Autumn is fast approaching, and alongside the spine-chilling weather is the season to celebrate all things creepy and morbid. Aside from the beloved holiday of Halloween, the current state of the world mirrors the darkness many seek to replicate over the next month. From the tension of the 2024 U.S. presidential election to the mark of a full year since the escalation of genocide on Palestinians. The heightened visibility of our divided world makes it feel like there is little to celebrate.
In the face of a grim world, many artists have transformed this grief into something else, almost celebratory in itself. They are transmuting the violence and oppression towards their marginalized identities into weapons of beauty. They masterfully utilize the absurdities of societal expectations as the inspiration for their most impactful art. From elegant body contortionists of glamor to horrific drag artists, here are a few filthy and freaky fashion icons.
Michaela Stark – Beautiful Bondage
Michaela Stark is a model and designer, specializing in lingerie and revealing fashion. Her signature mark in her looks is tight bondage that nearly cuts into her skin. Her work designing corsets, bras and other pieces aim to highlight the bulge of her breasts, belly and fatter parts of her body many attempt to conceal in fashion. Stark is a trailblazer in the larger work of promoting body diversity in the fashion industry.
Most recently, Stark has designed and modeled for Victoria’s Secret, expanding the brand past its norm for petite bodies. Through her whimsical designs of fairy winged dresses, she is a storyteller of the bodies often hidden from the public eye. Bringing non-thin bodies into an ethereally sexual visibility is her specialty. Truly, her work is only amongst the more “freakish” side of fashion for those trapped in their fatphobia. Or perhaps, possibly also from the circulation cutting tightness of her designs.
Gena Marvin – Queering “Queendom”
Gena Marvin is one of many radical trans activists, using their performance art and drag persona as a method of Queer visibility. Unapologetic and confrontational, Marvin has an online presence notorious for its odd, uncomfortable nature. Often, Marvin dresses in costumes of latex, plastic or tape, which binds and restricts her movement. Further painful to watch is the videos of them falling over repeatedly in 12 inch stiletto heels straight from Lady Gaga’s “The Fame” era. They often sport these looks in public for passerby’s to interact with or even harass.
Marvin originates from a small town in Russia, and is no stranger to heavy discrimination for their Queer identity. In their debut documentary, “Queendom”, they escaped to Paris. Still, through their performance art that they continue to push the boundaries of, they acknowledge that a truly safe Queer space does not exist. They advocate for an integrated and welcoming world to Queer people and culture, alongside their need to challenge the norms of art, fashion, and heteronormativity.
Marvin is the embodiment of the age-old saying: art is meant to comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable. Despite the levels of discomfort unfamiliar eyes may experience when interacting with Marvin’s character, it is no match to the levels of pain they subject themselves to. Combining masochistic performance with freaky fashion, the result is a terrifying and tragic testament to Queers worldwide. They represent the visual manifestation of the painfulness of the Queer experience.
“Dragula” & Cutthroat Queer Visibility
Aligned with the values and many of the signature styles of Gena Marvin is the legacy of “Dragula”. Dragula is a competition show hosted by the iconic drag duo, Swanthula and Dracmorda (known as the Boulet Brothers). Taking the reigns of the cultural impact created by Rupaul’s Drag Race, the Boulets are looking to expand on Queer visibility in mainstream media. By casting a more diverse line-up racially and in gender orientation, they are radically succeeding the era of Rupaul.
SPOILER ALERT AHEAD!
Of the latest season, the two most impactful figures to look out for in the department of deadly dressing is finalist Orkgotik and winner Niohuru X. Both artists represented international drag visibility, as well as some of the most extraterrestrial creations of the season.
Drop-Dead Drag: Orkgotik & Niohuru X
Orkgotik is an Argentina-based artists whose special effect makeup with a heavy use of plastic wrap and latex create other-worldly flesh monsters. As well, Orkgotik’s outfits almost always consist of leather and metal textures such as the outfit they crafted below. They have a consistent appeal to some of the most unsettling and literal skin-crawling storytelling in their looks. Orkgotik is an emblem of what many of the Dragula contestants represent, a desire to view even the most frowned upon concepts as a beautiful artistic expression.
The recent winner of Dragula Season 5, Niohuru X, represents the intersections of her Trans-Femme and Chinese identities. She humorously describes herself as a “spooky transsexual”. Niohuru masterfully incorporates elements of her lived experiences into the storytelling of her fashion. Imagery of Dragons is present in her works, capturing the cultural significance of these fabled beasts in Chinese folklore. As well, elements of femininity and gender non-conformity mix perfectly in her craft.
One of the biggest elements of Niohuru’s designs is the prevalence of the “cybersigil” patterns, both in her tattoos and in her costume silhouettes. Blending the ideals of slutty Y2K streetwear with alien-like fantasies on the runway, Niohuru is the most unique and bold representation of modern trends. She carries herself not only with the energy of a winner, but as a visionary and an encapsulation of Gen-Z’s visual aesthetics. And the best part is, she is an unapologetically visible Trans woman of color, pushing boundaries, challenging norms, and not asking for permission or acceptance.
Gorey, Gothic, Gen-Z
Gen-Z is notorious for their desensitization of trauma. Being born into a world with heightened sensationalism of world events such as 9/11 and the War in Iraq, exposure to tragedy online has become routine. This is not to say that the generation of developing adults is entirely insensitive, more that they are unafraid of the darkness that surrounds them, and sometimes that which lurks within them.
These artists are only a glimpse into the potential of this generation’s potential for the expansion of the fashion and art world. Michaela Stark, Gena Marvin, and the Drag demons of “Dragula” are just a few icons breaking barriers. Bringing darkness and marginalized identities into the spotlight is something everyone can expect to see more of in the future.
