Meta backs drag style to showcase metaverse tech

Meta is showcasing drag style in the metaverse through a content initiative that will culminate in a real-life, mixed reality runway event in September.

For ‘Queens of the Metaverse’ it has enlisted three drag acts and three aspiring British designers from the LGBTQ+ community, who will collaborate using Meta’s virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies.

Ineke Paulsen, Meta’s director of EMEA marketing, said: “Creative communities are central to the development of the metaverse, ensuring that we are building a space for each and every one of us.”

Each act has been paired with a designer and each pair has been briefed to use Meta collaboration tech such as Horizon Workrooms in the process of coming up with their real-life look.

British drag queen Tia Kofi’s outfit will be created by Sal Mohammed, a queer, genderfluid NHS worker and life coach who has a passion for drag.

Tia Kofi said: “The best thing about technology is that it brings everyone closer together. During the pandemic, everybody had to get creative and use technology to stay in contact and keep drag alive. Imagine if we could have done that in virtual reality, feeling like we were all together, it would have been gorgeous. That’s the future.”

The event in September will be hosted by Dominic Skinner (from TV’s Glow Up) and will feature the three drag stars working the runway.

The other two pairs are drag queen Blu Hydrangea with queer, non-binary stylist Nwora Emenike, and drag king Adam All with Christie Lau, a non-binary Central Saint Martins graduate whose work blends physical and digital fashion.

The content of the show will be directed by Matt Timmiss, a London-based film director specialising in queer films and narratives in the drag community.