Gay couturier Larry Stewart shows elaborate new line on Saturday. The Oak Cliff-bred designer also reveals rules about stitching for drag divas

ROCK THAT FROCK: Stewart poses with one of his silk-and-mesh creations. The skirt of the dress has upward pleats to draw attention to the hips. The centers of the flowers are hand-beaded in sterling silver and gold. (DANIEL A. KUSNER/Dallas Voice)

Some little boys just can't stay away from grandma's Singer sewing machine. While the other kids in Southeast Oak Cliff were playing football, Larry Stewart was ripping the seams out of old dresses and tearing up bed sheets. As a freshman, Stewart marched into Thomas Jefferson High School wearing a green-and-ivory pair of baggy parachute pants that would have made MC Hammer jealous.

Maybe his sense of fashion was hereditary. His grandmother, Marlene V. Turner, ran Hurley Bell's one of the first bridal shops in Dallas tailored specifically for African-American women.

How are African-American wedding gowns different from others?

"Black women love flashiness. We're talking high beading: laurel-beaded lace and beaded patchwork. Lots of flowers and leaves," Stewart explains.

Throughout high school, Stewart was the go-to boy who stitched prom and homecoming dresses for his classmates. Since then, he created gowns for many Dallas drag performers. And he's even contributed a jacket for the DIFFA Dallas Collection.

Now 33 years old, he's continuing the family tradition with his line Ramona-Marlene Couture. This Saturday, 45 new creations will march down the runway in a show titled "Fashion Through Our Eyes."

True couture is all about handmade craftsmanship: The cutting and edging of buttonholes, the lining of sleeves none should be constructed with anything more automated than needle and scissors. And Stewart prides himself on his hand-beaded and hand-sewn garments. For "Fashion Through Our Eyes," he's using about 16 models and combining his garments with African props, and music by Erykah Badu, Rihanna, Beyonce, Daft Punk and Salt 'N Pepa. The show will also feature creations by local gay designers Steven D. Hill and Christopher White.

Earlier this week, Stewart answered a quick Q&A about being a fierce fashionista.

Five rules for creating a drag garments: 1) Use stretchy fabrics. 2) Make it tight. 3.) Make sure it fits over the butt and hip pads. 4) Use a lining that absorbs sweat. 5) Sew the garment at least five or six times. If you don't, the seams will come apart because of those dance moves.

Lessons you learned in Oak Cliff that you could never pick up in downtown Dallas. If it wasn't for one of my homecoming clients, I never would have thought about making a jersey into a dress or taking Crown Royal bags and sewing them together to make a gown for prom.

Define ghetto fabulousness: It's about having a dream and doing it. It's about having a sense of style in which no one can tell you right from wrong. Although the quick-weave ponytail is hideous, these girls still flaunt it wearing two color tracks and oversized lime-green painted nails and airbrushed designs; wearing short shorts and light-up glass heels they got at Wal-Mart. They believe. They do it big. And guess what? They are very much fabulous.

Exceptional Oak Cliff and South Side retailers that no one really knows about: Pretty Feet Boutique, 2550 W Red Bird Lane # 201; Rita's, 3917 W. Camp Wisdom Road; and Robert's Ready to Wear, 1706 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. All three actually cater to a sophisticated shopper. They carry a wide variety, and you can score come great tailor-made goods.

Finish this sentence: In 10 years, I hope to . Be in every closet of mainstream America and be internationally known. I hope to have my own boutique and run a program that guides inner-city youth who are interested in fashion and teach them how the industry works.


HAUTE IN THE SUMMER

Stewart's collection will be shown at "Fashion Through Our Eyes"
The Firehouse, 1928 Greenville Ave. Aug. 25 at 3 p.m. Tickets $10. 469-245-2245


This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition August 24, 2007