This Summer WOW Presents Plus is taking us to the Ballrooms of New York City with it’s new reality docu-series House on Fire. Following the legendary House of Miyake Mugler, the show gives an insight to the thrills, spills, dips and dives of being part of one of the most famous Ballroom families.
The House of Miyake Mugler is overseen by the Overall Father, Yusef Miyake Mugler, who as well as mentoring his children and leading them to greatness, has also been hairstylist to the Rihanna for over a decade. To toast, celebrate and festiviate House on Fire, Loverboy spoke with Yusef about his journey to being Overall Father, his encounter with Thierry Mugler and escorting Rihanna to the ballroom, hunty.
Yusef, you joined The House of Miyake Mugler in 2005. What was happening with you prior? Why did you need a House in your life and why Miyake Mugler?
I grew up in Miami and in the South everyone is into the pageantry and the drag. That is huge here. I grew up with that. That was the late 90s. So Ballroom has always just been there. In the late 90s I was just this young boy dancing on the….having a good time! I would see these people at clubs and be like, ‘Who are those guys?’ Friends would say, ‘Oh those are the Muglers. They are from Ballroom.’ Whitney & Nigel Mugler, they were the most beautiful men, like art pieces that walked into this wild-ass club. So I had always had my eye on the House of Mugler.
Then as I grew up, I started to visit New York more. The Ballroom scene was just there, houses began to pursue me but I was like, ‘I don’t know if I’ll be a part of this.’ But lo and behold, Derek, a friend of mine from Mugler said, ‘You should just come to a meeting!’ I went to that meeting in 2005 and the rest is history.
I’ve seen BQ next to your name online but I can find no videos! Tell us about competing and the importance of walking for you.
I walk fashion categories which consist of ‘Best Dressed’ or ‘Labels’ where you’re wearing high-end labels with a surprise piece. Like in House on Fire I whip out the Jean-Paul Gaultier x Hermes bag. Those are the moments, the highlights. Those are things that made me want to be a part of Ballroom, walking those fashion categories. The BQ is considered for ‘Butch Queen’ so I am walking all-male categories. Butch Queen means so many different things. We’re all queens but the boys have to put the ‘butch’ in front of it just to secure that masculinity. Haha…. But yes I am a fashion boy when it comes to Ballroom.
Society teaches us that showing emotion can be weak. Tell us about being an overall father, a caring role model and teaching particularly the LGBT+ community to love.
I grew up in a very big family. I have twenty four brothers and sisters so family is really important to me. The role of father for the House of Miyake Mugler just kind of happened. It wasn’t something I set out to do. But I guess I am a born leader and can also be vulnerable and available. Despite how busy my life is, I have always made time to take care of my family, my blood family and my chosen family. That’s what I am showing the kids. We make time for the things that will serve us in the best way possible. Me having a big family, learning how to love, it’s an easy thing. I see my kids come to me and they are just like, ‘The fact that you can find time to make sure that I am good, I appreciate it!’ It’s not an easy job in Ballroom but you know, heavy is the crown!
What do your children give you back in return?
Oh my God they give me hell! Haha…Let’s talk about that! As you will see in this season, particularly episode five! But they keep me on my feet, they keep me young, I think I get a lot of inspiration from my kids. I like to think that I inspire them as well. They are so damn talented and so creative. They excite the shit out of me.
During the twenty years you have been a part of Miyake Mugler, Ballroom has evolved so much. What’s been the best thing to come from this? And the worst?
We’re not going to let any bad things happen again, that’s for sure. Now we are safeguarding what Ballroom is and what it will evolve into. I came into Ballroom and said, ‘If I’m going to be a part of this, I want to be a part of the evolution, the progression of Ballroom.’ I wanted to be one of the people that took Ballroom to the next level. I set out to do that with other people in Ballroom and it happened in the best way. I wanted Ballroom to be present and visible. It’s always been the soundtrack to a lot of things but it was my mission to make sure it was right in your face.
We’ve seen bad things happen, we’ve seen the wrong people control the narrative of what Ballroom is but now it’s our job to do that properly. To protect it. This is ours.
Did you have any reservations about doing House on Fire?
In the beginning of course. But we are kicking major ass right now. I think it is time for the world to see the beauty of Ballroom, of chosen family. I have no reservations now, none. At the beginning I wanted to protect my family. But I’ve got a badass family that was willing to be transparent, vulnerable, willing to be themselves. I think a lot of people, in this climate particularly, will learn a lot from watching House on Fire.
The show manages to walk the line between giving us drama but keeping the image of the house in tact. Was this difficult?
No, that’s just us. We’re beautiful, we’re dramatic. All you’ve got to do is roll the cameras and we’re going to give you exactly what we are. No scripts over here, nobody’s pretending. We were just being Miyake Mugler, what we call ‘porcelain.’
In the last few years we have lost both Manfred Thierry Mugler and Issey Miyake. Did you get chance to meet either of them? Do we know what they had to say about the House?
I never met Issey Miyake but I did meet Thierry Mugler. Thierry loved that we had named the house after him. He wasn’t a big fan of the ‘Miyake’. He was like, ‘Get rid of that.’ Haha…He was the most gentle, the nicest guy. I had worked his shows before but had never wanted to say, ‘Oh I’m from the House of Mugler.’ But then when I became a leader, it was my duty to let him know about our House and what he meant to us, especially to me, a kid that was enamoured by fashion, theatre and beauty. He was the epitome of that. That’s who the fuck I am.
Your work with Rihanna is always a moment. Do you have a favourite look from your work together?
There are so many. They are like my babies. I would say the ‘We Found Love’ era, that kind of like rustic, shuffled, messy hair. That was when I pulled up on her and that was my first video with her. That by far was my favourite.
Rihanna has a deep relationship with the Ballroom scene. That said, ahem…what did you think of JLo’s track ‘Tens’ when it came out?
I’ve never heard of it. Just kidding! Haha…The beautiful thing about that track is that Jack Mizrahi is on it. He is a Ballroom pioneer. Much respect that she did a Ballroom song and included someone like Jack Mizrahi who deserves to be in anything musical when it comes to Ballroom. So yeah that was amazing. Now I don’t know if J.Lo’s ever been to a ball…
But I can speak for my girl Rih! She cares so much about what I am involved in and Ballroom. She would be like, ‘Come on now, I need to go’ and we would just got to balls in mid-town Manhattan at three o’clock in the morning. Back then it wasn’t on the mainstage or in Times Square. Rih was right there with me, sitting on stage, absorbing all the culture. I watched her fall in love with it. I watched her become one of the girls, right before my eyes.
Lastly we are named after the biggest-selling single of 2001. So we always ask what is your favourite Mariah track?
I love Mariah! The Butterfly album still has me in a chokehold, mentally, physically, emotionally. That was the best thing I had ever heard, listening to that for the first time. But one of the songs I go to is ‘Fourth of July’ and it’s like that song just gives me chills. I get chills just talking about it now.
House on Fire is streaming now on WOW Presents Plus.
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