PARIS IS BURNING

I re-watched Paris Is Burning (1990) last night, and it struck me how much more subversive and interesting drag and LGBTQ+ culture was before it went mainstream. Now, the culture has become as normalised as Saturday night quiz shows on television (e.g., RuPaul's Drag Race), lacking the vibrancy and buzz found in Jennie Livingston's iconic documentary. Frankly, Sam Smith self-partnering and flaunting his flabby buttocks while wearing feathery headdresses in pop videos just doesn’t compare to the ‘real’ marginalized characters depicted here.

Of course, this 'progression' happens to the best of movements. Starting out as cool and underground often carries immense raw energy for a time, but inevitably, it fizzes out and loses its edge once commercialised and corporatised, turning into a pastiche of what it once mocked and paid tribute to—in this case, luxury fashion.

One could argue that Virgil Abloh’s tenure as creative director at Louis Vuitton (2018–2021, before his untimely passing) represents the symbolic and artistic apex of what began in the drag balls of New York City, as recorded in Paris Is Burning. Abloh’s work bridged streetwear with luxury fashion at the highest level. It’s perhaps no coincidence that Kanye West, Abloh’s creative 'partner in crime', sampled soundbites from Paris Is Burning for Teyana Taylor’s track "WTP" on her album K.T.S.E. (2018), which he produced. The accompanying video for "WTP" is an overt mockumentary homage to Paris Is Burning. This makes sense, given Taylor’s Brooklyn roots and her career as a dancer and singer, clearly influenced by the ballroom culture depicted in the original documentary with its signature 'voguing'.

What continues to impress me about Paris Is Burning is how much it says within its relatively short runtime about the ingenuity of humans to be creative despite impoverished circumstances. The film brilliantly highlights class and wealth divisions in America, as well as the aspirational efforts of those living in poverty to recreate a sense of high living using old knitting machines and threadbare material resources.

It serves as a potent reminder for all of us: everything we need to create is already within our grasp.

That’s the beauty of art and culture.