Voguing emerged from Harlem’s remarkable house ballroom scene in the 1980s, where men competed for their dancing skills, their ability to act like models on a catwalk, and how real they could make their drag. Malcolm McLaren’s only number-one single was ‘Deep in Vogue,’ released in 1989. When the mainstream came to hear about New York City’s unique ball culture, the film and McLaren and Madonna’s songs grew, the mainstream declared that it was hip to ball culture.
In the late 1980s, Chantal Regnault began photographing the voguing and house ballroom scene, capturing it at its height between 1989-1992. She was born in France. After the 1968 uprisings, Regnault moved to New York for the next 15 years. She became involved in Harlem’s voguing scene at the end of the 1980s. Additionally, she began to divide her time between Haiti and New York due to her interest in Haitian voodoo culture. Photographs of hers have appeared in Vanity Fair and the New York Times, among other publications.
