Condoms Hit the Runway
Condom Couture features fashion designers such as (top row, from left): Kirsten Hawkins, VxxDxx, and Lacey Tank. The event also features performances by (bottom row, from left): Annie Lockwood, Royal Tee, and Nicole Paige Brooks. (Courtesy photos)
They also provide checkups, prophylactics, and hormone therapy treatments,” she said. “They really focus on the right of everyone to receive affordable, judgment-free health care. It’s not just for heterosexual pregnant women with breasts and a vagina; it’s for every single person. If you don’t want a child, they will help you. If you’re planning to have a child within a same-sex marriage or partnership, they will also help you.”
The Planned Parenthood fundraiser brings condom-centric designs from a total of fifteen designers (thirteen designing garments, two designing accessories like necklaces and earrings), ranging from professional fashion designers to artists who stand with the cause, to the runway. Why condoms? Julien says because they represent “the end of sexual stigma.”
“Wearing [condoms] fashionably
is kind
of announcing this power one has over his, her, or their own reproductive health,” she continued. “I wanted to promote the normalization of sex education and conversation. We’re just stressing that we own our own bodies and we’re going to fight for our rights. It’s going to be really sexy, really quirky, all-inclusive, and empowering – it’s going to kick some ass.”
The event doesn’t end with the fashion show: attendees can expect performances from RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 2’s Nicole Paige Brooks, standup comedienne Annie Lockwood, Creative Loafing’s 2018 Best Burlesque winner Royal Tee, and C.C. Stevens, a vaudevillian who will perform a circus act for the crowd. Rebel Groove, a dance team focused on sexy fitness hiphop that Julien herself is actually a part of, will also perform. Among the performers, designers, and models, the event will provide oodles of LGBTQ representation.
“The majority of us are LGBTQ – and it was something I didn’t even realize [while planning],” Julien said of the lineup. “We have [designer] MoDest Volgare, who is a local transgender drag queen – she’s currently hosting Miss Edgewood, a drag competition at Noni’s. We have Diego as a designer; he works a lot with Wussy Mag and just performed at Playhouse. We have Trevor, another designer, whose husband will be modeling his outfit for him. We have RuPaul Season 2’s Nicole Paige Brooks performing. Our emcee will even be making their drag debut as Comet.”
While Julien’s main goal with the event was to raise money for Planned Parenthood, she hopes the event will bring people together and convince the community to rise up and make a difference.
“I really want Condom Couture to just call people to action,” she said. “I love seeing all the marches that go on and participating in women’s marches or reproductive rights marches. However, I believe that a real call to justice isn’t always just moving and screaming in the streets – which totally helps, I’m 100 percent a supporter. But I really want to start to build a community and fight differently. And for me, coming together and forming an event that’s playful and fun and exciting to raise money is a way to do it.”
“I want Condom Couture to bring together communities: all races, genders, sexualities, all humans fighting for our voices, our rights, our lives, and each other,” Julien continued. “My goal is to just bring in people who stand for the same thing and help others come into the community and feel comfortable with themselves and raise awareness.”
Condom Couture makes its Atlanta debut on Saturday, Nov. 9 at Westside Cultural Arts Center from 8-10pm. Tickets are on sale starting at $50 at condomcoutureatl.com.