Miss Katherine Wolfgramme travels to Miss Cherry La Queer’s Costume Design Studioto discuss drag, make-up and other high camperies over a hot pot of freshly brewed tea.
Miss Katherine: When did you start doing drag?
Miss Cherry: When I was 16 I could not get into clubs because I lookedlike I wasaboutten yearsold, so my boyfriend at the time thought if I dressed up in drag nobody would be able to guess my real age the braces did not help.
K: Did you do shows straight away?
C: Miss Barbie Q – also a new girl on the scene – put my first drag face on me. We then became friendsand started hanging out. Barbie at that time had just started doing shows regularly and every now and again I would do one. My drag career developed from there.
K: Miss Barbie Q, what relation is she to you?
C: Barbie is sort of a drag mother only because she put my first face on me, but we really have always been more sisters than anything else. We are from the same era and have a lot of shared history.
K: Where have you performed?
C: I have performed pretty much everywhere you can in Perth. I have performed many times at The Court Hoteland Connie’s. A couple of years ago, drag was my sole income, so I did shows whenever and wherever I was needed. I also moved to Melbourne for a year and showed all around the traps there too.
K: Did you like performing in Melbourne?
C: I did actually. I found it different to Perth – different drag values and rules. In Perth drag is such a small commodity, we are able to charge a lot more because there are only a few queens workingprofessionally, but in Melbourne there are literally hundreds of drag queens who want to work.It is very cut throat and people charge a lot less. That was an eye opener for me, but I made lots of contacts over there and we still keep in touch.
K: What made you come back?
C: I had my twentieth birthday over there [Melbourne] and had been doing drag full time for over four years. With drag comes a party lifestyle and I was sort of going nowhere fast. I would always be tired through the week. I had just turned twenty and I realized my best friend back here in Perth was a year from finishing his Law degree and I said to myself ‘Crikey! What have I been doing with myself?’ Drag really is fun, but you cannot do it forever.
K: How did you get into Costume Design?
C: When I first started doing drag I used to go to a fabulous costume hire and designshop in Northbridge called ‘Pretty Woman’, owned by Gina and Lexi who are close friends of mine. For a young drag queen, the shop was ‘ drag heaven’.I was 16 andworking at Hungry Jacks, so I asked Gina if I could please do work experience. I would sweep the floor and tidy the racks, just so I could try on the shoes and wigs all day. [Gina] then put me through TAFE, so I could do sewing. NowI have my own work space in Gina’s workroom at ‘Pretty Woman’which is nowin Claremont.
K: Who are your clientele?
C: I have recently done costumes for Sarah Harmonywho is Absolute Kylie, a Kylie Minogue impersonator basically. I have just done a big contract with King’s Park for their Wildflower Festival – I did three large costumes for them. I am at the moment working as the costume designer for a new production for the Deck Chair Theater called Mimi Le Blanc, which is quite exciting. I am designing fabric prints to then be made into gowns.
K: How would you describe your drag style?
C: I love flawless dramatic make up and big hair. I really like everything to be heavily stylized and matching. I saw Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at the movies when I was 12 and I knew right there and then Guy Pearce’s ‘Look’ is how I thought a drag queen needed to look.
K: Have you ever rode on top of a bus with silver l’m flying behind you?
C: No, I drove to Geraldton once with a Barbie Doll on the boot. It was not quite the same…
K: Would you like to?
C: Bring me the bus!
