As part of my research I wanted to speak to designers, makers and performers who already had experience in the world of drag, and find out about their process. I thought audio interviews might be a good way of getting information in a way that wouldn't be too time consuming for the participant. I hoped that I could then edit these and present them in a mini podcast.
In January 2021, when the UK had abruptly reentered lockdown, I took a chance and asked the RuPaul's Drag Race UK finalist, Divina De Campo, if they would be willing to speak to me and was delighted when they agreed.
Out of all the queens that performed on that season, Divina was the most interesting to me as they were a great all-rounder but were also particularly good at sewing and making. Divina won the sewing challenge that season, but you can also see a lot of their own makes on their Instagram page.
It was great to hear about how Divina went about making an outfit - both solo and collaborating with others.
I asked about using women's sewing patterns and what alterations they usually made. A lot of what Divina said lined up with data I had collected from my questionnaire on the same subject.
I also learned that the Drag Race queens had just 3 weeks to get together 20+ outfits, being given just a title to work from, and so had to quickly outsource a lot of help. Again, as a designer, it was really helpful to hear the process for something like that, from someone who makes and performs.
My second interview was with the designer maker Lizzie, of Lizzie Biscuits. Lizzie is famous for making elaborate costumes that have caught the attention of many drag queens. I first came across her work after watching Drag SOS and seeing an outfit modelled by the drag queen Cheddar Gorgeous.
Lockdown was still ongoing at this point with venues still closed, so we talked about how Lizzie's working process had had to adapt from being in person to online. She was very generous with her knowledge and shared a lot of tips about how dressmaking for drag differs from regular dressmaking.
The interviews were recorded over Zoom with the audio recorded separately, and then edited in Adobe Audition. This was my first time using editing software and I found it a little intimidating at first, but came to enjoy it.
You can listen to both these podcasts in the podcast section here.
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