The category called for a “fashion orgasm.” After stamping their name for a decade as a leading house in ballroom for fashion, the House of Xclusive Lanvin (one-time collaborators with the brand of the same name) was looking for the ultimate fashion assassin and was prepared to hand out a trophy and a cash prize of $7,000 to them on Saturday night. That bounty, at “X … The Story” ball, would be the largest prize for a fashion category in the history of the ballroom scene. And as such, the judges weren’t pulling any punches.
“You don’t see a show stopping piece?!” Thaddeus from the House of Gorgeous Gucci, asked the panel about their look after politely snatching the mic. The genderbending contestant was in a custom-built short suit that they had molded onto their body from an atelier in Houston, Texas as well as a vintage Fendi belt, a pair of Thom Browne bags, and a slew of Vivienne Westwood and Schiaparelli brooches. The judges did not see it. The chop stood. Thaddeus and a number of other contestants were barred by the judges from competing, with one stopping in the middle of the runway, seemingly unbothered by the dismissal as her house members chanted her name on the sidelines. It was going to be a tough competition—or, in ballroom parlance, a stern set.
“I don’t do it for them,” Thaddeus, a 20-year veteran of the scene tells Vogue of the judges, reflecting on the night. “I do it for the love of getting on the floor and feeling fabulous. Outside of the Met Gala, I’ve never felt so fabulous.”
Ultimately the winner was Yusef Williams, the father of ballroom’s House of Miyake-Mugler and hairstylist to Rihanna. He was triumphant in a neck-to-toe custom Harry Halim look, matched with a 24k rose gold face piece from House of Malakai, Dior earrings, and vintage necklaces from Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel.
Though ballroom is known internationally for cultivating voguing, it’s inextricably linked with fashion as well as dance. Some of the first competitions, as far back as 1886, centered around the best gown or best look, with categories incorporating high fashion brands entering the fray as early as the 1980s.
“There was this moment: It was two kids from the House of Ultra Omni who walked in pieces from the cage collection from Jean Paul Gaultier,” Eric Archibald, a celebrity stylist who judged the Lanvin ball on Sunday, says of one of his favorite memories from the early 1990s. The stylist had his fashion education within the ballroom community before going on to work for many including Mariah Carey, Usher, and Meg Thee Stallion. “I was just blown away by the design and the confidence they walked in with.” And there have been plenty others with contestants wearing Givenchy by Alexander McQueen, Thierry Mugler, Schiaparelli, head-to-toe Rick Owens, and more over the years.
“I think that the Labels category was my first window into high fashion,” retired image architect Law Roach says. (The star went viral in May judging a ball where he demanded that contestants bring their designer sketches if they were claiming to have purchased custom, one-of-a-kind garments.) “[Thaddeus] was one of the people that I saw walk that category and I couldn’t believe it.” That night in particular, which was some 18 years ago, Thaddeus was wearing a Christian LaCroix ruffled satin blazer, Gucci by Tom Ford underwear, heels, and carrying an Emilio Pucci umbrella in the gender irreverent style that they’ve become known for — Roach has followed in those footsteps.
High fashion categories in ballroom (that includes Labels, Head to Toe Ovahness, Foot and Eyewear, as well as others) are judged largely on exclusivity and showmanship. The more highly sought after the pieces or the more jaw dropping the look, the greater the chance of taking home the prize. But within the grand scheme of balls, which often go on for anywhere from six to twelve hours, fashion contestants are often given little attention in favor of voguing, runway, or face categories. Meechie Lanvin, the overall father and founder of the House of Xclusive Lanvin, proposed to change that if for at least one night.
“What I was looking for with the fashion assassin category was someone with a true sense of style,” Meechie says. In recent years, the category became people wearing head-to-toe looks that mirrored what appeared on a designer’s runway, often purchased from that designer. And while this makes for good theater—with the crowd chanting the designer’s name as the contestant reads off what they are wearing—it often requires less creativity. “However you created this look, it had to be sickening. Whether you combined vintage pieces, with current label pieces, or custom .. it just had to be a fire look.”
Nick Allure turned up in a shimmering Egonlab suit, Dolce Gabbana shirt, Vetements necklace, and Balmain boots matched with a full brimmed hat and shades that made him seem perfect for a stop on Beyonce’s Renaissance tour. The judges let him through. Things did not go as well for Reco Chapple, the Atlanta-based designer who once competed on BravoTV’s The Fashion Show but is now a father in the ballroom House of Saint Laurent.
“Reco looked ovah, I lived for him,” Simone, a judge from ballroom’s House of Margiela, says. (In 2020 she went viral for wearing head-to-toe Moschino at a ball; the Italian brand reposted the clip.) “But when he came out I just saw the hem of the pants. If you’re walking for $7,000 everything should be intact. The hem should not be coming out of your pants. He could have fixed that with some tape and no one would have known.”
Milan Christopher, who has made a name for himself outside of the scene as a reality star, was the night’s first runner-up in a headpiece and pants from Harris Reed, vintage Versace accessories, as well as a bag, shirt, and overcoat from House of Elcabanage. And yet, it may have been Thaddeus who ultimately won the night. After years of being chopped for mixing men’s and women’s pieces, challenging ballroom’s binary, gendered categories, Thaddeus’s influence on their fellow contestants was clear. Many of the male figures carried bags or wore pieces that may have been designed with women in mind.
“I was the most fabulous, I was the most polished, I was the most significantly detailed,” they say in ballroom’s trademark confidence. “I feel like the real fashionistas and the real trendsetters haven’t been recognized which is why I’m still on the floor 20 years later: to be seen so a barrier can be broken.”
