Drag Race México's Valentina on Spiky Lashes and Her Old Hollywood Obsession

This Old Thing

In today’s world, what’s old is new again. Between fashion nostalgia and the mainstreaming of vintage hauls, more and more, we’re looking to years past for inspiration. And why shouldn’t we? Sometimes the answer isn’t buying new clothes, it’s working with what you’ve got. With This Old Thing?, we’re bringing you all the fashionable details, red carpet memories, and styling tips you’ll ever need—straight from the celebs you love.

Long before COVID made masks necessary, Valentina made them cool. The RuPaul’s Drag Race alum was a fan favorite during the show’s ninth season, when Ru asked her to remove a red lace mask she was wearing during a lip sync for her life. Her coy reply, “I’d like to keep it on, please,” cemented Valentina in the fandom’s hearts forever but also essentially outed herself as not knowing the words to the track. She was eliminated that episode but came back a few years later for All Stars 4, where she memorably told producers, “sending me home doesn’t make sense with my fantasy.” While she was eliminated again (in seventh place), that hasn’t stopped her from taking over the world. Valentina has since repeatedly appeared in top publications, played Angel in Rent: Live on Fox, and even popped up during “No Me Diga” in the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights. She’s appeared in multiple music videos—including her own—and, most importantly, she’s now hosting the brand new Drag Race México alongside Drag Race France alum (and fellow Mexican icon) Lolita Banana.

Never one to shy away from a well-placed rose or a good pair of spiky eyelashes, Valentina knows how to turn a look. We talked to her about her inspiration, her on-screen looks, and why she loves to give the audience what they want. Keep reading to learn all about Valentina's style icons and how she's become one herself.

Her Old Hollywood-Obsessed Beginnings

I started manifesting her through illustration. I remember as a little child always drawing eyes. I would draw these spiky eyelashes and these huge eye pupils, along with lines for the eyebrows and a big huge eyelid, and that’s why I think I started building her there.

My upbringing included a lot of Mexican television and telenovelas, just on in the background. When I turned 18, I got really interested in beauty pageants like Miss Universe and old Hollywood, so I started watching all the old Hollywood movies. I went through all the movies of Gene Tierney, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe… anything that had a fierce female lead. I started to build this persona and this character that’s kind of an old Hollywood starlet with a lot of mystery, sensuality, and charisma. She has a big smile and elegant style, and somehow her face is a little bit brighter on camera.

I also worked at Prada on Rodeo Drive, which was a really fierce, strict company to work for. They had a really great way of operating, so when it came to building a brand, I took lessons from that experience in high end retail and being a top seller.

In Valentina, there’s a little bit of Rita Hayworth, a little Marilyn Monroe, a little María Félix, [and] a little Thalia. She's a diva but she's also flirtatious. She's intelligent, but she's also an airhead. She has a beautiful smile, and she knows how to walk like a beauty queen.

Her Signature Beauty Look

When it comes to makeup, I do have my stamp. It’ll always be spiky eyelashes, with big dark eyebrows with lots of pink, peachy blush. I might do a red lip, or a nude or peach lip. Flowers in my hair, florals, the color red, my pointy long nails… I always do a very small wave, too. I feel like it'd be so easy for anybody to do Valentina cosplay.

Valentina's Journey from Dream to Reality

Valentina’s style is my style. Okay—when I created her, she was the impossible. I wanted an excuse to wear a gown and be invited to the ball. Now I've been to events that are very high-end, and I've manifested something that I wanted for myself.

Where She Gets Style Inspo

When it comes to style icons, I really look up to my family, like “What would she do? What would she wear?” But when it comes to fashion, there are a lot of designers that I model my brand after. I like very elegant, very sophisticated, very luxurious things that look couture or that look like they’ve been hand-beaded for many hours. I like designers like Carolina Herrera, Prada, Bottega Veneta, and Valentino. All their runway shows are absolutely incredible.

When I was in high school, my style was different. I remember liking the vintage, thrift store look, because that's what I could do at the time. I loved Agyness Deyn for a moment. Style shifts and evolves depending on your circumstances. I feel like no matter what, I've always had a great sense of style. Nowadays, when I'm invited to the ball, I will show up looking darling, and I will be armed with really fierce jewelry. Gowns, too! Also, undergarments that are one of a kind, just for me.

How She Created Her Drag Race México Look

For Drag Race México, I worked very closely with my dear friend, Ali Daniel Flores, a photographer who was in charge of helping me out with all my looks. He and I were best friends, and we worked out everything together. All my looks were made in Guadalajara, Mexico, and we worked very closely [together on] buying the materials and drawing out the illustrations, making the outfits, and doing final fittings.

Why She Loves Working with Friends

I'm very lucky to be in a position in my career where fashion is not just wearing designer clothes, but it's also creating from scratch and manifesting an image that is uniquely your own. You start something in muslin and then you create it using materials that that you really love, and you get to really embrace the people that you want to work with, versus the pattern is already made and the designer already had a vision and they're just giving it to you unaltered. Why not start from zero? With my friends, I get to do those things, and it's such a joy and an artistic venture. I'm so lucky.

Runway Valentina vs. Werk Room Valentina

Each episode has its theme. For me, the person that I am in the Werk Room is different from the person that I am on the main stage. When I'm in the Werk Room, I'm putting forth my authentic self with my dark eyes, using my natural hair, and wearing articles of clothing that are more ready-to-wear, like dresses and separates that are more comfortable. That’s an extension of where I'm at right now,—exploring myself, gender, and how I like to dress myself and navigate the world in regards to femininity.

Once we get to the main stage, that's when I want to show up being the doll in the illusion: wearing the wig, wearing the contacts, and showing outfits that are a lot more complex, with really tight corsets and all the tricks. For instance, when we did the Snatch Game episode, in the Werk Room I was just wearing a blazer and a skirt with natural hair and dark eyes. By the time you get to the main stage, I’m in contacts and a blonde wig, with all these other little details added on. We were referencing French style, surrealism, and Salvador Dalí in that look, too.

The previous week, I did a Pucci look, which is very much in line with Valentina’s identity. I really love ‘60s glamour, hairstyles, makeup, mod… and that's what I was doing the previous week. It’s very high glam, very Priscilla Presley, very Valley of the Dolls, which is how I introduced myself to the world for season nine’s Meet The Queens. People want the big wig, the contacts, and the spiky eyelashes. They want the fantasy. They want the lines on my eyebrows, and they want to see me in full drag—and so that's what I give on stage.

Her First Big Fashion Purchase

When I went to Mexico City for the first time, I actually had a sold out show at a theater called the Teatro Garibaldi. I had prayed to La Virgen de Guadalupe that I would get on Drag Race, and I got on the show, so I promised myself that when I went to Mexico City, I would go to her Basilica and give her flowers. When I was there, I purchased a solid gold pendant that had all the coronas all around, and I wore it in many, many pictures in the years after. It was full of so much spirituality, value, and love, and it was a purchase that I made with so much confidence. Unfortunately, that necklace is gone because I was assaulted once in Guadalajara, and they ripped the necklace off of me. But it's okay—I bought myself another one.

I'm a pretty deep person, so I thought [the necklace] was a very profound item. It was something that could be considered a family heirloom one day, and it was to show my gratitude for La Virgen hearing my prayers and getting me on the show.

The Diversity of Mexican Drag

Mexico is a very big country, and it’s so advanced when it comes to art, architecture, astronomy, biodiversity, indigenous information, and the history of mankind. So it's a very unique place. It's very surreal. It's a melting pot of many different cultures when you're in Mexico City, and then you could be in a small town and it will be totally different. When you're in the south of Mexico, the terrain and the weather is completely different. You can go from an area that was indigenously Aztec, and then you go further south and it turns Mayan. The North has all the desert, too, and the South can get tropical Caribbean weather.

There's a big Spanish influence here, but also there’s the pre-Hispanic history of Mexico, and that’s so beautiful. It’s also helped create a very unique queer culture, because in Mexican history, there have always been queer people that were really brilliant.

Mexico is also a place that has a lot of talent, because when it comes to Ballet Folklorico, when it comes to mariachi, when it comes to cooking, we do it all very well. So, Mexico in general, is very unique and there's a lot of talent and variety, which we're seeing now in season one. We’re also already doing an open call for season two. Mexico is a very big country, so the seasons [of Drag Race México] are always going to be very unique because we have a lot of girls to represent. I'm really excited for people to fall in love with Mexico and with the show.

Up Next: Shea Couleé on Breaking Fashion Rules and the Style Moments That Live Rent Free in Her Head

Read the original article on Byrdie.