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fashion and drag queens

 

             One is standing outside a restaurant on 1st Avenue called Lucky Cheng's. Chinese lettering and a bulletin board with newspaper clippings hint at what is going on inside the restaurant. Fashionably dressed people are running inside. The anticipation grows. Once inside, the senses go on overload. Many different smells, colors, and noises are in the atmosphere. Welcome to Lucky Cheng's. .
             A noticeable color scheme is red. The waitresses are beautiful. They are wearing mini skirts, bikini tops, and sequenced dresses, plat formed shoes, and stilettos. Their hair and makeup is immaculate. One begins to wonder how long it takes these drag queens to get ready. One also wonders how do they feel and what are they trying to portray? "How do these "women" identify themselves? What do they think their clothing choices mean? Do they feel powerful?.
             There are some drag queens that have male features and are wearing female clothing. Others have had sex change operations to look more feminine. Issues arise about gender and sex. Biologically, these waitresses are male. However, they identify themselves as females. According to the waitress, Tobell, when he was a child he would like to dress up in his mothers clothing. The clothing choices and accessories promote their identities as being female. The high heels, dresses, and skirts are articles of clothing that females are supposed to wear. According to the class notes on September 19, 2003, "gender is something you do.".
             Fashion and culture go hand in hand. Fashion can represent belonging to a certain group. Fashion constitutes social relations. Drag is its own culture. It may be compared to the semiotic model. Semiotics "defines social interaction as that which constitutes the individual as a member of a particular culture or society" (Barnard, p31). There is social interaction by messages. The interactions between two drag queens help make up the gender, culture, and meaning.


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