Drag By Day Can Be Lovely, Too

Elaine Lancaster has always been a class act. During my years here on South Beach (and especially when I worked for Gerry Kelly at Level nightclub) Elaine has been the embodiment of Hollywood glamour, always shining and sparkling in the seas of a dark club like the lighthouse at Alexandria. I watched her descend the astounding, Art Deco, circular staircase one night at Level in a white beaded gown and thought, “That is what fog would move like if it had a beaded purse to match.”

There is no lip-synching to songs, no fancy dance steps, and certainly no jumping through a hoop of fire (a feat I once videoed in a Lower East Side dive) for Elaine. She graces an event with her appearance, style, and wit. I’m sure all this comes with some envy from the other entertainers in this field; from the safety of my bunker (the camera) I note that this group is always on a setting of DefCon 4.

This leads me to ponder the opportunities and pitfalls of appearing in drag at high noon. Anyone who has been to Wigstock easily sees the danger inherent in day drag, although there is a safety-in-numbers factor which would be difficult to replicate anywhere else. If evening drag is a snap in the face of society, day drag could be the tweak of the nose.

A week or so ago Elaine attended one of those benefit lunches that are ubiquitous at this time of the year on South Beach and I marvel at her approach. A gown of the type she wore for the White Party at Vizcaya--a stunning white lace number with a tulle fish tail--can’t be taken seriously at noon unless you are passed out in it on an expansive, manicured lawn (preferably with a fountain in the background).

Here is what Elaine did:

She shelved the Lana Turner glamour and substituted the Palm Beach Matron look by wearing all Chanel, and good Chanel at that. She opted for a low profile but-still-luscious hairstyle instead of the towering ones usually atop her already tall stature; it’s one thing to loom over people of the night, but you really want to level the playing field during daylight. And lastly, she followed the old dictum, “If you are going to be photographed between two damn good-looking celebrities, you’d better be fucking good-looking.”

I wish someone like Elaine would give classes in subjects like Daylight Drag to all the upcoming entertainers in this world. She could be a visiting professor at a college devoted to the drag studies, its history, place in modern society, and the applied sciences.
Hmmmmm.