Drag for all: where brows get blocked and confidence unlocks
This is a cross-published piece with Mustang News, more information can be found here.
With their hand on the doorknob, Dylan Spencer stood just outside of the classroom where a workshop was being held. Peeking through the square glass of the door, flashes of brightly colored makeup pallets waved. The sound of laughter and instruction could be heard as they pushed the doorknob and entered the room.
“I saw it on the Drag Club Instagram and it looked so fun,” Spencer said. “I’ve seen the Drag Club perform before and I’ve been wanting to try drag but there’s such like a hurdle to get into it cause I don’t have that much makeup or anything, so I don’t really know what I’m doing. So it was cool to see this and go, ‘okay Drag 101 will be helpful, that will be good.'”
The Cal Poly Drag Club held its first Drag 101 workshop on campus last month. At the workshop, attendees were able to experiment with their drag look.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, drag is a performance art that uses costumes, makeup, wigs and other tools to present exaggerated forms of gender expression. Performances usually include music and some dancing.
After facing challenges with renewing the club’s status with Associated Students Inc. (ASI), the Drag Club was able to put the workshop on as its first event this quarter. The workshop aimed to create a safe space for those who wanted to experiment with drag.
Current members of the club attended the workshop in full drag ready to help with makeup, wigs and clothes.
“If you don’t have someone you know who does it, it’s really hard to start, so I wanted to have a beginner friendly little workshop,” club president Janine Santos said.
Attendees learned many technical skills, but they also learned lessons that will help them in the future if they continue to pursue this path.
“You can’t look like you’re going to the club, you can’t just put on a hoochie dress and you’re done, it has to be like almost ugly,” Santos said. “Because is it really drag if it’s not pushing boundaries? Make sure you’re pushing something. It could be your makeup, it could be your outfit, it could be the way you move but make sure that you’re pushing something, that you’re polarizing, because we’re polarizing people.”
The most difficult skill attendees worked on was brow blocking. Brow blocking is the method drag performers use to fully conceal their eyebrows. Using gluesticks, performers flatten and laminate their eyebrows to create a flat, seamless base. They then use concealer to create a blank canvas to draw exaggerated eyebrows onto.
Performing under the stage name The Great Mancar, Carmen Dechaine attended the workshop and helped teach people about makeup.
“Overall just learning the importance of there’s no right way to do drag you’re not supposed to look a certain way, you’re not supposed to have this kind of makeup, you can look whatever you want just throw something on your face, boom you’re in drag,” they said. “Drag is taking the cookie cutter of what people are supposed to look like and exaggerating it and making it just different and it’s my favorite part of it.”
As many attendees left with blocked brows, flamboyant eye makeup and painted faces, Santos hoped that they also left with a newfound sense of confidence and community.
“I feel like I didn’t have a lot of self confidence going into college and even if I hate my body or how I look or whatever, you’re in a room and people are loving you,” Santos said. “Like who are you to tell them that they’re wrong? You must look good, and so it gives you the addicting confidence.”
