How drag queens are influencing fashion

In recent years, drag has become a fundamental part of the fashion world. Nowadays, drag artists appear on magazine covers, star in campaigns for fashion brands and occupy prominent positions on fashion week catwalks around the world.

For the current generation of fashionistas, the links between fashion and drag are obvious. Both aim to find self-expression, creativity and freedom in clothing, experts say.

But it was not always so. Fashion and drag were seen as separate worlds.

“Before, you couldn’t touch a drag queen because you’d lose business,” says designer Brad Callahan, who has created looks for pop icons like Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus — as well as many contestants on the drag reality show RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Now, though, working with drag performers is not only acceptable, but celebrated, he says. From the influence of celebrity fashion to the makeup we buy online and on the streets, what has changed to make drag fashionable? BBC Three spoke to a stylist, a fashion historian and a drag queen to find out.

In 2020, drag queens broke a major fashion barrier when performers Pabllo Vittar and Gloria Groove became the first queens to appear on the cover of Vogue Brasil.

“Vogue is one of the most iconic magazines in history,” says drag performer and singer Pabllo, who has more than 20 million followers on TikTok and Instagram.

“So it was an honor to be the first drag queen on the cover. That was one of the things I dreamed of growing up — and it came true.”

“Drag is about expressing yourself as an artist – and we can’t do that without fashion.”

Around the same time as her Vogue cover, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Bimini made her London Fashion Week debut for designer Richard Quinn and co-star Tayce as the face of a Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance campaign.

Meanwhile, models Jourdan Dunn and Leomie Anderson appeared as guest judges on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and British Vogue editor Edward Enninful recently appeared as a mentor during a design challenge.

The RuPaul’s Drag Race UK queens are also well-versed in fashion history, with designers like Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen often cited as runway inspiration.

HOW DRAG BECAME FASHION – WITH THE HELP OF LADY GAGA

Designer Brad began his career making clothes for performance artists and drag queens in the Brooklyn, New York underground scene in the early 2000s. This is what got him noticed first by rapper Azealia Banks’ stylist and then by Lady Gaga.

Brad says the “Bad Romance” singer acted as a “bridge” that allowed drag artists to be accepted into the contemporary fashion world. “Pop now is about getting a viral moment, and I blame Gaga for that,” he says. “That’s the reason these totally glamorous looks came into fashion.”

Meanwhile, fashion historian Shaun Cole sees parallels with the 1980s and early 1990s, when designers took inspiration from the drag and Club Kid scenes. Drag designers and artists often lived together, he adds. Designers made clothes to go to clubs and drag performers paraded in their shows.

“Queer culture in the 1980s was about gender blurring,” says Shaun, adding that this explosion of queer creativity can be seen as a reaction to the homophobia of the time.

“It was partly a response to the intense homophobia we saw around the world with the AIDS pandemic. It was a moment of counterattack, of trying to push for a more open world.”

In the early 1990s, French fashion designer Thierry Mugler made history by using American drag artist Lypsinka as a runway model – and RuPaul found success with his dance hit Supermodel (You Better Work). Artist and TV presenter RuPaul became the first face of MAC’s Viva Glam makeup campaign and appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair and Cosmopolitan.

‘THE WAY YOUNG PEOPLE USE MAKEUP IS VERY DRAG’

Designers like Brad now work with drag artists like Drag Race contestants Kylie Sonique Love, Kandy Muse and Pearl – as well as modern fashion icons like Doja Cat and Lil Nas X.

And according to Brad, drag is influencing the way we wear foundation, lipstick and highlighter, with drag artists like Trixie Mattel and Kim Chi even launching their own makeup brands.

“The way young women use makeup to contour and wear false eyelashes is very drag,” he says.

Meanwhile, Brad has seen an increase in the number of young designers wanting to work with drag queens.

“There are a lot of kids who have come to me who are going to college or starting school and want to be drag designers,” he says.

“I think it’s great that now there’s a whole generation that can aspire to be that and have that freedom.”

“Drag isn’t such a taboo subject. And I think that’s a good thing, because it means a lot more kids are learning their queer history and trying to fit it all in.”

-Text originally published here