The dynamic Haus of Schiaparelli presents The Lovers Ball, a celebration of queer love and self-expression marking ten years of marriage equality, at Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre on Thursday 24th July.
This is a world where love reigns, the aisle is the runway and the ballroom is the altar, and where the Black and Brown LGBTQ+ community and their allies can play out their wedding fantasies, whether blushing bride in couture chaos or dapper groom in sequinned suiting.
The Haus of Schiaparelli broke ground last year when it hosted Ireland’s first-ever Black-led queer ball at Dublin’s Hen’s Teeth venue. The event brought traditional ballroom competition, as established in 1970s New York, to Ireland, allowing queer people of colour to strut and dance down the runway in iconic mainstay categories such as ‘Coronation Runway’, ‘Best Dressed’, ‘MASC-ERADE’, ‘Alien Superstar’, ‘Face’, ‘Body’, ‘Twerkulator’, ‘Legwork Champion’, ‘Vogue’, and ‘Diamond of the Season’.
These categories, and others like them, are drawn directly from the annals of ballroom history, which traces its roots to 1920s New York City in an era known as the Harlem Renaissance. Ballroom culture can be traced back to the Hamilton Lodge Ball in 1869, recognized as the first drag ball in United States history.
This Ball reached the peak of its popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, drawing hundreds of drag performers and thousands of spectators, and attended by members of the Black and Brown LGBTQ+ community in a time and place that criminalised expression of overt queerness.
Ballroom participants compete in Houses, which offer alternative family dynamics (with house mothers and fathers) for disenfranchised LGBTQ+ youth. The Haus of Schiaparelli was founded in 2023 by Tino Schiaparelli and has produced two sell-out balls – Royalty (2023) and Olympic Village (2024) – and curated Voguing classes for the Summer At IMMA Programme (2024).
Named after the legendary fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, known for her avant-garde designs and fearless approach to fashion, Haus of Schiaparelli is a “Kiki” house, more focused on mentorship than the more competitive ballroom scene, offering a space for people to find social support, and to grow both within and beyond Ballroom.
The Haus’s events centre Black and Brown queer people — the descendants of the founders of Ballroom. The Lover’s Ball is being produced by members of the Black Irish LGBTQ+ community in Dublin, a collective of artists and individuals hoping to spread Ballroom culture in Ireland. Since the campaign for marriage equality in 2015, trans rights and the Black Lives Matter movements have had increased visibility, and an aim for the Haus is to highlight and support those more diverse elements within Irish queer history.
Tino Schiaparelli, Founder and Creative Director of Haus of Schiaparelli, says, “Our Lovers Ball isn’t just a ball, it’s a wedding doing what a wedding does best, bringing us together as a community. We want you to bring your fiercest looks, your chosen family, and your heart on your sleeve. Strut the floor like it’s your big day, every day, and come celebrate with us!”
Words: Emma Lueders
THE LOVERS BALL, Presented by Haus of Schiaparelli, Thursday 24th July, 6:30pm -11:00pm
Smock Alley Theatre, 6-7 Exchange Street Lower, Temple Bar, Dublin D08 EH67
Tickets: via Eventbrite, €12 – €30. Over 18s only.
