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Clothes (and tucking) make the woman
Fashion tricks can change a man into a drag queen
by angie simpson • features@kansan.com
SURFER GIRL
As you might imagine, the Internet is teeming with information about how to become a better drag queen. Here are a few to start you out:
Trying to make the perfect breasts but not having much luck? Take a look at The Breast Form FAQ for answers to your pressing questions: www.maryhill.com/
www.eskimo.com/
~bloo/bformfaq/
The Online Gender Support Group provides help and resources, as well as access to the #Crossdress chat channel.
www.best.com/
~cdserv>
The Cornbury Society is a support group for heterosexual male cross-dressers:
www.3dcom.com/ta/cornbury/
Check out The Gender Mall for all your clothing needs:
www.tgni.com/mall/
For more information, point your browser to www.yahoo.com and type cross dressing.
Kahlua bounces up and down on stage to a pop song blaring over the loud speakers at Ellsworth Hall. She stops briefly to fix her hair, which is bouncing in time with the beat. Then she smiles seductively at the judges.
Kahula spent hours preparing for this evening, deciding finally on a daringly short, black spandex t-shirt dress with royal blue stripes down the sides showing off her taller-than-six foot frame. At the end of the evening, Kahula, better known as Xavier Rice, Roeland Park freshman, was crowned queen of the Ellsworth Hall drag show.
More than just a fun time for participants, drag shows can be profitable as well.
Rice also has performed at Pearls, 1108 Grand St., in Kansas City, Mo. He said hoped to do occasional shows during the summer to earn money.
"You get about $40 for a fast number," Rice said. "You dance around the dance floor and people stuff tips in your bra."
He performed at the Queers and Allies drag show Friday in front of the Kansas Union.
The amount of time to prepare for a show is phenomenal. Makeup alone can take an hour, after hours rehearsing and choreographing a lip-synch number.
"First off, you have to pick the dress and that's really important depending on the type of number you do." Rice said. "For example, if I were going to do a Janet Jackson number, I'd have to wear something tight and short you could bounce around in. If I were going to do a slow number I'd wear a long, covering, slow movement kind of outfit."
Zig-a-zig-ah: The "Spice Force Five" group lip-syncs the "Spice Girl's hits to a screaming crowd (above). Both students and faculty gathered to watch the lunch-time show on Friday outside the Kansas Union.
Left: Hundreds watch and even participate in the annual Queers and Allies drag show.
Bottom: A coy KC Marina entices Ivana Moore over a tip. This was the fifth annual drag show on the University of Kansas campus.
Photos by Sean Haley/ KANSAN
"Making breasts is not very simple at all," Rice said. "If you put too much stuffing in one you have loppy breasts." Breasts can be formed by stuffing nylons with fiberfill stuffing. After creating the proper shape, they are stuffed into a bra.
Creating cleavage for lower cut dresses is also a sticky process.
"You push your nipples up as far as you can and squeeze you chest together," Rice explains. "Then you duct tape where your hands were. When you tape, you have the skin that looks like cleavage so it looks like you actually have breasts."
Sculpting a hourglass figure is not easy either.
After creating the figure, makeup is usually the next step.
"You suck in and wrap the stomach in saran wrap so you don't get tape on the skin," Rice said. He covers the plastic wrap in duct tape to form a tight corset. "That makes it tight and smooth. It hurts, but its all for the show. You sweat a whole bunch in there too."
"You have to hide the male features first." Rice explains. "You cover the face in foundation and cover the cheekbones. Then you create female features like larger lips and eyes. You have to move your cheekbones down. You use hard makeup lines so your cheeks look different."
Hair is perhaps the easiest preparation step if a wig is used.
"Your wig is so very important because it completely defines the character," Rice said. "You can have a big, furry wig that's just wild or a nice conservative wig or a bright, odd colored wig."
Laws must either be shaved or nylons can be lavered to create the same effect.
enioved bv Rice.
The final step of preparation is the least
Shoes can be tricky because larger sizes are hard to find and many heels are not thick enough to carry Rice's heavier frame
"Tucking!" he exclaims with disgust. "Usually you do it right before you go on. Tucking is taking the male genitalia and stuffing it between your legs so that it won't stick out and that you can't see it. It's as painful as it sounds. No one likes to do it."
Rice cites his "drag mommy" as one of the most crucial people in the process.
"A drag mommy is the person who shows you the correct way to do drag and points out all the things you're doing wrong," Rice said. "I wore flats (shoes) to the Ellsworth show and my drag mommy yelled at me for that."
["He] was seeing a drag queen and so we got him dressed up." Rice said. Rice
It was Rice's drag mommy who introduced him to the drag process.
decided it looked like fun and got dressed up as well. "They were like 'Wow! You should do this a lot.' They told me I couldn't be a drag queen without a drag mommy. It's like a close knit family type of thing."
Dressing in drag is not a frequent activity for Rice, a vocal performance major.
"I don't want to get too involved in it," Rice said. "I don't want to get stuck with it, especially with a career as a performer. I don't want them to be 'Oh, you have a drag queen role. Let's call Xavier."
In the meantime, drag provides a different option for fun.
"You really get the opportunity to completely show off and make an ass of yourself," Rice said. "But if you're really good, you don't make an ass out of yourself and people find it really neat. It's a lot of fun."
WANTED!
PROJECT COORDINATORS
Have you always wanted to make a significant difference in the lives of people? Do you care about social issues such as illiteracy, homelessness, and violence? Then it's your chance to work with a team of college students that affect community changes! The Co-Directors of KU Center for Community Outreach are currently seeking applications for 1998-1999 Project Coordinators.
Applications available at CCO Office (400 Kansas Union) Applications due at 5 p.m. on Monday, April 27 Questions? Call Jamie or Emily at 864-4073
Project Coordinators manage a volunteer program that involves recruiting and training volunteers, coordinating volunteer schedules, and
maintaining contact with community groups. Project Coordinators also serve on the Center for Community Outreach Executive Board.
maintaining contact with community groups. Project Coordinators also serve on the Center for Community Outreach Executive Board.
- Students on Board
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