Tuesday, March 6, 2018

GRANDE DAME

It's pretty safe to say that in the past decade or so there has been a complete explosion in the world of drag. Alongside the growing army of Glamazons brought about by RuPaul and her reality show empire, queens are becoming international pop stars. But drag, for decades, has been an art form almost exclusively created by ,and to an extent for, gay men.Enter: Crimson Kitty, New York's premier female drag queen.
While drag itself may be designed to question our very core notions of gender, it is the gender that Crimson was born into that makes her so groundbreaking. Despite (or perhaps because) of the fact that she is a biological female, Crimson can keep up with the other queens -- sometimes she can even beat them at their own game. When she first started doing drag, her drag mother Rebecca Glasscock, told her to keep it secret at first. Parsing through the semiotics of Crimson's act is certainly confusing, what with her heavily stylized oversized lips, opaque cheek contouring, eyebrows arched in almost 90 degree angles, hyper-expressive movements, and adoption of queer slang -- it would almost be easy to assume that her whole schtick comes from a place of ridicule. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, her entire persona comes from genuine adoration. Crimson has since gone on to snatch trophies of her own, making a name for herself in New York's queer and gay scene. She started a show featuring an ever-changing lineup of female queens, called LADYQUEEN and it's held weekly at the legendary Stonewall Inn. It is the first and only all female drag revue ever.

12 comments:

  1. I guess it depends on your own definition of drag. To me, it's always been about dressing up in a character of the opposite gender, to make a statement, a unique form of self expression with a message. That's what makes drag different from say, dressing up like a mime or clown or other stage/performance character.

    But if you define drag as a form of character art, then I suppose she fits in the drag category. If it makes you happy and brings people joy, then keep doing what you're doing! Art is what you make of it.

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  2. I don't know that I buy it as drag, but I'd still like to see her show.

    I've often wondered whether Dolly Parton or Mae West patterned themselves after drag queens. Even Marilyn Monroe, whose heavy-breathing way of talking was contrived (she in fact had a typical female high-pitched voice) had a bit of drag about her, but I'm rambling.

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    1. Some of my fave Dolly Parton quotes:

      “It's a good thing I was born a girl, otherwise I'd be a drag queen.”

      “I'm not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I'm not dumb - and I'm not blonde either.”

      “It takes a lot of time and money to look this cheap, honey."

      “The way I see it, if you want a rainbow, you have to put up with the rain."

      "You'll never do a whole lot unless you're brave enough to try.”

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  3. The hate child of Lady Bunny, Trisie Mattel, and Bianaca del Rio. Is it drag? I.... don't know. I do know I am more than fed up with people who think they have a position to say what people can and cannot do, or, or call themselves, so go ahead on Crimson Kitty, Miss LadyQueen or whatever. Every queer person has to fight their own fight about identity. Who are we then, in turn, to get all hissed up over somebody else's?

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    1. I think Mrppeenee nailed her look!!!!!

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  4. She looks like a modern day Divine...but don't know I'm buying her as a drag queen. I'd certainly see her show though.

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  5. I, at first, questioned it as drag but then realized it shouldn't have anything to do with gender. If drag queens were simply pretending to be women, that would be an insult to women. This is excellent!

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  6. If I bought her as a man doing drag, and she looks like a drag queen, but is a woman....she's done great!!! Drag to me is about the illusion. She fooled me.

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  7. There is no denying she gives good face.

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  8. A bit much for my taste with the overdone makeup. No, whether its her or someone else. But, I get it. "You Gotta Have a Gimmick." :-)

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Go ahead darling, tell me something fabulous!