The Fabric Ball

Visually the (Fabric Ball) will tie references of the Cultural Fabric exhibition and the space of Atelier Gardens to the looks of the performers. Expect vibrant things.  

Voguing is part of a queer culture called ballroom founded by black and Latinx gay and trans people in New York in the Sixties/Seventies as a necessary answer to being marginalized not only by racism in the queer scene, but by their own families and communities for their queerness. They formed Houses with gay or trans mothers and fathers as their chosen family.

The houses are often inspired by big fashion houses or names of designers as LGBTQueers of color rarely had access to this world dominated by privileged white folks.

Today the concept of Houses still exists and has spread worldwide. Many members have to endure exclusion and harassment due to racism, homo- and transphobia until today.

But also a lot of white queers and hetero-women are meanwhile attracted to the scene, since it creates a great safe space for them as well.  

The members of the community gather at Balls and by that create the ballroom scene. A ball is a competition with different categories. Judges who made their name in scene are sitting on a panel to choose a winner for each category.

A host and a commentator lead through the night and give the participants and spectators energy and directions during the competition. In a preselection, called “tens” (ten points as in beauty pageants), the participants prove they understood and perform their category well. If all judges give their tens, the participants is going into the battles.

There they compete against their opponent. The judges decide who made it to the next round until one winner per category is left.

Every Vogue Ball has its own theme – from Circus or fashion designers to Black Lives Matters everything is possible.  

SO EXTRA BERLIN

In 2016 the platform So Extra Berlin was co-founded by Mother Ambrosia Gucci Angels to promote talent of the Ballroom Scene and create community led events from performances, workshops, balls and more. Until today So Extra Berlin cooperated with Highsnobiety, Zalando, Melt Festival, Sony Music Germany, Adidas, Berlin Fashion Week and The Ground Festival by Premium among others.

Magia 007, MST Elle, Cinnamon Makaveli, Jade 007, Ablavi 007, Arturo Gorgeous Gucci, Dream Miyake Mugler, Nake 007, Amowia St. Laurent (tbc), Xena Miyake Mugler (tbc) - except for the MC they are all part of the local Berlin Ballroom Community

Old Way, Vogue Fem, European Runway, Face, Fashion Killer, Posing with Fabric, All American Runway, Hands Performance, New Way