My Backdoor is Always Open
February Fourteenth Twenty Twenty Six
This performance was my first reintroduction back into drag after years of not performing (I would post my original drag photos but that was from when I was a minor and, yea no I'm not posting that), I originally quit drag as drag for me was always political, it was a way to question the societal rules that we had around us and I found most drag I saw to be too corporate for my tastes, my drag family, the Haus of Pearl, and Dragula really brought that love of drag back to life after ten years of neglecting it. I chose this song because it explores the love and acceptance of sexuality in women while owning and controlling that sexual desire to it's maximum extent possible, essentially a woman who vaginatized (pussmatized?) an entire town. Just like how my fake butthole was stretched to the maximum extent possible. I crocheted that hole out of cheap polyester yarn and adorned it with 3 handmade (fake) pearl strings, however, much like real life my cum pearl strings broke everywhere in the car just outside the bar and I was left with only one left when I actually performed. As for the outfit, I handmade the entire outfit from a polyester silk imitation that cost me two dollars a yard. As for the fringe at the bottom of the dress that was somehow seven dollars a yard which essentially tripled the cost of the entire outfit. I thought about making the fringe myself as it's not a hard process but the way the material reflects in the light made me fall in love with it. As for the actual dress pattern itself I wanted a look that was an homage to Elvira while keeping some of the elements from the "husband killer" dress aesthetic (pattern link down below). I originally wanted to get a modest breastplate and designed the entire outfit around that chest width. However, seeing my drag grandmother Khloe Quarterpounder perform really made me want to essentially quadruple the size of my titties, so I hand sowed button holes and buttons to help adjust the chest size without altering the size of the dress too much. Unfortunately, I do need to tailor the dress to that breastplate much more than I actually did and you can see in the video that often times the silhouette is not as flattering to the breastplate size as it could be. As for the performance itself I'm genuinely pleased with it and love it. Whenever I preform I essentially listen to that one song on loop the entire week before the performance to the point where I hate listening to that song, and that's when I know I'm ready to perform as I know pretty much every word at that point. The one part that could be improved was the ending reveal of the fake butthole, and luckily my drag grandmother Rogue Roulette was there to help me show it off. I personally enjoy how expressive this version of my makeup was and the emphases on cheek details played an important role in shaping my makeup dynamic in the future. I realized very quickly that my makeup could really bring out how naturally expressive I am. This performances makeup is also when I knew I wanted my drag name related to my Armenian last name however I was unsure if I wanted my drag persona to be formally Armenian as well, I enjoy playing with a clown concept, however I find that I don't often wish to be described as a clown drag monster if I want to focus mainly on exploring the reinterpretation of historical and modern Armenian art. One idea I originally had for my performances was making yarn based wigs as I wanted a "crafty" look to my character, this is something I still think about however I find that each yarn wig I attempt to make does not have the color, texture, and shape that I would enjoy to perform in, they often feel too stiff for comfort. I made a red yarn wig that I scrapped and attempted to reuse for my puppets wig for my Disney and Dreamworks performance to little success. I also often float the idea of going completely wigless to myself as I personally enjoy a stylized hijab for my persona's aesthetic. Though a nice red Ronald McDonald wig does look fucking good on me. If you're wondering why I paint black under my chin it's to mimic my face being surrounded by fabric when I'm not wearing a hijab or face shroud (and it helps define my round face). Overall I would give this performance a solid 9/10, I appreciate my ambition by not only sewing my entire outfit, but also crocheting and trying to make a wig from scratch in the span of five days. I also enjoyed the exploration of my personal aesthetic and my ability to just try something out without it being too serious.
Pattern Link
Photos by EyesOfJen, Video by Thundertron
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