Last weekend, at an industrial estate in Tottenham, people stuck gaffer tape on their nipples and arched their backs. There, a disused car garage-turned-warehouse played host to the ascendant club night 2CPerrea, where people wear shirred playsuits and leopard-print belt skirts and skank vests with the word “maricon” (meaning faggot in Spanish) embroidered across their fronts. Staged in collaboration with Popola UK, partygoers whined to the seductive electronica and jacked-up dembow of Latin America’s perreo subculture. “Perreo is about dancing with your friends and smiling at them. It’s about being free and moving your body,” the night’s organisers explain. “Especially your ass.”
“At 2CPerrea, fashion and freedom go together. The focus is on creating the right atmosphere for everyone to be themselves,” they add. “Looks for days, mi amor!” The whole thing gives space to a generation of young queers whose nights would otherwise be ruined by the presence of cishet people. “It was created so that we could dance to perreo outside of the hetero-patriarchal system without limits, bringing the Latino influence to London.” The outfits are built on these small expressions of defiance: one-legged chaps, whale tails, rhinestoned truckers, and football corsets. “We like to show our bodies without being judged, from tiny skirts with hot lingerie to ripped denim in every shape, as well as see-through fabrics and cute accessories to make the perfect look.”
Click through the gallery above to see some of the best-dressed attendees and head over here to check out 2CPerrea’s next event.