15 major LGBTQIA+ moments in pop culture in 2018

NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 09: Christina Aquilera performance at Opening Ceremony Runway September 2018 at New York Fashion Week on September 9, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images)

Opening Ceremony features drag queens during NYFW

With drag breaking into the mainstream, it was just a matter of time before we saw drag queens breaking into the mainstream fashion scene. Of course, drag and fashion have gone hand in hand for decades before RuPaul’s Drag Race premiered, but now that it’s such a big deal, we actually hear about it.

Drag Race season nine winner Sasha Velour opened up the Opening Ceremony show at New York Fashion Week back in September for a 45-minute extravaganza called “The Gift of Showz.” The show was more than your average Fashion Week show, and for good reason. Sasha decided on the lighting, the set design, the casting of the models, and more.

The show featured over 40 LGBTQIA+ models, including drag queens like Miss Fame and Jiggly Caliente, who modeled the fashion house’s designs. Though the show did showcase some great fashion moments, it was more about a celebration of the queer community, with each look reinterpreted by the queens and models to reflect their aesthetic.

Pop icon Christina Aguilera closed out the show with a surprise performance of her song “Fall In Line.” Filling in for Demi Lovato was a gaggle of drag queens including Sasha herself, Hungry, Shea Coulee, and XTina’s drag twin, Farrah Moan.

The fashion industry is already fairly inclusive when it comes to the queer community, considering the number of designers, stylists, makeup artists, etc. who identify as queer, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t big changes that need to happen. This show celebrated a diverse mix of races, gender identities, shapes, and styles, and that is not something that happens at Fashion Week very often.