George Coutts in drag. Photographic postcard, 194-.

Albert Letine in drag. Postcard, ca. 1907.

James Gardiner Collection: Victorian album

An actor in drag, posing for a portrait. Photograph by Mme Yvonne, 194-.

Douglas Byng in drag during a pantomime. Photograph, 1952.

Terry Bartlett in drag. Photograph, 193-.

C. Rittfar wearing Edwardian style dress.

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Black and white photograph of a woman dressed in a cowboy costume posed in front of a studio backdrop holding a replica gun.

The James Gardiner Collection.

James Gardiner Collection: Lesbian and male impersonation album

Photograph of a woman dressed in a cowboy costume

Photograph of Louis Hayden showing head and shoulders. He is posing face-on looking just above the line of the viewer wearing a dark styled wig, makeup, large hoop earrings and a feather boa.

James Gardiner Collection: photograph album labelled Drag. 

James Gardiner Collection: photograph album labelled ‘Drag’.

Louis Hayden in drag. Process print, 1946.

"Derkas?" wears the towering feathered showgirl headdress pioneered by Gaby Deslys in the 1910s, and developed by Mistinguett in the Folies Bergères shows of the 1920s. Long afterwards It remained an integral part of costuming in spectacular revues, particularly in Paris and Las Vegas. The question mark following Derkas printed on the postcard suggests they perform with an androgynous gender expression. As this card is autographed and inscribed London 1928, it shows that there was sufficient interest in this form of entertainment in the 1920s for successful drag acts to be imported.

"Derkas ?", dressed in drag, on stage. Photographic postcard, 1928.

Photograph of a man, possibly Wilfred Hatwell, playing a piano and smiling at the viewer. He is wearing a large bow in his hair and a pierette style dress.

A man in drag playing the piano. Photographic postcard by Legg (?) & Co., 192-.

Gender, bodies and transformation

Transgender architectonics : the shape of change in modernist space / Lucas Crawford.

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Gender nonconformity

Images

Catalogue

Photograph of a woman dressed in a cowboy costume

Louis Hayden in drag. Process print, 1946.

"Derkas ?", dressed in drag, on stage. Photographic postcard, 1928.

A man in drag playing the piano. Photographic postcard by Legg (?) & Co., 192-.

Transgender architectonics : the shape of change in modernist space / Lucas Crawford.

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Wellcome uses cookies.

Gender nonconformity

Images

Catalogue

Photograph of a woman dressed in a cowboy costume

Louis Hayden in drag. Process print, 1946.

"Derkas ?", dressed in drag, on stage. Photographic postcard, 1928.

A man in drag playing the piano. Photographic postcard by Legg (?) & Co., 192-.

Transgender architectonics : the shape of change in modernist space / Lucas Crawford.

Wellcome Collection

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