![]() She’ll walk the Met Gala one month, pop up in a music video (“Simple Times”) from Nashville singer-songwriter Kacey Musgraves the next, all while continuing to chart a course through Los Angeles nightlife via the House of Avalon collective. ![]() “I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is what’s missing in my life.’ ”Īs one of the drag queens to be catapulted into cultural consciousness by the hit reality competition, Symone continues to operate by her own rules. ![]() “It gave me permission to be myself,” she says of the art form. By 18, she left the house in drag for the first time - to attend her senior prom.Ī stint at a club on amateur night followed a few months later, and she’s been doing drag ever since. Growing up in Conway, Arkansas, the self-described “shy, reserved kid” began doing her own makeup after school around age 16. “Ultimately, they don’t want people to feel that they can express themselves and be different - or that there’s a different way of living outside of the norm.”Īn urge to break out of the box was exactly what brought Symone to drag in the first place. It’s easier than dealing with what’s actually going on in the country,” she continues. Gay people, trans people, our whole community has always been an easy mark. ![]() Whether or not Drag Race is losing its edge due to a similar oversaturation of the market is one debate, but the evening of glamazonian entertainment that was MODE was, in the words of Mother Ru, a shot of adrenalin one I sincerely hope Klub Kids repeats.“It’s a distraction. The night is polished off by the Valleys icon leading the other four in a round of shot-downing (much to A’Whora’s hungover distaste), before suggesting moving things to Pulse for the afterparty.įrom theatre to panto to comedy, Cardiff is currently experiencing a seasonal dragsplosion of options for queer culture participants and fans to sink their money into. Her Janet Jackson-themed dance number popped and dropped in all the right places, reminding us why she clawed her way to the top of her Drag Race season on lip syncs alone. But, this being close to a homecoming gig, it was Tayce’s night to own – and own it she did, sometimes with a single, over the shoulder look to the comparatively unwashed, sweaty masses and a whip of her cherry red, waist-long Cher hair. Cheeky, sharp and just the right balance of intimidating yet approachable. It’s hard not to be entranced by a queen like Bimini, who lit up a cigarette while sauntering towards the audience, inserted a lollipop into an eager woman’s mouth, set off a mini rave to The Prodigy and finished the whole thing with an anti-Tory tirade. The energy and feel of the setting, crowd and performers can make or break shows like these that straddle the line between precision-planned and improvised, and luckily, Klub Kids’ fashion experiment paid off in spades at Cardiff’s Tramshed last night.īimini Bon Boulash – credit: Hannah Collins ![]() Still, a big television personality and sizeable talent doesn’t always translate to a flawless live experience: I was left amused but disappointed by Vanessa Vanjie Mateo’s chaotic one-woman show at the Glee Club two years ago, for instance (though two women rowdily drinking their body weight in vodka next to me likely didn’t help). All five make for logical and exciting picks for a fashion-oriented tour, either for leaving their mark on the franchise as avant-garde wardrobe wearers, commanding runway presences, or an enviable mix of the two. For one thing, the roster of RuPaul’s Drag Race talent was immense: Season 12 finalist Gigi Goode Season 13 winner Symone and Drag Race UK Season 2 favourites Bimini Bon Boulash, A’Whora and Wales’ own Tayce. Having been to a number of Klub Kids events at varying venues, cities, lineups and degrees of quality, I went into the Cardiff stopoff of MODE – the launch event for promoter spinoff Haus of Klub Kids, and apparently the UK’s first drag runway show – with cautious optimism. ![]()
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