Photograph by Devyn Glista
OCCUPATION: Student, pursuing opera and drag
STYLE: As Henry Lunn: “Ironic. Swashbuckling. Thrifted. Oversized and sheer. No! Leopard-print.” As Twink Trash: “Camp. Meta. Corseted and painful. Drag hurts.”
We have to start with that viral video of your grandmother reacting to one of your drag outfits.
My grandmother, first of all, is an angel icon. She went to school for fashion. She taught my mom to sew, and they both taught me to sew. More importantly, she taught me to appreciate fashion and respect what goes into it. Whenever I’m in a new outfit for a shoot or a performance, I always have to go into her room, do a little spin. She takes pictures. She sends them to her church friends.
How long have you been making your own clothes?
I was homeschooled from fifth grade to eighth grade because I was pursuing opera professionally at that point. As a child—especially as a boy, before your voice changes—it’s a very specific role that not too many people can fill, so I was doing opera nonstop. I also had outdoor [classes], how to create a garden in our backyard, how to sew. I began drag at 15. I didn’t start to actually sew my own drag designs until a year into drag, and it didn’t get good for a while.
For your senior opera recital, you performed in drag. What is the connection between the two?
I wanted to present myself as the artist I’m presenting to the world. I’m a drag artist. I’m a classical musician, and I respect and I love the roots of classical music, but art genres need to be relevant and need to have a reason to exist. I’m really invested in the future of classical music, and I see drag as a really wonderful platform.
https://www.tiktok.com/@cincinnatimagazine/video/7107678026556722474?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1
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