Transformista

Transformist flag

Transformista (transformist in English) is a Spanish word to describe performance artists engaged in drag, transvesting, or crossdressing. Sometimes the individual could live their everyday life as a transformist. It falls under the trans* umbrella, and it can also be used to designate transgender and travesti people, although these are three different terms.

Although drag queen, travesti and transformista all have very close meanings, there are some differences in context. Travesti can be seen used for everyday gender non-conforming people and even as a gender identity itself, drag artists are performers skilled in several artistic endeavors like lipsyncing, dancing, singing, acting, etc. and do not necessarily have to dress as the opposite gender. Transformista (even while falling in the spectrum of drag) is more often used as a synonym for cross-dresser.