Last night avid museumgoers and random passersby on Fifth Avenue were in for a treat. They were in for glitz, glimmer, sweat, dropping legs, flying limbs, and unbounded talent. They were in for a ball—a vogueing ball, that is—as the Metropolitan Museum of Art held “Battle of the Legends: Vogueing at the Met” in celebration of Pride Month and the exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion.
For the event the Met’s plaza got a campy makeover, and the judge’s seats were placed in front of a waterfall of fuchsia tinsel and disco balls. Three judges were plucked from Pose, the FX show that explores the origins of ball culture: writer Our Lady J, the famed choreographer Jose Xtravaganza (who was a lead dancer on Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour), and choreographer Twiggy Pucci Garçon (who strutted in in head-to-toe Gucci). The other judges were Sinia Alaia, Lola Mizrahi, Broadway powerhouse Jordan Roth, and Vogue’s editor in chief, Anna Wintour.
So how does a vogueing event begin? There is a host who leads the way. Ballroom community leader and Pose consultant Jack Mizrahi stepped out, appearing like a wonderful kaleidoscope in a custom Dapper Dan for Gucci look: a warm, glittery, pink, monogrammed shirt-and-shorts set with socks pulled up to the knee. “They [the Dapper Dan team] were so receptive, and we talked about the community and the history,” said Mizrahi. “He [Dapper Dan] was like, ‘I’m going to communicate that through the look.’” By his side was the performer Precious, who wore a red top and black skirt with heart-shaped wings and a bedazzled crown.
As for the performance itself, the moves were dramatic and gravity-defying; the looks were so shiny that they reflected from the stage. Asia Balenciaga and Tamiyah Miyake-Mugler, who are both transgender, battled together; Mizrahi noted: “If it was not for these women, we would never be able to celebrate Pride this month because they were the ones who were fearless enough to kick the doors down.” There was also Malik Miyake-Mugler who ferociously “dipped” (“it’s not called a shablam, shawam, or anything else you’ve heard,” he said) in a white look that was royally embroidered. Omari Mizrahi rotated at rapid speed in a purple superhero cape and soon after headed to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to perform there. (The energy was unstoppable!) Bootz Prodigy flung his arms in a spangled bodysuit. Even if you couldn’t see the voguers clearly—like I said, the crowds were huge—you could certainly hear the noise. The loudest applause came for Malik Miyake-Mugler, who won the competition and a trophy that was twice the size of him.
The 30-minute event was layered. Instead of indoors, where ballroom culture has lived for years, the event was held outside in the fresh air and seen by hundreds of people who are both familiar and new to vogueing. “The ballroom community, the vogueing community isn’t just regulated to Harlem, where it started,” said Mizrahi after the competition. “This is New York City, this is where ballroom Jerusalem really lives, so it was great to take it, keep moving it, keep changing how we present it, how people view and how people receive it.” So how was it received? With cheers that could be heard up and down Museum Mile. Striking a pose has never sounded so good.