Adrian Preman, 31
Interior designer/stylist
Cis male, Gay
He/him
Since he was a child, Adrian always felt like an outsider. Being the only “brown-skinned” boy at the all-boys school he attended, he endured all kinds of name calling. It didn’t help that he wasn’t much into sport and had an effeminate nature.
“I was kinda blessed I didn’t have an ethnic Indian name,” Adrian says half-jokingly.
At home, Adrian spent the first nine years of his life as an only child. With immigrant parents who worked long hours, Adrian spent a lot of time by himself.
“I was always creative as a kid, having a wild imagination… I had a dress up box which was an old suitcase with Mum’s old clothes, and a mix tape of Janet Jackson songs and would spend hours by myself coming up with all kinds of costumes,” Adrian remembers.
As he entered his teenage years, Adrian realised another level of “otherness” when he recognised his attraction to men. Not wanting to be ostracised further, Adrian kept his feelings a secret until an argument with his mother unleashed the truth by accident.
Upset by the revelation, Adrian’s mother became a “tyrant” and kept a tight leash on Adrian and monitored his access to the internet for the remaining of his high school years, sending Adrian into a spiral of depression.
Towards the end of high school, Adrian met his first boyfriend through some friends and moved in with him and his family.
“Those four years that we were together were the most formative years of my life. It was also the most hellish years with my parents because I moved out and they had to deal with that. But I was felt like I was finally released and able to find myself,” reveals Adrian.
Over the years, Adrian has found his “tribe” of other creative queer individuals who had been raised in repressed families but have found their freedom as adults and celebrate their fabulousness regularly. As for his parents, Adrian has mended the relationship and continues to educate them about his life, with his mother now taking an interest in his costume creations.
When Adrian turned 30, he threw a flamboyant costume party and brought his family and friends together for an utterly queer evening.
“I don’t think my father had ever seen me look so camp before! But this is me and I think my birthday was the epitome of me.”
Photo notes:
Dressed in the fabulous custom-made outfit from his 30th birthday, Adrian recreated his childhood bedroom where he first discovered his inner self and felt the most comfortable for who he was, celebrating his queerness.