Living the Barbie Land fantasy

Drag show celebrates hyper-feminine doll

Advertisement

Advertise with us

‘I never had a Barbie of mine growing up, but I’ve become the Barbie I always wanted,” Lady Fortuna says.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/07/2023 (1127 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

‘I never had a Barbie of mine growing up, but I’ve become the Barbie I always wanted,” Lady Fortuna says.

The drag queen, who regularly performs at venues across the city, is the brains behind tonight’s Hi, Barbie! Drag Show and Dance Party at Club 200.

“Each queen and king that I asked to be part of the show brings something so unique to it,” says Lady Fortuna, who has a assembled a lineup at the downtown club that includes Queen Adrian, Prairie Sky, Joss, Ruby Chopstix, Zova Da Silva, Kymera, Orion Sbelt, Marquesa, the Yellow Belle and Edyn Peaches, to name just a few.

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
                                Drag queen Lady Fortuna’s Barbie-themed drag show is at Club 200 tonight.

JESSICA LEE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

Drag queen Lady Fortuna’s Barbie-themed drag show is at Club 200 tonight.

“They are one-of-a-kind collectibles for the show and will be donning the persona of the different types of Barbies, with all their various styles and careers.”

Drag queens have always had an affinity for Barbie as a hyper-feminine fantasy.

The doll’s ethos — “If you can dream it, then you can be it” — is particularly resonant when placed in the context of drag, where gender norms are gleefully subverted and the traditional ideas of what it means to be masculine or feminine are challenged.

The unashamedly pink-loving blond, with her sparkly accessories, impeccable style and impossibly high heels — just look at the arch of her foot — has always appealed to Lady Fortuna.

“I always wanted to do a Barbie show and as soon as the movie (trailers) came out and we got hints of what it would be about, I was really quick on getting my performers and getting a list of what I needed and wanted for it. I set the bar high for myself so hopefully I can deliver on the day of.”

Playing dress-up as Barbie is very much like being in drag, she says. The ability to style yourself any way you want to and express yourself by taking on different characters is something she finds highly appealing.

“Obviously no one is like that in real life,” she says. “It is a fantasy and there is a sense of comfort and belonging with that. Being able to express myself through Barbie makes me feel like I belong. To see her on the big screen… I get to relive that childhood fantasy again.”

Providing music for the event will be DJ J. Jackson, who will be playing songs from the Barbie soundtrack — which includes tracks by Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX and Lizzo — as well as sparkly pop and disco tunes.

“It’s a bit of a dance party as well, and you will hear really positive and upbeat songs, lots of pop throughout all the different eras,” Jackson says. “There is a real element of camp to Barbie and her exaggerated femininity works really well for drag. It will be a celebration of Barbie as an entity in herself.”

“As soon you walk into Club 200, I want everyone to feel like they are in Barbie Land,” says Lady Fortuna, who adds that, unlike at movie screenings, guests won’t be able to pose in life-size Mattel packaging.

“I want everyone to step out of their box and live their Barbie Land fantasy,” she says.

av.kitching@winnipegfreepress.com

AV Kitching

AV Kitching
Reporter

AV Kitching is an arts and life writer at the Free Press. She has been a journalist for more than two decades and has worked across three continents writing about people, travel, food, and fashion. Read more about AV.

Every piece of reporting AV produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Former care home nurse fined $8,000 for ‘disturbing in the extreme’ 2025 incident

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Preview

Former care home nurse fined $8,000 for ‘disturbing in the extreme’ 2025 incident

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Yesterday at 5:00 PM CDT

A former nurse has been fined $8,000 and is facing numerous restrictions after making a mistake “no registered nurse should have made” by inserting 10 centimetres of gauze into a patient’s anus instead of dressing a nearby wound.

Read
Yesterday at 5:00 PM CDT

End of retail ‘gravy train’ should get more police boots on the ground

Dan Lett 5 minute read Preview

End of retail ‘gravy train’ should get more police boots on the ground

Dan Lett 5 minute read Yesterday at 1:00 PM CDT

If Winnipeg Police Service Chief Gene Bowers has his way, the “Superstore gravy train” is going to be derailed.

Read
Yesterday at 1:00 PM CDT

Doctor pays $500K to revamp courtyard at care home where he works

By Zoe Pierce 4 minute read Preview

Doctor pays $500K to revamp courtyard at care home where he works

By Zoe Pierce 4 minute read Yesterday at 5:06 PM CDT

Fifty years after Dr. Pravinsagar Mehta began caring for residents at Actionmarguerite, a courtyard he had long watched deteriorate is getting a new life after he and his wife committed $500,000 to its redevelopment and long-term maintenance.

Read
Yesterday at 5:06 PM CDT

Carney’s defence of Lake Ontario carries enormous weight

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read Preview

Carney’s defence of Lake Ontario carries enormous weight

Niigaan Sinclair 5 minute read 4:28 PM CDT

For centuries on Turtle Island (North America), explorers, map makers, and political leaders have erased Indigenous place names and substituted them — more often than not — with political, ethnocentric, and self-aggrandizing names.

In recent years, a few places on the continent have had Indigenous names re-established, but as of today, few of the original names are “official.”

So, it was no surprise when U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior and Board on Geographic Names to take steps within 30 days to officially rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”

The move may have been a result of the Canada-U.S. trade war and Trump’s pettiness and ego, but it also fits in perfectly with his career.

Read
4:28 PM CDT

Trump’s tariff tantrum, geopolitical turmoil could be blessings in disguise for Manitoba’s diversified economy

Conrad Sweatman 18 minute read Preview

Trump’s tariff tantrum, geopolitical turmoil could be blessings in disguise for Manitoba’s diversified economy

Conrad Sweatman 18 minute read 3:58 PM CDT

It’s early July and Warren Luky’s second last day before he retires as president of United Steelworkers Local 6166. After a career at the bargaining table and in and around mineshafts, Luky speaks candidly as he fires up a barbecue at his Thompson home.

Luky, who represents 472 miners at Vale’s Thompson mining operation along with other northern labourers, is quite aware of the buzzwords currently attached to his trade and the region.

Phrases like “Arctic sovereignty,” “trade diversification,” “Indigenous-led” and “critical minerals” have caught on with politicians of all stripes over the past couple years as federal and provincial governments tout the need for greater Canadian sovereignty, with the push for major infrastructure projects declared a matter of national interest.

In light of the bitter collapse in trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S. on Aug. 21 — a historic blow to cross-border relations — these phrases are bound to become more contagious.

Read
3:58 PM CDT

Drag show celebrates Barbie

AV Kitching 3 minute read Preview

Drag show celebrates Barbie

AV Kitching 3 minute read Friday, Jul. 28, 2023

‘I never had a Barbie of mine growing up, but I’ve become the Barbie I always wanted,” Lady Fortuna says.

The drag queen, who regularly performs at venues across the city, is the brains behind tonight’s Hi, Barbie! Drag Show and Dance Party at Club 200.

“Each queen and king that I asked to be part of the show brings something so unique to it,” says Lady Fortuna, who has a assembled a lineup at the downtown club that includes Queen Adrian, Prairie Sky, Joss, Ruby Chopstix, Zova Da Silva, Kymera, Orion Sbelt, Marquesa, the Yellow Belle and Edyn Peaches, to name just a few.

“They are one-of-a-kind collectibles for the show and will be donning the persona of the different types of Barbies, with all their various styles and careers.”

Read
Friday, Jul. 28, 2023