![]() ![]() ![]() Then in VRChat, Lena selects the "world" that hosts the club. To prepare for a night at TrippyWRLD ENT, Lena puts on her Oculus headset and body tracking kit, which animates her avatar's hands, arms, and torso. "You do an audition on stage during normal club hours, and see how people react, and the head dancer was like, 'You got some good reviews!'" "It's basically run almost exactly like a real-life strip club," Lena continued. Lena auditioned as Diamond, using an avatar customized to look like her real-life drag persona. The friend, known online as Mustachio, introduced Lena to Trippy, who "owns" TrippyWRLD ENT, and CallMeSway, who acts as the club's head dancer. In August of this year, a friend in Lena's VRChat circles asked if she was interested in dancing for a virtual strip club. Buying an Oculus Quest 2 and playing VRChat, where she met many of her close friends, "basically changed" her life. Like many others who were isolated during the height of the pandemic, she found solace in a vibrant online community. When clubs and venues shuttered in early 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19, "all performing stopped." Lena still experimented with makeup for new drag looks and streamed a digital drag show on Twitch, but it wasn't remotely close to the rush of performing in front of an audience. She loves performing as a playful caricature of herself her repertoire includes "standard drag moves" like death drops as well as jumping into splits off of a mini dog staircase. Lena, who is a trans woman, began doing drag at the age of 16. There are moments where I'm literally flying around the stage." "In VRChat, normal physics don't even apply, if you want. I don't have to lace my corset so tight that I'm like, getting the taste of last week's dinner," Lena explained in a call with Mashable, noting that her avatars are designed to look "exactly like" her real-life self in drag. "It's like getting into drag, but super easy, because I don't have to. There are moments where I'm literally flying around the stage. In VRChat, normal physics don't even apply, if you want. Unlike performing as her real-life counterpart, performing in VR is physically more comfortable. Like her real-life drag persona, Lena's VR avatar has doll-like lashes, vivid eyeshadow, and thick teal hair pulled into pigtails. Her VR avatar is an extension of her drag persona Lena goes by the name "Diamond" on stage in real life and in VR. Most nights, Lena prepares for a show by putting on her headset and hopping into a Discord call. The game launched in 2017, and amid social distancing during the last 18 months, has become a popular platform for COVID-safe socializing. The club - and the world it occupies - exists in the virtual reality game VRChat, an online playground in which users can design spaces, customize their avatars, and interact with other users. Getting ready to perform at the virtual strip club TrippyWRLD ENT takes just a few minutes, as Lena demonstrated in a viral September TikTok that received more than 3.7 million views. SEE ALSO: Best sex toys for couples looking to switch things up She may use the waiting time to adjust her makeup, cinch her corset even tighter, or glue on a set of fake nails. Upon arriving, she spends another hour checking in and waiting her turn for the stage. The drive to the clubs she performs in can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Once her hair and face are done, Lena pads her hips, laces herself into a corset for an exaggerated hourglass figure, and shimmies into her outfit. Then she dons a voluminous teal, magenta, or bubblegum pink wig, setting the false hairline with glue for a more natural finish. She first spends an hour and a half applying makeup, which involves drawing on sharp brows, gluing on feathered lashes, and packing blush across her cheeks. Dancing in a virtual reality strip club may not make a living, but it's been a COVID-safe joy for dancers who can't perform in real-life clubs.Ī typical night of performing in-person drag takes 19-year-old Lena Diamond hours of prep. ![]()
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