'Queer Met Gala Of MA' Comes To Worcester Amid Pride Week

WORCESTER, MA — A queer fashion show is set to light up the city next weekend, a major highlight of Worcester's Pride Week.

Worcester's Queer AF Art and Fashion Show is bringing national drag stars, top-tier designers and local talent to Mechanics Hall on Main Street. This year's showcase, on September 5, is themed 'Ethereal Beings', and is the sixth year of the event.

All donations go to Love Your Labels, a local nonprofit that supports LGBTQIA+ youth across Massachusetts.

“We really believe that our ability to express ourselves through fashion and makeup and performance and art is not only something that can bring a lot of joy,” said Joshua Croke, the president and founder of Love Your Labels. “But it is also life-saving, especially for queer and trans folks as we navigate a world that often does not accept who we are and the fabulous ways in which we may want to express ourselves.”

The show's headlining drag performer is Raja Gemini, a drag and makeup artist who won Season 3 of RuPaul's Drag Race and has appeared on America's Next Top Model. Joining Gemini is designer Utica Queen, who is currently competing on Season 21 of Project Runway and is a former contestant on Drag Race. Queen will serve as the show's design headliner.

The night will also feature drag performing artists, including Kvng Neptune and Yanalexia Zatish, who both recently won Love Your Labels' first-ever drag competition.

However, the spotlight won't just shine on big names, like Gemini and Queen. Love Your Labels is bringing its Threads program's alumni to the runway.

“Love Your Labels is really about rooting in queer and trans joy and really working collaboratively in community to create inclusive and loving spaces everywhere,” Croke said.

The Threads program gives high school-aged students a chance to explore identity, gender and personal expression through fashion design. The nonprofit promotes equity for its students, according to Croke.

“One of the things that is really important about the program that we’ve been really committed to since the beginning… is that the program is fully scholarshipped for students to participate,” Croke said, adding that “every student that graduates the program is able to keep their sewing machine.”

Eight Threads alumni will take part in the fashion show this year. One former student will walk as a model, another will exhibit custom paintings and six will showcase original designs.

Among them is Holy Cross student Caelum Lam, who will debut a small collection.

“Love Your Labels is a community where queer people can express themselves and be creative — something I didn’t find at school or in after-school activities,” Lam said in a press release. "Being part of Love Your Labels gave me the opportunity to meet other youth I could relate to, as well as adults who quickly became my queer role models.”

The fashion show has grown into a major Pride Week highlight in Worcester. More than 650 people attended last year's event, and organizers expect a packed house again.

More than 60 local models will walk the runway, alongside designers from across New England, giving the showcase its signature community-driven feel.

The show will even include a community runway, so anyone in the venue who wants to strut down the runway will get the opportunity, according to Croke.

“It can be a really transformative experience for people to walk down a runway in front of hundreds of people and know they are going to be celebrated and affirmed for who they are, what they're wearing, regardless of any of their identity factors," Croke said. "We are there to celebrate all of those things about each other.”

All proceeds benefit Love Your Labels and its programs. Tickets are on sale here.

The event opens with a red carpet at 6:30 p.m., and the show begins at 8 p.m.

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