'Playing with all the colours in the crayon box': inside Europe's first ever drag convention
“Walking and snapping! That's right guys, two things at once. Keep it coming!” A seven-foot redhead sails through a cloud of phone-wielding fans, escorted by a flunky. She’s Jinkx Monsoon, the winner of season five of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the long-running reality show hosted by drag legend RuPaul.
After spent several years on the tiny US channel Logo, it went global when Netflix bought the rights and began streaming worldwide in November 2013. The fact that Monsoon has a flunky to part the waves is a tribute to Drag Race’s success: the show became so popular in Britain that this year Netflix aired episodes one day after they aired in the States, just it did when demand for Breaking Bad's final season reached fever pitch.
Now in its eighth year, Drag Race is nominated for eight Emmys. It’s adored by all people of all sexualities, genders and ages. Parents watch the show with their children who love the humour and costumes, while the RuPaul's search for queens with “charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent” sails right over their heads.
Slay queen DragWorld, Europe's first drag convention, in pictures
It has spawned a drag convention in Los Angeles, RuPaul’s DragCon, now in its fourth year – I spent the first day of my honeymoon there while my husband splashed around at the infinitely less sparkly La Brea Tar Pits – and there’s a New York spin-off coming in September. This weekend saw the UK’s turn, with the first European edition, DragWorld, taking place at the Olympia in Kensington.
Several queens express surprise at how sparse the space is, but each hurries to say they expect it'll be 10 times bigger next year. This is just year one, the taster.
But if it felt small, the energy coming off its attendees was electric. Not a minute was wasted, with queens speaking on panels, hosting audience lip-syncs, selling merch at their stalls, or taking selfies with fans at pre-paid meet and greets as well as bonus free ones.
Sharon Needles, who was crowned Drag Race winner in season four, broke her stride en route backstage for a 30-second photoshoot with The Telegraph which would have thrown off even the savviest contestant on America’s Next Top Model, the reality show that Drag Race gloriously parodies.
Unlike Top Model, which is mocked for its clumsily drawn-out drama, Drag Race provides LGBT history, shines a light on the contestants’ talents and shares their experiences of overcoming prejudice and self-doubt. As one young fan tells me, without a wink of irony, “It’s a really wholesome show. Everyone supports each other.”
Even for the queens who don’t win, the reward is global stardom. For those with strong looks or personalities will sell out meet and greets far in advance. For fans, DragWorld offers a thrilling chance to see different identities proudly upheld and the opportunity to admire a kind of supermodel that feels both singular and familiar.
Sadly, DragWorld’s line-up hasn’t a single black queen from Drag Race, which feels out of step with the show’s diversity (DragWorld’s producer told me past contestants were busy with other shows) but the stars that are here are hailed like the icons – and role models – they are.
While watching some of the stars speak on a panel about gender, I chat to a sweet goth-looking boy. “I was holding myself very quietly on the train here, but as soon as I got here I could breathe,” he says. On stage, season three’s Carmen Carrera is speaking eloquently about her transition from male to female. “You know there are mental scars she’s hiding,” says the boy wistfully, “but she’s so pretty.”
Sitting in a corner is Emily Candlish, 16, beautifully made up as a pastel clown for the weekend’s Toy Box theme. She’s travelled down from Newcastle with her mother. “I've always liked drag,” says Melanie Candlish. “When I was about Emily's age it was RuPaul and Divine, but then Emily started getting into it.” The pair watch Drag Race together, and Emily has taught herself makeup from watching the queens. “She's very shy and suffers from anxiety but this sort of thing has helped her,” says Melanie, gesturing at her daughter’s look. “When she's like this, she seems like a different person.”
Tammy Baker, a curvaceous blonde in her early forties, uses drag to relax from her stressful job in mental health. “I love being a man, but I also love walking into a room and going ‘Hey girls’!” she says, before insisting the photographer takes our picture in several different poses. Her friend Kizzy, a makeup artist from Hounslow, says she prefers Tammy as a woman because she’s more fun, although even 2017 has limits to what the public will accept: “I couldn’t take her out in Kingston, but London’s fine.”
Like Tammy, Welsh queen Maggi Noggi finds drag a welcome diversion from her day job in government. “What I do for a living has quite a sad subject,” she says. “But in drag, we can play with all the colours in the crayon box.” Her colleagues are huge Maggi fans, and came to support her recent Eisteddfod debut. When she poses for The Telegraph’s photographer, it’s like human sunshine.
Stripped of the magic of television editing, it’s clearer how much effort goes into creating and wearing these looks, especially those in hot wigs and skyscraper heels. “Mine are size 13,” adds London’s Mutha Tucka, darkly, taking to the stage in a straitjacket to perform Beyonce’s Crazy in Love. Buck She, a drag king from Southampton dressed as Woody from Toy Story, has nailed the weekend’s Toy Box theme. “I’m trying out a six pack for the first time,” he says, incredibly solemnly. “The moustache is fine,” he explains, “but the glue does make it impossible to move your mouth.”
The British queens I speak to are enthusiastic about the broader awareness of drag that Drag Race has brought to the UK, but are also wary of it. The phrase “double-edged sword” comes up a lot. Spice, a Brighton queen, has been performing musical theatre in drag for 15 years, and is convinced that Drag Race has reinvigorated the British scene. “Drag was a little on its way out,” she says. “The younger LGBT community weren't really into the scene; the older queens doing music hall, your classic comedy queen. The venues I work in are boozers, whereas there's now a lot more drag in clubs with young queens.”
Soho queen Diamond is feeling the rough end of the younger generation’s move towards club drag. She has spent the last six years hosting karaoke at the iconic Charing Cross Road gay pub Molly Moggs. Molly Moggs closed down this weekend “for a refresh”. Diamond won’t be back; it’s too much with a full-time job, and she intimates that this refresh will have no place for her style of performance.
“It’s very much spinning off Drag Race,” she says, looking around. “I’ve only seen Charlie Hides [from Drag Race season nine] who’s a UK queen, but then that’s why people come. There's a big gap in the drag world. Your old school drag queen, pub drags who sing for two hours, they don't associate themselves with this so wouldn't come. It's all about the look and not the talent. Some would disagree, otherwise you wouldn't win Drag Race.”
Staying relevant is crucial to longevity. Most queens I speak to have had multiple incarnations during their drag lifetime. Maggi Noggi, previously Patti O’Doors, has been working in drag for 27 years. Reinventing herself as Maggi, the world’s first Welsh language queen, has given her career a huge boost: she’s now a star on S4C’s Gogglebox equivalent, Y Salon, and is hosting her own series at Christmas.
“With RuPaul being a household name, Drag Race is not one of those things where you have to be a queen, or even gay, to watch,” says Hallie Ween, a makeup artist from Brighton whose glitter beard is a triumph of Pritt Stick and determination. “The movement is still very far off from gaining equality and acceptance, but here it's just like coming in and seeing Holly Willoughby from ITV walking around.”
“With drag, I love the fact you can be whoever you want and not be ashamed of it. This feels like the inner me,” says Anna Sodergram, 38, who has come over from Stockholm with her friend Jennifer Stanley Reisner, 24. Anna is in full drag in the style of Trixie Mattel, a popular Drag Race queen. “I feel more beautiful than I did on my wedding day,” she says. “Drag is just doing you to the fullest. Nobody thinks you’re crazy.” Jennifer nods, majestic in full nautical drag with a vast toy shark clamped onto her leg.
DragWorld is also filled with drag fans in regular clothing having a brilliant time. On stage, a primary school teacher in purple drag is competing in a lip-sync battle against a girl dressed as Princess Peach, and a mild-mannered boy in glasses who could be on his way to pick up milk from Tesco. The minute It’s Raining Men starts, he turns it up to 11. The audience screams like they’re on fire. The other two don’t stand a chance.
Over at the meet and greets, a man dressed as Bob the Builder is hugging Michelle Visage, RuPaul’s second-in-command, who hasn’t stopped all day. Visage wears as much drag as the queens on the show, but is dressed in black slacks, furry sliders, a plaid crossover top and huge crystal Gucci glasses. The trademark stiletto nails are in place, and she is tiny, delightful and a total pro. Every guest gets a moment, a chat, a cuddle, and is embraced by name before a selfie, signed picture and a hug goodbye. “You guys spent a lot of time queuing here for this thing, I appreciate the time,” she says. She has done this around the world and perfected it – it is this kind of welcome and accessibility that is drawing people, lost and looking, to drag.
Back at Visage’s merchandise stall, four 18-year-olds from London are front of the queue for the next free meet and greet. They’ve been sitting for an hour. Lucy Stewart wants to thank Visage “for being so accepting, and so welcoming”. It’s a common theme in the queue. “She's like the perfect example of what a true ally to this community is,” says her friend Lily Blakeney-Edwards. Visage arrives, and a thrill ripples through the queue. It’s as though the Fairy Godmother has arrived with an unlimited supply of pumpkins.
As Jinkx Monsoon said before she sashayed through the crowds, “The more you embrace the weird crazy things about you, the more you find your tribe. If you hide, you won't find the eccentric people who will be your best friends.”
Jinkx Monsoon will be performing at the Leicester Square Theatre from 24th – 28th October with her own show Jinkx Sings Everything and then going around the country as part of The Vaudevillians UK Tour from 3rd November – 9thDecember (www.jinkxmonsoon.com_)
