The Ballroom summer season in Berlin is open and the Doechii Kiki Ball by mother Dream and Everston Louboutin was just the perfect function to kick things off. I’m still gagged by how amazing the kiki was – definitely one of my favorites in a long time. There were so many stunning new talents on the runway I have never seen before. All the ballroom community projects and families have been cooking up fresh members left and right and my camera didn’t even know where to look first. Rarely have the beginner categories looked so advanced. The faces were facing, the outfits were fire and the dips went hard.
Looking back over the last couple of years, the Berlin ballroom community really has come a long way. Not to throw any shade at earlier functions, but there was definitely a noticeable uprising of talent and professionalism. The Kiki scene really rose to the front – especially thanks to all the people behind the scenes organizing community projects, workshops, gatherings, and, of course, balls. It comes to no surprise that the Doechii ball posed an excellent opportunity to honor those members. Not one but four members were awarded with the coveted “legendary” title during the LSS: Ambrosia, Yukiko, Ria and Sattva. Congratulations to all of you!
One of the most impressive things about the ball was the fashion. These outfits were incredible and you could have easily made a runway show just with the looks alone. The inspiration was, of course, Doechii and her Grammy’s look by Thom Brown: Deconstructed suits, lots of striped materials, impeccable tailoring, and lots of crocodile-themed embellishments. I heard a lot of the looks were made by the very talented Aysan Louboutin. Bravo!
I also loved there were a few new categories I hadn’t witnessed before in other balls: Black Hair Magic and Nails. I would LOVE to see more of these categories because they highlight an aspect of Black and Latinx culture that often gets taken for granted or overlooked.
These are just a few of the highlight shots from the Doechii Kiki Ball that took place on June 8th at Ufa Kulturfabrik. There are tons more. Below you’ll find a gallery of more highlights.
There is a download link as per usual as well for all the participants or guests that i captured. Feel free to post them on social media – a tag to @iheartberlin would be highly appreciated. If you have any requests or question – shoot me a DM 🙂
See you at the next ball!
