By: Daniel P’Lopez
José Lizárraga, a Chicano from Salinas, California, is an out and openly spoken dog lover. Jose’s parents are from Mexico and immigrated to The United States with his mother working as a farm labor worker, and his father as a butcher. With hard struggling work, Jose was able to go to Art school and got his masters at Standford and a Phd at UC Berkley. Jose now works as a professor at the University of Colorado and lives with his husband, Dr. Arturo Cortez and their little Chihuahua, Rupawl a recuse animal from San Francisco SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).
With a passion in the arts, and being a huge fan of RuPaul’s drag race show and the drag scene, and not to mention a few comments from strangers, wondering what sex his doggie was, was what led to the making of drag doggie clothes. ‘Gender is a construct; we are all born naked and the rest is drag!’ says Jose.
With the outcry and obsession with gender and binary questions and feedback was what inspired Jose and his husband to dress their little pooch in drag almost as a statement. Saint James, a club kid from New York coins the name and idea for Rupawl the first doggie drag queen, a name Jose went with. Especially with the anti-drag and anti-trans legislations Jose felt it was important to launch something, ‘drag is art, drag is love’.
Jose says his doggie drag clothing is made in the USA by him and is all handmade with high quality materials, stretchable, breathable and comfortable clothes for the pooches. Like a drag queen has a high standard for their looks, Jose’s clothing is also high standard doggie drag not something you can just buy off a shelf anywhere. Jose clothing are signature pieces and inspired by famous drag queens such as Sasha Colby, Lady Camden, and Luxx Noir London.
The doggie clothing is for small and medium dogs but Jose is working on clothes for bigger dogs as well. The prices vary from the smallest little things for a about eight bucks, to the more extragenetic that can range from over a hundred. It really depends on what you buy and how made up you want to dress your dog. The clothing is for all people and all dog lovers, Jose says and the dogs love it and love the attention on camera and from others, like Rupawl.
This is a new growing business for Jose and his husband Dr. Arturo, and is growing every day. Jose says he wants to expand his business and hire help but wants to make sure he keeps the same quality in the clothing and accessories, and maintain the drag theme to his clothing. Jose hopes to collaborate and work with other drag queens, to create new looks and clothes.
Jose, or more like, Rupawl, won two Webby awards (The Oscars of the internet) and was nominated for a third time. With a positive bright future for drag apparel eventually Jose will also branch out not just for bigger dogs but clothes for male dogs too, since others have been asking him for this. Jose, Arturo and Rupawl have a lot to look forward too, events, public appearances and for the holidays mainly Halloween.
‘Drag is not a crime, drag is love, drag is community and drag is life’. This is what Jose wants to say and expresses with love and with the beauty of our LGBTQ+ communities.
To purchase doggie drag clothing and accessories, please visit, DoggieDrag.com you can also follow Rupawl at Follow Doggie Drag on IG and Twitter @doggiedrag
Follow RuPawl on IG, Tik Tok and Twitter @RuPawl_official