Marketers in the cosmetics industry have recently been forging deals with high-profile drag queens, a celebrity niche that up to now has not had much of a presence in licensing, collaborations, or promotions.
Among the examples that have come to light in 2018:
- Singer and drag artist Trixie Mattel partnered with Sugarpill Cosmetics for exclusive, limited-edition makeup shades debuting this fall on Sugarpill’s website. The company has collaborated with another drag star, Kim Chi, in the past.
- Courtney Act teamed with Ciaté London on a limited-edition, cruelty-free eyeliner, which debuted this fall.
- Miss Fame, a model, makeup artist, and recording artist as well as a drag queen, launched a makeup line this month called Miss Fame Beauty, starting with five lipstick shades. This project is different from the others in that it is marketed by Miss Fame’s own company rather than through a collaboration.
- RuPaul Charles paired with Mally Beauty for a capsule collection, announced in April, featuring a dozen cosmetics products.
Drag queens have had a growing media presence in the past few years, appearing as models in magazines and on the runway, being featured in TV documentaries, and participating in competition and reality shows such as Celebrity Big Brother (where Act was a winner). One big launchpad has been the competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race, hosted by RuPaul, which has been on the air for nine years and has featured Mattel, Chi, and Miss Fame. In addition to Drag Race, RuPaul is starring in a forthcoming Netflix series, AJ and the Queen, has a memoir and advice book, GuRu, on the way, and got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this year.
Consider this flurry of deals another element in the continued embrace of gender acceptance and gender fluidity in the fashion and beauty industries. Other examples of the trend range from gender-neutral apparel collections to celebrity collaborations involving male makeup artists and transgender actors and activists.
Comments are closed.