Fierceness

okay. so i feel like i have been slacking in the blog posting department, but this one will make up for it, i promise.

a friend of mine asked me this weekend if i was familiar with the ballroom scene. I wasn't, so he filled me in:



the ball scene, aka the house system is an underground gay subculture, predominantly black and latino (i think), in which trans-gender individuals compete for trophies by having walk-offs. apparently this is where 'voguing' originated from. The people involved in these events belong to certain houses, sometimes named after fashion designers, which have a leader and somtimes several other ranking positions (house mother, house father). when you belong to the house, you incorporate it's name into your own name; for example if i belonged to the house of Xtravaganza I would be KD Fantasy Xtravaganza.

here are some famous houses:
House of Corey
House of LaBeija
House of Ninja (i think one of the house of ninja was on ANTM)
House of Pendavis
House of Garavani
House of Xtravaganza

This is a whole house performing, with a batman theme




Besides providing a support system for its members, the main function of these houses is to compete against one another in "walks" or "drag walks" in which they are judged on dance skills, costume, general appearance, and attitude. Participants dress according to category in which they are competing and are expected to display appropriate "realness.

Categories can include:
banjee realness (?)
butch queen (emphasizes masculinity)
executive realness (also known as Wall Street)
drag queen (emphasizes extravagance)
fag out (displaying androgyny and stereotypical gayness)
fem queen (emphasizes femininity)
old way (showcasing dance styles from circa mid-1990s and before)
preppie realness (also known as Town & Country)
AND MUCH MORE!!!

this is a good mix of new and old styles




This is a battle.



The majority of fashion and music used today is hip-hop based, and many people believe this culture has greatly influenced hip-hop style as we know it today.

here is an article about it on wikipedia (which i used to get all my info)
the movie Paris is Burning is also all about the ball scene

Drag is a form of control. By looking good one can feel good. By looking powerful, one can feel powerful. One can be powerful. Therefore, beauty begets control. Artifice equals power.