The “Stable Pride Campaign”, directed and produced by Starboy Bodega, sought to bring this idea of chosen family to a local Irish family-lead company. Cast from members of his own House of Bodega, the idea was to represent Ballroom authentically and showcase Stable through a different light. Shot by Chai Saeidi from Norway, a renowned Ballroom photographer and documentarian.

Set against the Irish countryside, the campaign was a reimagining of Stable fabrics that you could already be familiar with and an introduction to some of the new summer designs. This is also reflected in the vision of the shoot. It’s very Stable, through a different lens, but same perspective.

Balls are sometimes referred to as “queer utopias” and this story sought to explore what that could look like with an Irish backdrop. Alice in Wonderland and the “Lost Boys” from Peter Pan inspired the imagery. Lost in time and space the figures dance, proudly and freely. Classical visualisation meets traditional Irish textiles telling a story that’s never seen before but resonates with what is to be Irish. About how hardships can be a source of unity, and that sense of family that comes from it too.

A bit of background on “ballroom” and voguing:

Ballroom, or The “House Ballroom scene” is an underground pagent circuit, a sort of 

queer utopia lead by queer (specifically trans women) black and Latin folk that started in mid-20th century Harlem, New York. With the backdrop of the “Harlem Renaissance”, the Gay Rights Movement and the AIDS pandemic, it followed Crystal LaBeija who broke away from the drag pagents, after losing a pagent due to racism. She, along with Pepper LaBeija, Paris Dupree, Avis Pendavis, Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey and Duchess established the first “houses” and began to compete in their own pagents, which offered a safe haven to black and lantinx queer people, especially trans women, who were heavily oppressed and attacked in the public eye. 

Houses are led by mothers and/or fathers, who would find LGBT+ youths in New York who had maybe been kicked out of their biological families, because of their sexualities or gender expressions, and accept them into their own homes. Then these family units would compete at balls together under the same name, usually taken from a high fashion house or someone they admired. 

Balls were spaces where queer people of colour could emulate a better life for themselves that was, at the time, otherwise seemingly unattainable. Participants walk categories, such as runway (walking like a runway model wearing high fashions), realness (passing as a cisgender heterosexual) and eventually vogue! 

Voguing is a dance style that came from the house ballroom scene whereby the voguer would pose, like the pages of the magazine. The dance style emerged at the same time as Hip-Hop and Breaking, so there are obvious crossovers. The styles diverged into old way, which was the classic posing to the beat, new way, which was about posing and displaying your flexibility with musicality, and then vogue fem, named after the “fem queens” or trans women that developed it from old way. The types have 5 distinct elements that the performer must display to a panel of judges, usually made up from an experienced member of every house in the scene, in order to get their 10s if they qualify for the category or get chopped, if they do not. Those who get their 10s then qualify to battle (compete against) eachother in the hopes of winning the Grand Prize.

Balls are a colourful affair, focusing on musicality, fashion and spectacle. Nowadays, ballroom has spread all over the world, for the most part it is still underground. Paris has become the Mecca for European Ballroom, with scenes like London, Madrid and Amsterdam following behind. Houses still exist but they exist more as a collective, as houses can span across several states or countries. The House of West under the name “Voguerites” throws a very public ball every year in London, at Somerset House, where people from all over the world travel to compete with thousands of spectators present.h

Stable is proud to support Pride and to celebrate the beauty that comes from this community. In case anyone is looking to get involved and learn they can follow @starboydega @irishballroom @stableofireland

Photo shoot Credits  

Creative Director: @starboydega
Stylist: @starboydega
Producer: @starboydega
Models: @s_yyari @jcrelenas @kenya.drafts
@jayyysees @goma_airways
Photographer: @stillchai
Wearing: @stableofireland