Drag queens of London and friends bring transvestite style to the mainstream

Could this be the watershed year for cross-dressing and transsexuality? Transvestites famous in 2014 include the transgender activist Laverne Cox, star of hit series Orange Is the New Black , who appeared on the cover of Time magazine earlier this year, and drag queen Conchita Wurst, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 and then capped that kitschy honour by walking as a bride for Jean-Paul Gaultier in his autumn/winter couture show in Paris in July 2014 (about as glam as it gets). Drag Queens of London, meanwhile, has become the surprise hit of London's fledgling television station London Live – one of its starring drag acts, Buffalo Girls, are now on tour. Transvestite style is influencing the mainstream as never before.  

The great 'trans-mysogyny' debate

On the flipside, we’ve had Transphobiagate in the British press, sparked by columnist Suzanne Moore. She was accused of 'trans-mysogyny' (sexism towards transgender women) when, writing on women's anger in the New Statesman , she remarked 'We are angry with ourselves for not being happier, not being loved properly and not having the ideal body shape – that of a Brazilian transsexual' (the Twitter storm that followed was vicious even by internet trolling standards). The US counterpoint was an embarrassing Piers Morgan interview with transgender rights activist Janet Mock , where our host exceeded himself in his trademark vulgarity, by persistently inquiring into the arrangement of her genitalia with all the tact of ‘I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours’. 

The new transgender rights movement

Bending gender norms is nothing new (Ziggy Stardust, Virginia Woolf's Orlando and a thousand other androgynous inspirations must be rolling their eyes). What is different is a heightened sensitivity to the discrimination meted out to transgender people – the unemployment rate among black trans-women in the US is four times the national average, for example. All the glitter and hairspray in the world won’t stop discrimination at a policy level, but as the rise of the extremist right in Europe heralds the 'apoliticalypse' it can't help but raise the spirits to see queen Conchita sashay through Eurovision in 6-inch Louboutins. 

How London's drag scene crossed over

The contemporary London drag scene is truly bumping and grinding with a large number of summer events for your calendar. Male-to-female drag troupe Denim, graduates of Cambridge University, put on cabaret-cum-club extravaganzas at venues ranging from Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club to the Arts Theatre in the London West End, where these fellas in feathers perform belt-your-heart-out pieces along with contemporary pop songs, after which the whole place gets down for a good old boogie. Of all the things on in London this is sure to brighten up your evening.

As is often the case with drag, the group’s onstage personas are caricatures of female stereotypes – the Hitchcock blonde, the sassy disco-diva with Barbara Streisand hair – for a drag artist’s success in developing a certain character is as important as creating a recognisable look, as avid watchers of RuPaul’s Drag Race – the drag version of America’s Next Top Model - will know. 

Other drag artists are deviating from this tradition. Performance artist Daniel Lismore , a regular A-lister, adopts a more versatile, ever-changing look that ranges from the wonderfully silly (a panda in a dress) to the politically provocative (a burqa). Rather than performing for paying spectators, the streets of Soho are the stage for his London shows and he likes to quote RuPaul’s famous motto: ‘Honey, we are born naked. The rest is drag’.

The drag pop band The Buffalo Girls, of reality TV show Drag Queens of London fame, are aiming to set themselves apart from the rest of the scene by creating a more conservative, ‘classy’, modern look. Far from being intentionally comical, notable drag queens and transgender women have become the new fashion icons for the most mainstream of brands: Carmen Carrera is Victoria’s Secret first transgender model and Conchita Wurst’s oddly beautiful bearded look – once the stuff of freak shows – has won the heart of fashion designers including Gaultier. Celebrity photographer Magnus Hastings ' lavishly styled and beautifully shot series of drag queen portraits are testament to the drop-dead glamour of cross-dressing style. 

Female-to-male drag comes of age

Drag may celebrate gender fluidity, but there are still many more male-to-female drag acts than the reverse.  Is it simply more thrilling (because more shocking) to see a man in a dress? A rare exception to the rule are emerging female-to-male drag collective Pecs. ‘We though that the best way to address the gender imbalance in the drag world,' they explain, 'was by forming our own all-female drag company and finding the fun theatricality in performing masculinity.’ Contrary to their expectations, Pecs spent far longer practicing male body language, voice and intonation than figuring out costumes, and now favour the simple androgynous white shirt, black trousers look. If femininity is constructed, a drag act in and of itself, they imply, so too is masculinity – a subversive idea if ever there was one.

Drag's fashion moment

Mainstream menswear has a habit of borrowing looks from gay culture (think of the skinny jean). In fact high-street fashion labels like The Kooples are now embracing androgyny with enthusiasm, while up-and-coming denim label Bethnals only sells unisex jeans. And then there is haute couture. The recent Paris and London Men’s Fashion weeks showcased soft layering pieces from the likes of Galliano and a unisex collection from Loewe . 

Carry on Voguing

Music has always borrowed heavily from the sexual counterculture – Madonna’s Vogue video stole a dance craze, voguing, which originating in black and Hispanic New York gay subculture and Prince has spent his whole career confounding expectations of what a heterosexual man should like. Today the top 40 music chart regularly beats to the funky drumming of songs celebrating alternative sexualities – Scissor Sisters’ ‘Let’s Have a Kiki’ and Lady Gaga’s tongue-in-cheek ‘Born This Way’, to name but two. We reckon the transgender renaissance is something to celebrate as a sign of our more accepting and diverse culture. Peak beard? Not if Conchita has anything to do with it.

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