Without burlesque, I would never have felt like I could explore using drag to be pretty in a different way. In August of 2017, I attended my first burlesque show: Final Frontease: A Burlesque Tribute to Star Trek. The show was an amazing experience, with performers bringing the sexuality of Star Trek to the stage in ways that were nerdy fun for everyone. Prior to this show, I had no experience of burlesque; I had not even a real idea what it might include....
Every time I take a picture, I notice something else that needs changing to reach the femme look I’m going for. With the rainbows clothes and rainbow hair, I thought I was ready to move on, but when I bought a more normie dress, I realized that I needed something a bit more muted to go with it. And thus began my adventure into buying wigs.
I’ve never been much of a makeup person. The women in my life have never been much in the way of makeup users, and while I did have a tiny amount of experience with it during my brief stint in drama when I was in a play in 7th grade, that was the extent of my expereince. So for me, exploring makeup isn’t just a simple thing: it’s a brand new area of experience....
Corsetry and Victorian-esque styles stuck out to me right away as something that I was interested in as part of my drag experience. These elements appealed both visually – I have long had a love for pretty corsets – and on a practical level, since they could help give shape to my body which is pretty lacking in curves overall. One of the things I mentally associate with these styles is brocade patterns; the other is anything which involves lacing as part of the structure of the garment....
Experimenting with drag is fun, but the fun part for me was always to share it with other people. I quickly learned the limitations of the technology I had for achieving the look I wanted to share with the world.
...In hindsight, technology has a stronger influence on my clothing purchases than it does on probably any other purchasing decision. Every one of my buying sprees has come about as a result of weeks of advertising thrown in my face – and the first dress I picked up was no different.
...It started with rainbows, and it continued with rainbows.
It started with rainbows.
...I’ve always felt that traditionally male clothes don’t provide the same opportunity to be pretty. Sure, you can be handsome, or even attractive, but there just isn’t the same opportunity for flamboyance and joy that is offered to the more feminine side of the clothing world. Then I realized that just because I’m a grown up doesn’t mean that I can’t play dress-up. In fact, more so than ever, being a grown-up means I can do whatever the heck I want....