In this video, the face of our #beautyforme campaign, Violetta J’adore, does her make-up, while sharing how drag has impacted her life. A fan tries to recreate her look thinking it’s easy but it doesn’t go as planned!
Video by: Joana Ndoka, Gemma Romain, and Chantelle Lewis.
From Athens and Mykonos’ cabarets, the Greek drag scene’s diva shares her story, from serving the navy to producing and presenting the very first Drag Beauty Pageant in Greece. Meet Doukissa, the 30-year-old duchess of drag from Crete.
“When I was a kid, I used to dress up as a woman for the Greek Carnival. My sister would do my make-up, and my mother would lend me her most extravagant dresses from the 80s. When I was 18, I moved from Chania, Crete to Athens to study Public Administration at Panteion University. From a young age, I was a huge fan of Takis Zacharatos, a Greek entertainer who impersonates different public personas. Once I moved to Athens, I went to see one of his shows. With every other drag show that I would attend, the more I fell in love with drag.
Becoming a queen myself was a decision I made when I finished my military service at 25. During my time as a soldier, I was oppressed, and when I left the navy, I told myself that I wouldn’t ever engage in anything that represses me again. I decided to study interior design and created my very own drag queen persona. In 2015, a friend who used to organise events came up to me one day and asked me to perform a drag show for one of her events at a gay club in Athens. A year later, in March 2016, I chose to pursue drag professionally as Doukissa. Five years have gone by, and I haven’t looked back once!
I adopted the name Doukissa due to its double functionality; it’s both a name and a title. In Greek, it means duchess. Doukissa is a comedy and pageant drag queen who loves to interact with the audience. I love performing Christina Aguilera and Greek songs, and pop-folk songs of Angela Dimitriou, known as the Lady of Greek folk music, a diva indeed. From make-up styling to the concepts and choreographies, it’s all part of my vision. Some of my drag clothes are actually made by tailors who draw inspiration from my sketches. I also have store-bought dresses, which I personalise to fit Doukissa’s style. For the most part, my drag persona is the same person as me, George. George is social and flirty, Doukissa is super social and extra flirty. Whatever I am, Doukissa is too. But to a superlative degree.
When I told my loved ones that I wanted to become a drag queen, they were surprised at first due to my stereotypical “straight” look. While they’d never expected me to want to do something this feminine, they are very supportive. My parents’ only concern was whether drag has a stable income and how long it can last. Other than that, they were excited about my drag journey. They came and watched one of my shows in Chania, Crete and my mother gave me all her fancy dresses that I used to wear as a kid. In my personal life, the reactions have varied. I’ve met people who have felt bothered that I’m a drag queen, and I’ve met people who were excited to find out what I do and asked insightful questions. I have a pretty big fan club, which encourages me to keep being the diva duchess I am. I’ve made sure that the people around me aren’t toxic, so I’ve never had anyone question or made me question my decisions.
Ever since we’ve been in lockdown, I’ve been practising drag on social media. I collaborate with other queens and interact virtually with my fans as much as possible. I’ve also been organising the very first beauty pageant for drag queens in Greece. “Miss Hellas Drag Pageant” will take place on the 11th of June 2021 and I will be the event’s host. One of the judges will be Lenn Ryberg, one of the first to bring the drag scene to Greece, doing shows in Mykonos back in 1982. I’m very excited and proud of this project. I am trying to promote drag as much as possible in my home country, one of my goals being to make the drag pageant an annual institution in Greece.
Drag is literally everything to me. It’s magic, it’s art, and it’s expression. I’m one of those people who live for drag. Although it takes me an hour to do my make-up, it really feels like five minutes. I enjoy it so much, and I honestly get lost in the process. I get nervous when waiting to perform because I only serve the best even though I’ve been doing this for years. But once I hear my song start, it all goes away, and there I am doing my thing! My favourite performance was probably during Thessaloniki Pride in 2019. I got on stage, and ten thousand people were singing along with me – the feeling I had is unforgettable.
One of the difficulties of this job is the lack of dressing rooms for drag queens at clubs. I’ve often had to get dressed at my house and ride my motorbike dressed up to get to the venue. Having my personal space is definitely a challenge for me. Some clubs don’t even have a stage, and you have no other choice than having to perform in between people or in a small area which limits you, especially in long-ass heels. But at most of the venues I’ve performed, I communicated with the owner and found solutions.
Like in many other jobs, when you first start, you are poorly paid. The money is little, to even non-existent sometimes. It takes time to build your personal brand and raise the standards. Having a fair salary is a problem that many artists face, as they are often neglected by the government.
During this pandemic, things have been even harder financially for creatives. Being an artist who cannot work because of Covid, I received a sum of money from the Greek government. But this rule only applies to those who have a contract, and freelancers, unfortunately, are on their own. Even though it’s going to be hard when things go back to normal, it’s crucial for all drag queens to keep the same fee and not lower it; otherwise, we all risk being exploited. The pandemic has already made the prices drop, to the point where they don’t even cover the basic expenses. Hospitality and Entertainment have been damaged the most by this pandemic, and consequently, so have drag queens.
Greece has improved in terms of LGTBQIA+ acceptance, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for progress. Thankfully I’ve never experienced any verbal or physical abuse for being a drag queen, and I walk around dressed in drag a lot. I don’t know if that is because I don’t take bullshit from anyone or if I’ve just been lucky. In terms of drag, people seem to enjoy the performances and acknowledge it for what it is, a form of art. More and more people have found the courage to pursue drag, and it’s a beautiful thing to see.”
A drag king’s look is more than just a suit and a beard. It can be time-consuming to perfect. But fear not, you don’t need to raid the men’s section to achieve the right look for you.
GiGi’s got you covered with eight essentials to guide you towards looking the part. Some of these items are so accessible, they may even be lying around in your dad’s swanky wardrobe. Execute all eight, and watch yourself rise to rule the KING-dom. We even brought our very own drag king for that expert analysis. Victor Vendetta, a former drag virgin, who has reached stardom in the Soho area of London for his different drag king personalities. “Dressing up as a drag king gives me that mental freedom. I have so much to show through this persona I perform from,” he says. “That adrenaline going from a girly girl to a man in a three-piece suit eradicates any pressures I face as a female in life. It allows my performative side to flourish, and sometimes, we all need a break from being ourselves. Transforming myself into that mighty king grants me that, and I can guarantee that after these eight fundamentals, GiGi viewers will be enticed to do the same.”
So, let’s get you all kinged up!
On the verge of almost giving up on drag to overcoming her battles and embracing her scars. Meet the extravagant Morganaclair, a small-town boy from Brazil with dreams larger than life.
“Sometimes I stop to think about how much I have been through for my age and it seems unreal. First and foremost, my name is Sharon. I’m 20 years old. Yes, a baby, right? I’m a typical countryside boy from Espiríto Santo, Brazil, who grew up in a small city called São Roque do Canaã. I went through all the struggles and difficulties that most gay teenagers go through in school and society. I was bullied, beat up by girls and boys, was left out of football classes during PE, and when I did play, the boys would do everything possible to hurt me. I’ve had my head put inside the toilet, clothes ripped; really anything you can imagine has happened to me during school.
I didn’t have a father figure present for a significant time in my life, so I grew up with my mother and stepfather. I didn’t get along with my stepfather, so when my mother left for London, I went my own way too. I moved in with my friend Alexandre, who was the fuse to the start of my drag queen journey. The small town we lived in was extremely conservative; everyone was very narrow and closed-minded. We were the only openly gay boys in the city, and I think that Moraganaclair came to me as a refuge. For me to find myself as a person. As gay Sharon, people thought I’d have that gay boy attitude. The one where I’d repress myself and when you put yourself in a place that others put you in, you give them the power to do whatever they’d like. Whereas when I came out as a drag queen, it was written all over my face: “yes I am gay and I’m not ashamed of it,” then the oppressor feels repressed to do anything to you. When I started with Morganaclair, I thought, “Wow, this takes me out of that dark place that I feel people put me in and brings me back to who I am.”
It all started when I was 14 years old and Alexandre introduced me to RuPaul’s Drag Race, it was all new to me; I had never heard of drag, nor ever seen a king or queen. As we started watching the show together, something new awoke inside me. I’ve always loved makeup. I must’ve come out of the crib with a makeup brush and when I started watching RuPaul, I thought, “I like this, I think this is what I want to do.” So, I borrowed a wig from my grandmother, got some “bathroom makeup” and did a whole makeup look; I looked a mess, but I thought I was fabulous. I took a photo of myself and sent it to my friend saying, “Girl… I look beautiful, perfect, I am drag.”
Then came my drag’s name, and the process was long. Alexandre and I thought of so many names; Paloma, Tiffany, Princess, Patricia… but I was like, sis, these are not it. Then I remembered this cartoon that I used to watch as a kid called Castelo Ra-Tim-Bum, where the witch’s name was Morgana. She was fab. But we still needed more, something that would fit with Morgana. And there we were, one day, two gays walking around the mall looking at store names that would match, and we found Clair. Morganaclair it was. After the name, came the construction of my identity. I always try to portray the woman figure as closely as possible. I try to bring a more feminine and delicate woman and sometimes a mulherão, you know, that Brazilian woman, who’s all empowered.
Once that was all set, I started performing in school when I was 15. This was my time to shine. When the big day arrived, I looked ugly as hell but felt fantastic. It was incredible because I received a very unexpected reaction from people. After all, Sharon as a gay boy, he was rejected in school, no one respected him. Then people saw me in drag… I remember going down the stairs in my school building and when everyone saw me, they were like, “wooowww” and everyone started screaming. I really hadn’t expected this, and it gassed me up so much. I knew I needed to feel that again. I wanted to, and I would. After that, everyone talked about me; I was the centre of attention. That is why I say that Morganaclair brought me comfort; it was through her that people got to know me better.
Although drag was a gateway for me, I have also suffered a lot because of it. I’ve been mistaken as a transgender boy; on the streets, people would stop to ask me how much the program cost. I felt this lack of acceptance in relation to everything, employment, social inclusion, even my family wasn’t accepting of me, only my mother because the rest didn’t take me seriously; they thought that being gay was alright but drag was too much. But eventually I said fuck it, they weren’t the ones who raised me anyways.
Despite everything, I didn’t give up. This was primarily because of my mum. She was very supportive, both when I came out as gay and as a drag queen. I’ll never forget the moment when I came out. I was hysterically crying on my bed and my mum looked at me and said, “You will never stop being my son, not because of this or anything else, so don’t worry and go wash the dishes.” It was very gratifying because I wasn’t expecting this from her. I think that my persistence must stem from how tough she is.
Another key person in my journey was Alexandre; my mum was the key, and he was the lock. He was already openly gay when I met him in school, so I had him as a point of reference. We formed a bond, a friendship, we had a romance for some time, broke up, were enemies, lovers again, best friends and now brothers. He has helped me with everything. I used to watch how he’d live his life, how he’d behave, how he’d walk, and I just admired him so much. He was and continues to be a significant person in all aspects of my life. He was the first person I came out to, he was my drag mum, the one who put the wig on my head, gave me my name, his home for me to get ready… I have so much to thank him for.
In these five years, I did take a break from drag when I moved to the land of Pão de Queijo (cheese balls), Minas Gerais. My mental health wasn’t good; I had just gotten out of a relationship and started to get depressed. I even started asking myself whether drag was worth all the worries. It wasn’t until I moved to London two years ago that I got back into doing it. I believe that if I hadn’t moved here, I don’t think I would’ve ever gone back to doing drag. And it’s funny, I didn’t know anything about this place, nor the language or the people. Still, I noticed how differently people are treated here. Regardless of their religion, gender, ethnicity, there’s a lot more acceptance. So, I bought my first wig here, and I knew I had to go back to drag. This is my world, this is what I like to do, this is Sharon.
Now, I’m doing drag more as a hobby really, I don’t have performances as I did in Brazil. When I moved to London, my idea was to show the city my drag but due to the pandemic, I had a change in plans. I plan on doing a degree in design, or artistic makeup, but for now, I’m just a “bathroom drag” with her little stool, mirror and makeup. My main goal with drag though, would be to make a living out of it and become famous and recognised for my work. My ultimate dream is to have my TV show called ‘Good Morning with Morgana’. It can be for five minutes on SBT TV, it doesn’t matter, it would make me the happiest drag. Doing what, I don’t know, but I want my own show.
If you’re thinking about starting drag, I would tell you to never lose faith in yourself. You’re going to go through many things that will make you want to give up but if you’re faithful and confident in your work, then I believe you can go very far. It’s about determination and willpower. If you’re thinking about doing it, do it, it will be the best thing you’ll ever do. It’s a choice you make that can change your life and who you are entirely. It transformed me as Sharon, and I know it can have the same effect on you as well.”
