BEST FASHION DESIGNER: Brandon Hilton
Brandon Hilton, singer, model, fashion designer, pig farmer, podcast host, drag queen, actor and soon-to-be author, launched the fashion brand The House of Mann in 2018, which has dressed major artists including Kim Petras, Dorian Electra and Allie X and has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Paper Magazine.
Brandon Hilton as Only Mann. (Photo by Laurence Logan)
The House of Mann has put on shows at New York and Paris fashion weeks and has had outfits featured on several popular TV series, including RuPaul’s Drag Race. This year, Hilton’s work could be seen on season four of HBO Max’s Doom Patrol, a TV series based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name, for which Hilton designed drag queen superhero Maura Lee Karupt’s costume.
Being a drag performer himself gives Hilton a unique perspective as a fashion designer because he understands what an outfit needs in order to be functional while fashionable.
“I wanted to have like RuPaul’s Drag Race level costumes, and I wanted to have really nice costumes, but there’s no stores locally that sell drag queen costumes and super elaborate things, so I had to start making them,” Hilton said.
