Headdress, Costume and Print Commissions with a Drag Artist, 2017–2018
Cheddar Gorgeous
Cheddar Gorgeous is a drag artist and performer based in Manchester. Over 2017 and 2018 I made a run of things with and for them: a geometric headdress for New Year’s Eve, a spiked headpiece for the Life Ball in Vienna, and the printed fabric behind a whole protest. This gathers that work, from the first headdress to Drag Against Trump.
Working with Cheddar
Cheddar Gorgeous is a drag artist and performer based in Manchester, and over a couple of years I made a run of things with and for them. Cheddar is exactly the sort of person you want wearing your work, someone who takes flat geometry, a headdress, a length of printed cloth, and turns it into a presence in a room.
The New Year’s Eve Headdress
It started with a headdress. For New Year’s Eve at the Refuge, Cheddar wore a geometric piece built from my work, a spiked burst of shapes off the head with face makeup to match. The Moderate Realism look lifted off the wall and onto a person, worn out for the biggest night of the year.
The Vienna Life Ball Headpiece
The next spring I built a headpiece for the Life Ball in Vienna, the big AIDS charity ball at the city hall. A huge spiked headdress in cream, worked out in the studio on the person who would wear it, then worn by Cheddar on the red carpet at the Wiener Rathaus as part of a full look. I made the headpiece; the rest of the outfit was theirs.
Drag Against Trump
The biggest of the commissions was the fabric for Drag Against Trump. Cheddar asked me to print cloth for a protest against Trump’s UK visit, a repeating collage pattern run in three colourways and made up into costumes for the march in London. It has its own case study, but it belongs here too, as the last and largest of the things Cheddar and I made together.
Commission a Similar Piece
If you are a performer or an artist who wants their own work made, a headdress, a costume piece, a length of printed fabric to build a look around, get in touch.
Questions
Who is Cheddar Gorgeous?
A drag artist and performer based in Manchester.
What did you make?
A geometric headdress for New Year’s Eve at the Refuge, a spiked headpiece for the Life Ball in Vienna, and the printed fabric for Drag Against Trump.
Did you make the whole Life Ball outfit?
No, just the headpiece. The rest of the look was Cheddar’s.
From the Journal
The Collaboration, Entry by Entry
Dated entries for the work made with Cheddar, from the first New Year’s Eve headdress to the Life Ball and the Drag Against Trump fabric.