How Much Makeup Can You Wear Today? Sophistication, Excess, and the Others’ Gaze on Chilean Drag Queen Art

This article analyzes the art of drag in Chile focusing on the relationship between artists and audiences, where notions of sophistication, excess, appropriateness, and good taste are negotiated. Classic drag, fixated on imitating femininity in gay spaces, has given way to contemporary expressions that combine humor, political criticism, and experimental aesthetics. These transformations reflect both the diversification and growing professionalization of the art, reaching wider audiences, although without eliminating social ambiguity toward this practice. Based on 24 interviews and 2 focus groups, it can be observed that the legitimacy of drag in Chile depends on aesthetic coherence, control of excess, and the ability to generate impact without falling into vulgarity. The consolidation of collaborative networks, the use of new communication technologies, and the prevalence of class codes associated with good taste define the limits of what can be shown on stage and what the public expects from artists. Consequently, although explicit discrimination has decreased, forms of value and devaluation of the profession persist. Under criteria of good taste and artistic legitimacy, reception of drag shows in Chile still reproduce a specific social sanction on homosexuality, but in a new covert manner.