The Sherlock Holmes sequel is headed to theaters tomorrow, giving the great detective and his sidekick Dr. Watson another opportunity to outsmart their nefarious adversary, Professor Moriarty. One scene finds the titular character disguised as a woman — a look that RDJ describes as a cross between “Arnold Schwarzenegger’s dwarf brother” and “Robert Smith from The Cure.” Hot? Hollywood’s been dressing in drag since the dawn of cinema. Although movies like Adam Sandler’s latest disaster Jack and Jill try to use cross-dressing for comedic effect, they often fail miserably. The top five grossing films that explore gender bending (superficially anyway) are all comedies, but some films take cross-dressing more seriously and use it as a dramatic way to examine fluidity in gender and identity. We’ve spotlighted 10 films that find characters cross-dressing for their parts. There are plenty to mention, so leave us your picks below after you check out our list past the break. Read More »
As you may have noticed, we at Flavorpill are big fans of John Waters and his dear friend and muse, Divine. Earlier this year, we even paid tribute to the late drag star and cinema legend with a roundup of style lessons we learned from the demented fashion icon. But we have to admit, our own paean to Divine pales in comparison with The Melt Gallery’s Pretty? Pretty? A Divine Art Show. The group exhibition collects art inspired by Divine, from straight-up portraits to faux comic-book covers to a Pink Flamingos-referencing jar of “Divine’s Old Fashioned Dog Turds.” Fans in Los Angeles only have a day left to check out the show, which closes November 17th. Meanwhile, we’ve posted a gallery of our favorite pieces after the jump; you can see a lot more at the show’s Facebook page. And if you’re interested in buying any of the work — like, say, if you wanted to get us that awesome Divine lunch box — you can call the gallery at 323-851-7223. Read More »
“In the history of cinema, there are stars, there are legends — but there is only one Divine.” So begins the trailer for I Am Divine, a forthcoming documentary about John Waters’ muse and our favorite drag queen of all time. The three-minute preview includes interviews with Waters and Divine’s mom, Frances Milstead, along with tons of both rare and classic Divine footage. The in-progress film has a Facebook page, and Ricki Lake is listed as a star on IMDb. Director Jeffrey Schwartz currently has two other documentaries about LGBT icons in progress: Activist: The Times of Vito Russoand Tab Hunter Confidential. We don’t know much else about I Am Divine yet, but we sure are excited to see it when it comes out next year.
The work of photographer Roxanne Lowit depicts a vision of New York City that is now the stuff of legend. A fan-wielding Karl Lagerfeld (pictured with an almost baby-faced Anna Wintour) is nowhere near his current whittled down weight. Fixtures of the downtown scene like Andy Warhol, Basquiat, and Divine are all still alive and thriving. The original supermodels are not only in their prime; they’re all sitting at the same table, clowning around. Salvador Dalí kisses the hand of a woman young enough to be his granddaughter. If you’re in the mood for a little envy-inducing time travel, click through for a slideshow of our favorite shots.
All the hubbub about Brian Bedford’s spectacular performance as Lady Bracknell in the recent Broadway revival of The Importance of Being Earnest has gotten us thinking. So much media in our culture revolves around, or at least includes, elements of cross-dressing or gender confusion, whether to comic or dramatic effect. Is this an evolution towards greater acceptance and understanding of all, or just, in some way, a deeply ingrained human impulse? Of course, cross-dressing is no new trend. The phenomenon is evident in everything from Norse and Hindu mythology to figures that shaped actual historical events (usually in the form of women dressing up as men to fight wars or be pirates, for some reason) to literature, theater, film and every kind of media in between. There are hundreds of examples, so there’s no way to document them all here, but the trajectory of our favorites still has some bearing on the largeness of the phenomenon. Click through for out brief history of cross-dressing in media.
Before Lady Gaga, there was Divine. Sure, one of these divas was a morbidly obese drag queen born Harris Glenn Milstead who once ate poop on camera, while the other is a tiny, 24-year-old, multi-platinum-selling pop star (who, contrary to once-popular belief, does not have a penis). But Gaga and Divine share one major obsession: totally ridiculous dresses.
This calls for a new installment of Flavorwire’s series “In Praise of Demented Fashion Icons,” which celebrates the true style rebels of our time. We’ve already paid tribute to Divine’s partner is crime, John Waters, and his sister in envelope-pushing plus-size fashion, Roseanne. Now, it’s time to give a shout out to the filthiest fashion icon of all. Follow us after the jump, as we glean ten invaluable style tips from some of Divine’s loudest get-ups.
Yesterday, in honor of Halloween and the many deaths of punk rock, we took you on a crazy trip through the grave sites of fallen punk legends. Since we all survived that wild ride (and even had some fun doing it), we’re back today with an equally spooky tour of cult film stars’ headstones, from Divine and Russ Meyer to Edie Sedgwick and the man responsible for Shaft. Tomorrow: literature’s masters of horror!
