent film superstar Julian Eltinge rose to fame through his emulations of women of high society, which led him to become one of the most sought after and well paid actors of his time.
Members of the community were forced to play with boundaries of subversion in underground safe havens.
Excluded from pageants held for White drag performers, Black drag artists had to resort to hosting their own competitions. Many drag queens and kings trace their roots to clandestine balls hosted by Black performers in the late 19th century. They flourished with the Harlem Renaissance in New York City, a greatly influential cultural movement which celebrated and put a spotlight on black jazz artists in particular. The Hamilton Lodge club held an annual charity ball, ‘the Old Fellows Ball’, where they would display their most outrageous drag looks. One of the first known people to call themselves a “queen of drag” was a former slave, William Dorsey Swann.
Drag is notoriously known for its roots in oppression and struggles and the legacy of pioneers such as Marsha P. Johnson is one that is still felt to this day. Indeed, during the Stonewall Riots of 1969, the LGBTQ+ community rebelled against police raids on gay bars in New York City, which eventually led to the founding of the Gay Liberation Front. Marsha P. Johnson, one of the founders of the Gay Liberation Front and the Sweet Transvestite Action Revolutionaties in New York was notorious for her style attributes: the flowers in her hair and sequins on her heels that seemed to help her assert her identity in a world that sought to strip her of her voice. Her activism and her life continue to inspire generations of queer and Black people, including drag performers who find themselves to be at the intersection of such identities such as Monet X Change, Latrice Royale and Shangela.
Marsha P. Johnson, one of the founders of the Gay Liberation Front and the Sweet Transvestite Action Revolutionaties in New York was notorious for her style attributes: the flowers in her hair and sequins on her heels that seemed to help her assert her identity in a world that sought to strip her of her voice.
In the 1980s, there were popular clubs in New York such as Crystal's Battered Woman Bar in Greenwich Village, where drag performance was cultivated and celebrated. The urban areas were booming, but the AIDS epidemic was looming, and a period of intense homophobia was to follow. In this period, the concept of the “drag mother” took hold: queens would nurture young artists and often provided a home to their proteges. Drag families feature in the 1990 documentary Paris is Burning - for instance, the House of Xtravaganza, though the film was not without its critics, including seminal writer bell hooks who spoke out against its exploitative aspects. Groups like the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in San Francisco raised money to pay for AIDS patients’ health?care. “We had to get out on the street and save our own lives,” commented drag queen Joan Jett Blakk.
The increasing popularity of RuPaul led to a Renaissance of drag when he entered mainstream consciousness in the nineties. RuPaul broke through barriers of morality in the United States and redefined the boundaries of drag fashion. The reality competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race first aired in 2009 and sixteen seasons later, queens and kings compete for the crown in a mix of challenges, costume creation, skits and impersonations. Its positive representation of drag culture has resulted in drag slang, popularised by queer people of colour like “sashaying” to appear into mainstream vernacular.
The increasing popularity of RuPaul led to a Renaissance of drag when he entered mainstream consciousness in the nineties.
Drag continues to evolve and empower new generations, particularly those who are members of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2020, drag queens broke a major fashion barrier when performers Pabllo Vittar and Gloria Groove became the first queens to appear on the front cover of Vogue magazine. The first West End play to feature an all-drag cast, Death Drop, launched in London in 2020, even while drag is under threat from the American far-right and the LGBT community in the UK is actively being curtailed. Drag performers push boundaries, promote discourse, and celebrate diversity; as such, drag remains a beacon of hope and liberation, with a shimmering legacy of glitter and glamour and a sentiment of inclusivity.