Ditching high-heels and corsets for fluffy slippers and baby doll dresses, Kitty Tray has never been one to follow the usual trends in drag fashion. We catch up with Ashley Cross to talk sausage necklaces, how he goes about choosing what his drag alter-ego will wear, and why Kitty Tray refuses to be a dedicated follower of fashion…
Can you explain how you came up with Kitty Tray’s look?
When I first started drag I wanted to represent the best of British fashion. I looked toward people like Vivienne Westwood, and one of my dresses was basically a Union Jack that I'd made to look very vintage, as if it was hand-stitched together. But as the years have gone on I started to do the opposite to what was current. I'm always looking toward fashion and thinking, 'I don't want to do that - I want to do something different.' As a drag queen you want to make a statement, and about three years ago I saw this documentary about cross dressers in America. They're not drag queens - it doesn't matter what gender or sexuality cross-dressers are - but it was a group of people who dressed up as babies. That gave me a fascination with baby doll dresses, and a lot of my outfits now are based on that silhouette.
You said that Kitty’s look intentionally goes against drag fashion trends. Why is that?
I don't want to look the same. The fashion industry is a bit of a paradox - it says 'buy our brand, be individual, be your authentic self’. Then you walk down the street and half the people look exactly the same, because they're all buying the same clothes from the same places. So I tend to walk the other way because I want to look different. It's like in RuPaul's Drag Race - there's a conformity that you have to adhere to in order to be recognised. You're expected to look and act a certain way to fit into the competition. I have a hard time conforming – as a character, Kitty Tray is a bit post-punk eighties, she’s all about anarchy and having fun.
How has her fashion style changed over the years?
As a person, I hate jewellery, so Kitty has stopped wearing it too. I don't see the point in it, and every drag queen wears the same jewellery. But I saw someone in America who made a necklace that looked like a link of sausages, so if Kitty was going to wear jewellery it would be something absurd like that.
I started off sexualising Kitty, then went more clown-ish, but now I'm trying to make her a bit more sexual again. Showing cleavage, showing my legs, maybe showing my knickers a bit more. Drag is all about the extremes and emphasising the absurdity - there's no point in having little boobs if you're a drag queen.
I guess as a form of expression it’s not known for its subtlety…
Not at all! Some drag queens have political messages in their fashion, some don't. But we always try to champion gender and sexuality. Everything is changing all of the time, and things are, no pun intended, becoming more fluid. It's all about education, isn't it? One thing I've noticed as drag has become more popular is that people are getting more educated about how to treat a drag queen.
As a society we’re in the process of re-examining how women are treated by men, particularly after the #MeToo movement. Has that made an impact in the drag world?
It's not just men, as women can be quite rough with drag queens too. I’ve had my hair pulled, and people trying to grab my crotch or dry hump me. I had one bad situation when a guy tried to put his hand up my skirt. I stopped him in his tracks and asked him if that’s how he treated all women.
Drag is all about the extremes and emphasising the absurdity - there's no point in having little boobs if you're a drag queen
When you’re appearing in huge, bombastic outfits and wigs, is it sometimes difficult for people to remember that you’re a person doing a job?
I think they can forget that, yes. I don't think I fully understand or know why. The incidents tend to be one-offs, but I generally think it's an alcohol problem more than anything else. But some people definitely think that, if you're a drag queen, they’re allowed to touch you. Younger people are definitely better educated – I’ve done ten-year-olds’ birthdays and student nights, and they’re always more polite and respectful of the artform.
How much attention do you pay to what you wear when you’re not Kitty?
None! I hate buying clothes, and only do it when I need to. I'm the worst gay man you'll ever meet. I used to, but now I'll just go for jeans and shirts that I like.
Are the different iterations of Kitty Tray's fashion style extensions of how you, Ashley, feel at any given time?
No, not at all. Drag is a job, and it's a costume. It's slightly contradictory, I guess, because in drag you feel 100% your authentic self, but at the same time you're using and abusing it to get the best out of a performance. But at the end of the day I take the uniform off. Maybe we're over-contextualising what the outfits are - I do put thought into it, but now I do what I want, which is a benefit because I end up looking different to other drag queens. It's also a plus because other drag queens spend hours getting ready, whereas I just slip my boobs and a dress on and I'm ready to go!
Is there an element of practicality to your choices?
I'm about comedy – running around the stage and singing. I've done the pads and corset, but it's really uncomfortable. As a performer I'm ten times better in the outfit I choose. So maybe what I said before was bollocks… But I think fashion is bollocks a lot of the time! When I first started, I wore heels, but half-way through the night they'd start to hurt so I'd put a pair of fluffy slippers or crocs on. I used to get ripped to shreds for it, with people saying, 'That's not proper drag.' But recently a drag queen went on TV wearing crocs and all of a sudden, it's fashionable.
Do you think Kitty was ahead of the curve?
No, I'm just lazy! Fashion is about being unpopular - look at someone like Boy George. He got ridiculed for the way he dressed before he became famous, then his music became popular and he was a fashion icon. The fashion industry itself makes changes too. Growing up, you knew that socks and sandals were an old men thing. But the fashion industry took it on and made it trendy, and now it's no big deal.
It happened with the bum bag too. When I was at school, I'd rather be beaten to death than wear one. Now you see people wearing them and don't bat an eye...
Exactly! It's like The Emperor's New Clothes - you just need a fashion house promoting it, or a celebrity or influencer wearing it, and everyone starts wearing it. Fashion is just politics.
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