Louche mag

23/06/2021

ISSUE TWO COVER REVEAL!! 🥳 Featuring original artwork by Hatty Carman the cover depicts a fantasy landscape comprised of The Stuff of Drag! Plus cameos from Izzy Aman Isabel Adomakoh-Young and Cassandra 😉

ISSUE TWO is available to pre-order now
https://louchemag.com/product/pre-order-louche-mag-issue-2/
Shipping 12th July 2021

Issue #2 features: Izzy Aman; Barbs; Cassandra; CYRO; Georgeous Michael; Sin Wai Kin; Kallum Király; Sigi Moonlight; Just May; Hardik Mistry; Myla; Indy Nile; RhyssPieces; Oedipussi Rex; Tommy Rimmerson; Prinx Silver Prinx Silver; Lilly SnatchDragon; Loose Willis

With writing by: Amelia Abraham; Tito Bone; Brown Beauty Standards; Jake Hall; Emma Kroeger; Martha Kate; ORLANDO MYXX; Brooke Palmieri; Q***r Ecologies

Photography, Make-up & Styling by: Christa Holka; Pauline Di Silvestro; Corinne Cu***ng; Ezekiel; Umber Ghauri; Heather Glazzard; Eddie Langham; Roxy Lee; Ro Murphy; Orlando Myxx; Lottie Parry; Peter Robertshaw; Matt Spike

[ID: As narration in video, tap for sound!]

05/06/2021

HAPPY SATURDAY GIVEAWAY!!

Up for grabs are 2 x copies of Louche magazine Issue Two. How to enter:

1. Join our mailing list: http://eepurl.com/hvLLH1
2. Then comment here with any emoji before Monday 7 June at 10AM GMT

Help this DIY q***r indie project beat the social media Goliath, join the list, show us some love and be in with a chance to win 💋 (p.s. if you are already on our mailing list, comment here to enter)

Image description: Wesley D***s is a dashing black drag kxng wearing big glasses, a purple velvet hat and olive suit jacket, with a well-trimmed glittery moustache. He is laughing heartily whilst reading a copy of Louche magazine Issue One backstage at The Glory, with an image of himself looking back at him from the page.

03/06/2021

For those who haven't had the chance to check out Glamerz Haus's memoir Life as a Unicorn: A Journey From Shame to Pride and Everything in Between, we would thoroughly recommend!

Read more about it in The New Arab's Book Club review
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/features/life-unicorn-amrou-al-kadhi

Book Club: Amrou Al-Kadhi's award-winning memoir is a poignant and moving story about the author's fight to be true to themselves.

01/06/2021

Cannot get enough of this illustration of Prinx Silver by Kim Thompson: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KimThompsonArt. Check out Kim’s work, it’s sooo good! And such a pleasure to work with this talented king too on Louche Issue #2

Image description: Illustration of Prinx Silver, a v handsome white transmasc gender non conforming drag king with short dark hair, strong eyebrows and a thick moustache, as well as a septum ring. They are drawn wearing a blue jacket, open to reveal a bare chest underneath and a glimpse of binding tape. Based on an original photograph by Tasha Lorraine Doughty

31/05/2021

Bash the fash! Here’s another cheeky preview from our Louche Issue #2 shoot all about drag king packing - can you spot the pack? Photography by Christa Holka and featuring the art and ephemera of Tommy Rimmerson.

Image description: Echoing the glorious moment alt-right bogeyman Tommy Robinson had a milkshake thrown over him as he campaigned for the European elections, a pair of Union Jack boxer shorts are shown here covered with light pink strawberry milkshake, spilling out chaotically from a tipped over MacDonald's cup. Emerging from one leg of the shorts is a thickly rolled black sock, dripping pink goo from the tip (well we just couldn't resist). There is an Antifa badge pinned to the shorts. It's all very on brand for Tommy: 'smash the fash, but make it camp'

30/05/2021

Great Sunday read from them.: '8 Drag Kings You Need to Know' featuring the UK's very own Sigi Moonlight, Adam All, Christian Adore (Dragprov), and LoUis CYfer!

Plus some stella talent from across the pond K. James Switch n' Play, Mo B. Dick, Murray Hill and Vico Ortiz

https://www.them.us/story/8-drag-kings-you-should-follow-murray-hill-vico-suave

Drag kings, once the underdogs of the drag scene, are having a moment that cannot be ignored.

29/05/2021

PUT A SOCK IN IT! 🧦

We are IN LOVE with this photo essay on the art of drag king packing by Christa Holka, and our first preview content from Louche Issue #2 (happy Saturday!). We asked 7 kings to bare all, and share what packing means to them. First up, it's Prinx Silver: "Even though I've tried using realistic packers in performances, I always end up using socks, cos they're fun, comfy and don't weigh much - I need to dance!"

Look out for more on packing from Gabriel Harris, Tommy Rimmerson, Loose Willis, HardikMistry, and Izzy Aman

*NB* Some of the images are too explicit for Insta so you'll just have to buy the magazine for those 🍆 (Kallum Király)

Image description: A salmon-coloured thick sock emerges from inside a pink-rimmed cowboy hat. The sock sits atop an artfully crumpled mountain of blue fabric, adorned with rhinestones and patches of pink flourish - one of which seems to be bursting from the tip of the sock, offering the slightest of visual innuendos (this is a photo essay about packing after all...). The underside of the sock is slightly discoloured with wear, and has presumably seen stage floors as well as the inside of Prinx Silver's trousers. The backdrop is also pink, and overall the colour palette echoes trans pride.

28/05/2021

*Theme announce!* Introducing Louche Magazine Issue #2… ⭐THE STUFF OF DRAG!⭐

We're going deep into drag and its material cultures, looking at the objects 💄, the accoutrements, the ephemera that serve to create performance magic! 👑

That's right, we're back baby ✨ And we’ve been busy behind the scenes getting this next instalment of Louche Magazine ready for you all. Stay tuned for extra special preview content and shout-outs over the next few weeks including… COVER REVEAL... LAUNCH DATE… SEXY SEXY DRAG THINGS… AND MORE LOUCHE NEWS! Sign up to our newsletter for updates: https://bit.ly/3yDst49

Image description: two closely-cropped images are laid one over the other: basically, drag mess under a microscope! The smaller of the two, in front, shows details of brightly-coloured and glittery sequined fabrics; behind this are glimpses of a bejewelled gold crown, amidst touches of blues and pinks. Over the top sits white bold text (BrownStd for font nerds), with the words: Issue #2 THE STUFF OF DRAG.

14/04/2021

15/07/2020

**Now available on the Louche mag Etsy shop: ANOTHER MASK ZINE!** Louche Daddy Georgeous Michael and Livvy Drusilla have made a fanzine about the life and times of q***r icons Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/824226682/another-mask-a-zine-about-claude-cahun

🔥🔥🔥

Born in Nantes, France, at the end of the nineteenth century, the surrealist duo Cahun and Moore were lifelong lovers and artistic collaborators, known (now) for their photomontages, writing and illustration exploring themes of gender-f**kery and subversion, as well as their anti-Nazi resistance activity during the war. They also loved cats!

All profits from Another Mask Zine will be donated to Jewdas, a radical anti-fascist Jewish diaspora community group. If you're low on funds or based outside of the UK and don't want to pay for postage, there's also an option to download a PDF copy.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/824226682/another-mask-a-zine-about-claude-cahun

02/07/2020

Super interesting early drag history from the US! William Swann and his house of "butlers, coachmen, and cooks—the first Americans to regularly hold cross-dressing balls and the first to fight for the right to do so—arguably laid the foundations of contemporary q***r celebration and protest" - Channing Gerard Joseph

Thanks Tara Brown for sharing.

Who fought for q***r freedom a century before Stonewall.

31/03/2020

Appreciated this article from Riposte Magazine editor Danielle Pender in It's Nice That about allowing ourselves to feel the significance of the current crisis and not the added capitalist pressure of having to 'make the most' of a pandemic, e.g. write that novel, learn that language and be the best new you! It's ok to sit on your butt and feel all the feelings ya know, if that's what you need to do. The world has been turned upside down so it's pretty fair going.

At Louche 'HQ' (AKA Georgeous Michael's living room - that much hasn't changed in all this), we've honestly just been reeling. This moment is obviously massive for the drag community, not least financially for performers and venues, but also what it means to "come together" as a q***r community in physical space, to participate in live performance culture. There's been loads of great initiatives and online pop-ups, make-up tutorials and live stream events coming from artists/producers in the last few weeks, all of which is really impressive for an artistic community under siege and which will hopefully also provide useful learnings for future ways of making drag art (e.g. in a more accessible way?). We don't quite know what's next for us at Louche, but we're just taking a moment to catch our breath. Cos this feels big, and we need a minute.

xoxo

The editor of Riposte magazine on how it could be best to use the time to reassess our relationship with work, rather than quickly pivot to new projects.

24/03/2020

Sharing some nice opportunities from Scottee & Friends Ltd. for artists and provocations from working class makers in these challenging times for the arts!

On Monday the UK Government advised the public to avoid theatres, cinemas, pubs and clubs in an attempt to slow the Covid19 pandemic and since then our sector

04/03/2020

See you tonight for MAN UP Heat 4! Gonna be guest judging alongside Kevin Le Grand Bailor and Zoe Paskett, and can't wait to watch those kings battle it out on The Glory stage!

5PM PINTS POURING
6PM SEXY MINGLE
8PM SHOW TIME
10PM DISCO!

This evening!
MAN UP!!! The drag king battle continues at this amazing pub night with live hosts Don One and Adam All, plus a score or sizzling contestants!

And fabulous guest judges including Kevin Le Grand Bailor, Zoe Paskett and Louche mag.

5PM PINTS POURING
6PM SEXY MINGLE
8PM SHOW TIME
10PM DISCO!

02/03/2020

Fell in love with this king at The Glory's MAN UP Heat 3 last week: Strange W***y, disco cowboy! Can't wait to see what's next when the competition continues on Wednesday for Heat 4, where we'll be on the judging panel ready to dish, swoon, and score those bad boys 💅

Last week's heat was PHENOM!!!

See you again this Wednesday, 8pm, for a kingtastic show-packed Heat night! The best pub night in town, as featured in TimeOut, Evening Standard and Private Eye!

09/02/2020

Perk alert - our friends at the are offering Louche fans an exclusive discount on Emma Frankland's (None of Us is Yet a Robot) incredible double Fringe First Award-winning show HEARTY, 27th - 29th Feb: Get 25% off!

Use discount code: LOUCHE25

"Donning wings of steel and shooting fire, Emma Frankland performs her supercharged, double Fringe First Award-winning show as part of the Roundhouse’s Spring Season. The show tackles the politics surrounding trans identity and the controversial bio-hacking technology of hormone replacement treatment."

shorturl.at/kpGY0

Get 25% off full price, standard tickets to Hearty when using the code LOUCHE25. Offer is limited to one per person, with a maximum of 2 tickets per order, and valid for the show Hearty only. Tickets are limited available on a first come, first serve basis.

24/01/2020

Sharing this petition set up by 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐘 in support of the iconic Horse Hospital, a much-treasured arts space which is sadly under threat.

Let’s get to 44 signatures by the end of today - can you add yours?

10/01/2020

Gonna to be at this on Monday 20th January alongside a whole host of other wonderful nerds. Come say hi! It's free 🤓

Speak to the people making q***r history and making history q***rer at some of the most dynamic LGBTQ and heritage organisations around.

02/01/2020

Thanks to Gender is a Construct blog for this lil write up on Louche Issue One and interview with Georgeous Michael 🤓

Louche Mag, Issue One Cover. Photography by Elise Rose – Courtesy Georgeous Michael For as long as I can remember, drag has been intertwined with q***r culture, connected to the vaudeville th…

08/12/2019

The night we made drag history and brought Louche magazine into the world!!! Photography by The Q***r Garden

04/12/2019

For anyone in Oxford tonight, come and say hi!!! We'll be at the King's Arms for an evening chat with the Q***r Studies Network (TORCH - The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities). Copies of Louche available to buy (cash only).

https://www.torch.ox.ac.uk/event/q***r-studies-social

For our final event of 2019, the Q***r Studies Network is delighted to be hosting Anna Wates and Holly James Johnston for the Oxford launch of Louche, a bold new independent print magazine about drag and q***r performance culture, its past, present and future. Issue One features contributions from o...

18/11/2019

Oh, the antici...pation! A little snippet of the incredible crowd at Friday's midnight DRAG-A-LONG, SING-A-LONG screening of The Little Mermaid as part of Fringe! Film Fest.

And for anyone wanting a lesson in camp reading, check out this HuffPost UK article featuring Louche Daddy Georgeous Michael on our screening and why the Disney classic is actually a cult q***r root: https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/the-little-mermaid-lgbtq-fans-ursula_uk_5dce8608e4b0d2e79f8adb51

Video thanks to Leticia Dadalto AKA Prince Eric!

10/11/2019

We are GAGGING at this epic twenty-five strong shoot from Woof cabaret, released this week and featuring some of the freshest talent on the scene!

WOOF are a performance collective redefining s*xy, a hot celebration of alternative/neo burlesque and drag serving s*x and s**t. Check them out! Produced by Chiyo Gomes and featured in QX Magazine. This momentous group shot caught on camera by Corinne Cu***ng

Featuring: Beau Jangles, Mwice-Margaret Kavindele, Carrot Drag, Rhys Hollis, Prinx Silver, Daniel Fibian, Bee Jamming, Benjamin Butch, Velvet Thunder, Clay Ta**us, mahatmakhandii, Chiyo Gomes, Shakona Fire, Georgeous Michael, Mark Anthony, Caroline Smiling, Oedipussi Rex, Sigi Moonlight, SemiColon, Smashlyn Monroe

07/11/2019

Really great, well-researched feature in on Louche and UK drag today! Shout outs also to The KOC Initiative, Chiyo Gomes, Victoria Sin, Oozing Gloop, John Smith and Tom Glitter McGlitterson Rasmussen

https://www.hungertv.com/editorial/drag-is-so-much-more-than-high-glamour-queens/

Drag is so much more than high-glamour queens

03/11/2019

"The proportioning of drag is an aggression". This year's opening night film at Fringe! Film Fest is presented in collaboration with Louche, and we can't wait for WIG - an exciting new documentary about the art of drag, focused on the New York staple DIY festival Wigstock.

Screening 12th November at the Rio Cinema. More info and tickets: https://riocinema.org.uk/RioCinema.dll/WhatsOn?Film=12534798

25/10/2019

“They weren't kidding when they called me, well, a witch.” - Ursula, The Little Mermaid

Witch please! Of course the greatest badass villain of all time was based on DRAG LEGEND and John Waters muse Divine! See you on the 15th November, when we'll be partnering on Fringe! 2019: The Little Mermaid Drag-a-long EXTRAvaganza and getting real fishy with the ultimate Witch Queen!

Don't underestimate the importance of BODY LANGUAGE: dress up, drag up, and enjoy live entertainment alongside a late-night screening of the Disney classic. In partnership with Fringe! Film Fest

Tickets: https://riocinema.org.uk/RioCinema.dll/WhatsOn?Film=12534925

https://news.avclub.com/read-this-how-divine-inspired-ursula-the-sea-witch-1798243255

If you’ve ever re-watched Disney’s The Little Mermaid as an adult, you’ve probably had that feeling that the movie’s villain, Ursula The Sea Witch, reminds you of someone. As it turns out, that’s not a coincidence. Ursula is inspired, in both appearance and demeanor, by drag legend and Joh...

25/10/2019

Really nice review of Louche mag Issue One on the magazine specialists MagCulture blog: "Louche is an intensely sharp publication, unafraid to ask all the urgent questions. Its approach constitutes an impressive balance of inclusivity and criticism, all printed on the brightest of paper. A fantastic first issue" 😄

Featuring Tom Glitter McGlitterson Rasmussen, Georgeous Michael, Beau Jangles and Gender Fvcker

Louche’s online manifesto spells out the mission of the new magazine quite clearly: ‘Asking urgent questions about drag today, Louche mag takes a critical and constructive approach to drag and q***r performance culture: its past, present and future.’ Louche offers a lot for a relatively slim m...

18/10/2019

Shout out post to all the incredible places where you can get Louche Issue One irl!
Gay's The Word
MagCulture
Housmans Radical Booksellers
Category Is Bookshop
BOOKS PECKHAM

Also available via the Louche mag website (https://louchemag.com/product/louche-mag-issue-1/) and online at ELAK

17/10/2019

The Fringe! Film Fest 2019 trailer is here and we LOVE it!!! Super excited to be partnering on two very draggy screenings with the festival this year.

We'll be supporting on Fringe's opening night film, Fringe! 2019: WIG (UK premiere), the story of drag festival Wigstock, as well as a late-night performance and screening of Fringe! 2019: The Little Mermaid Drag-a-long EXTRAvaganza (cos darling it's better down where it's wetter!). Tickets on sale now.

15/10/2019

We're in Dazed and Confused Magazine today, talking about boundary-pushing in q***r performance and why reading really is fundamental!
https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/46414/1/georgeous-michael-interview-new-diy-drag-magazine-louche

Image: Gender Fvcker

Editor and drag king Georgeous Michael shares their drag reading list and reflects on how the UK drag scene can do better