Through this project I not only got to develop my photography abilities but also my way of approaching concepts. The theme of diversity intrigued me as I would have never thought that fashion can be so diverse. Identity, character and self-portrayal are questioned in relation to the wider context of representation, where self-image and disposition are frequently exploring photography’s purpose in the political of the body, gender, sexuality and subversion of cultural norms. Initially, I had started focusing on the variety of skin types and unconventional faces of models such as Shaun Ross and Winnie Harlow. My research took me through several ideas such as androgyny and transgender people but I finally ended up on the effects of drag culture and fashion. Fashion is developed by us, the creatives. Within these ‘creatives’ there are a lot of LGBT’s which lives have been restricted so as they tend to be more open minded they strive forward in this industry. RuPaul Charles, the world’s first drag queen that became a supermodel said ‘you’re born naked and the rest is drag’. This positive message makes you imagine a blurred gender stereotype and the illustration of the influence of fashion in drag and vice versus. A fashion icon and inspiration is Miss Jay Alexander, who featured for 18 seasons on America’s Next Top Model inspiring youngest to become successful super models. Drag queens have also inspired this century’s make up habits as they use to contour their faces plenty of years before we learned how to do it, which is currently the new trend. RuPaul also mentioned that he loves “the idea of shape-shifting and creating an identity for yourself, then creating another one, and then another. That’s what we humans really are: we’re shape-shifters.” For me this is exactly what fashion is, creating identities. My aim through this project is to reach out to people that are closed to themselves in order to show that any shape or form, gender or race it is okay to be yourself and it is okay to transform to anything you want to cause this is what fashion is to me. Through this project I got to meet with a drag queen called “Sally Vate”. Engaging and working with him/her was incredible as I got to see his transformation step by step and also ask him questions such as where he shops from and what inspires him. His respond was energetic people like myself inspire him which boosted up my confidence and motivated me to make the most of the shoot. LGBT issues have become much more popular and acceptable nowadays which allow representatives of such communities to become more visible. “Drag culture is clearly a movement that has balls as well as blusher”. Barry Didcock
