Superstar celebrity Vice Ganda’s UnkabogaBALL in Cebu was a show-stopping gathering of LGBTQ icons dressed to the nines but with a twist, as the stars showed up wearing their own interpretation of the theme, “Philippine History.”
Yet the clear head-turner of the night was Drag Race Philippines runner-up Marina Summers’ ensemble as she channeled former First Lady Imelda Marcos in a pristine white terno designed by Neric Beltran — a signature look of Imelda’s — featuring bloodstained red hands at the back.
“The Marina Summers is Imelda at the CCP,” stylist Paul Sese wrote on Twitter — seemingly referring to the Manila Film Center tragedy of 1981 in which 169 workers tragically died and were buried under quick-drying cement. The film center is located in the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).
“The gag is the dress has an attached speaker inside the dress, and while she’s walking down the red carpet, there’s audio of people crying. People just couldn’t hear it because of the background music,” he explained.
The drag queen even wore the bouffant hairstyle associated with the former first lady during the Marcos Sr regime.
People went wild for the look online and said that it proved drag is political.
Marina’s striking look earned her the UnkabogaBALL Star of the Night Award, which entailed a PHP100,000 (US$1,800) cash prize from Vice Ganda.
The drag queen also took to social media after her win to explain the meaning behind her look.
“Our winning look for the #unkabogaball2022. This is the part of Philippine History that they are trying to conceal with glamour and misinformation. This is the story that should never be forgotten,” she said.
Fellow Drag Race alum Eve LeQueen also shared some context behind Marina’s look.
“To further emphasize her message, y’all probably didn’t know that Marina was wearing a REAL diamond necklace and earring set worth [PHP 1.5 million] for her #UnkabogaBALL2022 lewk. That’s how committed she was,” she shared.
“Mine wasn’t stolen,” Marina replied in the comments.
