RuPaul's Drag Race alum Olivia Lux's glam persona was inspired by the powerful women in her life
Olivia Lux is all about classic, timeless glamour, and the origin story for her drag persona explains why.
Video Transcript
OLIVA LUX: Knowing that I can make a career and a life out of doing art is so rewarding. A lot of times in this world we're told that that's not really a stable-enough lifestyle, right? And it feels so great to say, I'm doing it, baby, and you could do it too.
I'm Olivia Lux. I live in Brooklyn, New York, and I'm a drag artist.
As a child, baby, I gave. I was that kid that would organize the little theatrical productions for the parents, you know, the director of sorts but also starred in it, and I found out that I love the stage.
I went to school for musical theater, which was a huge risk, my mom would say. And I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't know how I was going to make it happen, but I worked for a fashion company. And then I did some makeup, and then I put it all together and started doing drag, and that ended up being the dream.
My first time in drag was so tragic. Can we get a moment of silence?
I was there because the host of that drag competition the week prior saw me go into this venue, and I had some makeup on. And she came up to me, and she said, do you do drag? And I said no. And she said, baby, you're one eyelash away from being a drag queen right now. And she was like, come back next week and do drag. And I was like, I don't know about that. And she asked the audience, and she said, should he come back next week and do drag? And they were all like yeah.
And sure enough, the next week I was there in a vintage dress that did not fit. And I performed, and it felt really great. But I think the best part of that performance was I wanted to continue to learn and grow.
Olivia Lux I like to think of as a conglomeration of all of the strong women in my life-- my mom, my two aunts, and my grandma. My grandma had all of these old cassette tapes, like the VHS like "Sparkle" and "The Wiz" with Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, all of those, like, old-style movies with these leading women that were beautiful and brown and powerful. And I would also turn off the screen and see these women in my life. So I like to think of Olivia as all of that, and I think that's why Olivia has this kind of, like, classic, timeless, old Hollywood glaze to her.
An Olivia Lux show is going to give you glamour down. I'm talking stones on stones on stones, hair on hair on hair, the face, the body. I give it all. I use it as an expression. So if I'm feeling sad, you're going to get a ballad. If I'm feeling joyous, baby, uptempo disco diva that night.
I mean, when we walk through those club doors, we get to forget everything that happened that day, the good, the bad, and the ugly. As a queer person of color, I may walk through this world, and there may be a lot of obstacles that are thrown at me. There are a lot of obstacles. But when I'm on stage, baby, I'm fabulous, and you can't tell me.
- Y'all, when you hear this voice, this queen, this goddess-- baby, let me fluff you up.
- Oh, absolutely.
- OK.
- Do it, sister.
- Welcome the luscious, the luxurious, Miss Olivia Lux.
OLIVA LUX: Drag for me is an escape from everything. You get to just be that fantasy character that you've always wanted to be. The fantasy is what my favorite thing is about drag.
