Old Way

In ballroom culture, Old Way is the original style of vogue. It is defined by hard angles, straight lines, symmetry, and precise, fluid movement, with arms and body forming boxes and lines to the beat. The look draws on the poses of fashion models and the flat profiles of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Old Way took shape in the Harlem ballroom scene of the 1960s and 1970s, a world built by Black and Latino queer and trans people who were pushed to the margins of the wider LGBTQ+ community. It is the foundation from which New Way, with its flexibility and contortion, and Vogue Fem later grew. Willi Ninja is often credited as a central figure in voguing's early evolution.