How Chicago drag designers are pushing the boundaries of fashion

Sangria LaRose Whine, who was hosting a club night dedicated to iconic ‘90s designer Lisa Frank, had one objective for her outfit.

“I want to look like a balloon animal come to life,” the Buena Park-based drag queen told designer Mats Dahlberg, who works under her first name.

Mats created a bright pink, yellow, blue and purple vinyl puffer jacket stuffed with polyester fiberfill. She accentuated the exterior with large cheetah spots made from synthetic rubber. And she added patches of rainbow cheetah print inside the sleeves and pockets.

At her first fitting for the jacket — and a matching skirt — Whine could barely contain her excitement.

“It’s so fierce!” Whine exclaimed from Mats’ Ukrainian Village apartment in early June. “I’m in love. Truly, I’m gagged.”

But Mats was just as elated to see her work modeled by Whine. 

“To me, fashion is an art form, but it is brought to life by being worn,” said Mats, 23, who is also a drag performer. “I love making people’s grand visions come true.”

Such magic-making happens all the time in the world of drag. Designers astound with everything from elegant gowns to whimsical costumes. And these outfits must be crafted to fit a variety of body types, with some constructed to endure the rigors of performance and intricate reveals.

“If you want something more eccentric, you might go to Eda Birthing or Mats,” said Chicago drag queen Miss Toto. “If you want pageantry, you’re going to Utica or Joshuan Aponte. It’s like you have the whole spectrum of what you could possibly get in Chicago. In a lot of other cities, you might not be able to even find someone to sew you one thing, but in Chicago you can find someone to sew anything.”

All of this sewing, beading, draping and corset-making is often done while navigating tight deadlines, budget constraints and, at times, anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. And it’s not just nightclub crowds and TV shows like “RuPaul’s Drag Race” taking notice; drag fashion in Chicago has inspired art exhibitions.

“I do see them as sculptures or works of wearable art,” Mat said of her pieces. “I think anything can be an art form if you elevate it to that level.”

To many of these local designers, the act of creating is also an act of service, as they say they are continually influencing and uplifting each other.

Mats: Handiwork inspired by intricate craftmaking

Mats’ home studio contains an abundance of fanciful garments, including her popular fabric, “goblin-style” headpieces. One was even worn by Lana Ja’Rae on the 17th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Mats’ mastery in this area is another example of ingenuity among drag designers; she originally started making headpieces because she couldn’t afford nice wigs.

A graduate of Columbia College Chicago, Mats said she comes from a legacy of makers.

“I really like to take inspiration from those who came before me, specifically my great-grandmother and her doilies,” she said. “But at the time, they would never have been considered fine art. They were confined to the home space and thought of as craft or trivial or women’s work simply because of who was performing it. But these actions are so intricate and complicated.”

Mats exhibited her hand-beaded tapestry last spring at her first solo show, “Symbiosis,” at the Epiphany Center for the Arts. On display there, too, was “primordial partywear” from her fashion show, “CELLEBRATION,” and prints of drag performers wearing her clothes.

“Being able to showcase these photographs next to the garments themselves, and put drag artists on display in a fine art context was really impactful and important to me,” she said.

Eda Birthing: Making outfits with otherworldly flair

Some designers create new worlds for their clients, while others invite their clients into an existing universe, or aesthetic. No one embodies the latter more than Eda Yorulmazoglu, the 31-year-old Turkish American designer and performer behind the “Eda Birthing” brand.

Yorulmazoglu refers to her bright and eccentric garments as “creatures” or “friends.” There are gloves with long fingers, petal skirts, hand-shaped handbags, masks with giant eyeballs and even a massive, three-eyed, bug-like backpack.

“It’s just like carrying your friend with you,” said Yorulmazoglu, who splits her time between Chicago and Türkiye, where fabrics are less expensive.

 As a designer, Yorulmazoglu challenges expectations and structural limitations. For example, one piece in her rack features pants worn as a top and a shirt worn as a bottom. A pivotal experience at the now-closed Berlin nightclub in Lake View inspired her approach, after Yorulmazoglu spent the night dressing the drag queens there as a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

“They would just flip everything around,” she said. “It was like nothing was as it seemed. That was the night that I actually found my home.”

Since then, she has created multiple fashion collections and designed for several “Drag Race” contestants.

“Drag queens are my favorite customers because they’re just so open-minded,” she said.

JForPay: An engineer’s mind in the costume shop

Chicago drag performer Willow Pill was looking for an imaginative designer while competing on season 14 of “Drag Race.” For the finale, she came up with an idea to wear a David Byrne-inspired, oversized striped pink suit with two reveals: Removing the jacket would uncover pants stretching up to her shoulders. And the pants would give way to a bedazzled bodysuit underneath.

“I needed to bring it to someone who knows more about construction and is willing to try something new,” said Pill, who ultimately won the season.

Pill hired Uptown designer Loren J., who creates and performs under the name JForPay.

“I always tell people that costuming for drag is just like engineering,” said Loren J., 32. “I don’t have an engineering background, but I am drawing up schematics. I am calculating measurements trying to figure out how to get things to sit over each other for a reveal like that. And it was intense. But we pulled it off.”

Loren J. said her interdisciplinary study at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has informed her “colorful, sparkly and grandiose” design style. Among her other noteworthy looks is a crash test dummy outfit that Chicago drag queen Denali wore on “Drag Race” and a green, puffer-like hoop skirt, flower corset and yellow watering can purse she created for drag queen Robin Fierce.

“I really love materials and texture,” Loren J. said. “Sometimes it’s just seeing the way that something plays in the light. I try not to reference high fashion too much because I am not really interested in the hierarchy of fashion. I want to produce things that feel both otherworldly, but also accessible. Luxury is kind of boring.”

Bosston and Trisha Can: A community built on camaraderie

Mastering essential skills is just as important as creating an eye-catching ensemble, according to Boston Cervantes, who designs and performs under the name Bosston.

“Tailoring is important to me,” said Bosston, 27, of Buena Park, who is also a “drag daughter,” or mentee, of Miss Toto. “Cleanliness is important to me. So, while it might not be the most complex, it’s going to be clean and beautiful.”

Bosston points out some deeper benefits of drag performers working as designers.

“Drag performers sewing for other drag performers is so important because it keeps us connected and it keeps us united as a community,” she said. “It keeps the money within the family and it helps us all at the end of the day.”

Some designers, like Trisha Can, 25, of Uptown, also share their self-made garment patterns with others in the drag community.

“I feel like there’s a camaraderie,” said Can, who is known as Emerson Ganton when not performing or designing. “We all have each other’s numbers. We all call each other for help.”

A self-taught artist, Can’s clients now include popular local drag queens such as Lucy Stoole, Bambi Banks-Couleé and Miss Toto. Can also teamed up with Christi Da Vinci to design a 60-pound purple, “opulent outerwear jacket,” for “Drag Race” contestant Lexi Love.

Known for motocross-themed outfits, Vivienne Westwood-style draping, and corsetry, Can focuses on building padded structures, rather than squeezing, in order to accommodate all sizes.

“Anybody can have an hourglass,” she said. “It’s just figuring out how to make that happen on each body type.”

Can has also designed looks for the YouTube competition “Drag Duel,” including a corset made from sweatpants material, and a dress resembling a rock made out of expanding foam and vinyl. Drag, she says, can expand one’s creative horizons.

“The drag I appreciate is usually based around taking it to the next level,” she said. “It makes you challenge yourself in a way that regular, everyday fashionwear doesn’t.”