The new VIPs of New York Fashion Week are Drag Queens

Symone – the crowned winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 – showed up in time for her fitting at Carolina Herrera’s offices. She was all smiles and kind kisses in the air in a pair of baggy jeans and a T-shirt accessorized with an embellished Valentino bag. But Symone arrived A few minutes later, I was dressed in a super short Carolina Herrera floral dress in Barbie pink. Her whole attitude changed: her hips jutted out, her long legs grew even longer in a pair of high-heeled sandals, and a voluminous sleeve floated in the air as she gave some experimental waves to the mirror. It’s the kind of transformative moment any designer would dream of being responsible for, which is why the brand’s creative director, Wes Gordon, invited Symone to sit front row at his spring 2023 fashion show.

“My vision for Herrera is that I can create a series of pieces on a runway where anyone can walk into the store and find that one item that makes you the superhero version of yourself,” Gordon said. “We are a home of glamor and beauty and an unapologetic embrace of fabulousness. Anyone who looks to fashion to transmit their personality to their world is an icon in my books.”

It would have been unexpected to see a drag queen sitting front row at Carolina Herrera just a few years ago, but these days, no respectable fashion week VIP section is complete without at least one drag queen. included. Girls are falling in love with fashion brands around the world, and not just on the front rows: Bimini Bon Boulash walked the runway for Richard Quinn, Tayce lit it up in a Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance campaign, Shea Coulée wore by order Christopher John Rogers in the latest. the season of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars (to say nothing of her Valentino haute couture milestone).

“What drag queens do is such an amazing art form and, in a way, a designer’s dream because they are a perfect muse to wear your clothes and really show them off,” said Christian Siriano, who regularly invites drag queens to sit down. front line at his shows. “I think they’re just as important as a great, cool, young actress. Dragging isn’t just weird, it’s a fine art.”

Symone and Wes Gordon in Carolina Herrera Spring 2023.
Photo: Leandro Justen

Symone hasn’t had much sleep this fashion week. It was the Herrera show, the premiere of Hillary Clinton’s new show Braveperforming (for Grace Jones!) at a party for Boy Smells, a concert for Bergdorf Goodman, Vogue The world fashion show, a little after-party and her first runway walk for Loire. She wore Herrera for most of them, a relationship she first established when she shot a special issue interview branded magazine.

However, the winning outfit for front row seating at the Plaza Hotel was a tweed mini ensemble that matched the mood of the downtown morning. With a blonde wig and a full face beat (managed with two hours of shut-eye; the job takes work), she fits in with the rest of the VIPs without sacrificing her unique style. “I’m doing Symone,” she said. “I never want to look like I’m ever trying too hard — I want it to feel effortless. I want to try new things, of course, but it always has to feel authentic, like it’s part of my story. I never I want to feel like I’m just putting something in; that never works, and everyone can always tell!”

Symone sitting front row at Carolina Herrera spring 2023.
Photo: Leandro Justen

Across town, at the coach show, Drag Race Season ten winner Aquaria took a different approach to dressing. She rocked her fierce pumps to the galley of photographers screaming her name, giving a glimpse of leg from beneath her graphite-encrusted leather trench. Just earlier in the week, she was a demure sweetheart in a lilac Christian Siriano dress, complete with a teacup. Aquaria’s reputation as a fashion queen (“Raja recently said this, and I totally feel like I’m on the same page with her: As much as I’m a fashion girl, I’m more of a style girl,” she corrected) , so it’s no wonder she’s become something of an industry favorite.

“I love the versatility that drag allows me; I think being a different version of Aquaria every day is so special,” she said from her front-row seat at Coach. “I’m jealous of girls who can always be the same genre, but for me, the fun is being a coach’s girl one moment, then being a different girl the next. I love being a chameleon, adapting to different brands, styles, influences and references.”

Aquaria is in demand both inside and out, and her itinerary for the week was similarly stacked: the Coach show and after-party, the Opening Ceremony party, plus runway shows for Maisie Willen, Christian Siriano, Wiederhoeft and Area.

It’s hard work, and the queens are, more often than not, their glam squads. Queens who aren’t based in New York City have to pack an array of wigs, shoes and makeup without knowing what they might wear. Symones likes to have at least two hours to prepare; Aquaria has even been known to tailor her look. “It’s my job as a queen to not only transform myself, but to transform the outfit and make the outfit look spectacular on me,” Aquaria explained.

Aquarium at the after party for Christian Siriano spring 2023.
Photo: Cindy Ord/Getty Images for Christian Syria

“It’s cramming what we do every day into a week, so it’s basically just another day in the life,” said CT Hedden, sitting front row at Christian Siriano in a voluminous stripped dress by the designer of accompanied by a pile of blonde curls. It’s definitely more glam than her usual gendered beat: “I’m used to being naked,” she laughed.

CT had a busy schedule, too, filled with parties, the Fendi show, etc Harper’s Bazaar The icons red carpet, the opening of David LaChapelle’s new exhibit at Fotografiska, LaQuan Smith’s show, and a potential runway gig in Paris that she’s keeping under wraps, all on top of her day job as manager of general of the hot center of Indochina. (A private event the night of the Siriano show ended up short staffed at the last minute, so CT spent her drive there in full drag finding a replacement. Drag queens indeed can I do it all, and with stunning heeled boots.)

Whether it’s drag brunch at the local live bar or drag queens getting their own TV specials, the art of drag is now more mainstream than ever—and when it comes to the fashion industry, drag queens aren’t just the after-party performance anymore. “I think fashion is finally accepting us more, and I think people are finally realizing how many elements and inspirations there are people who copy us,” Hedden said. “I mean, like, the Met Gala: Yeah, what kind of full drag show is that?!”

It would be foolish to deny it Drag Race from all. The sun never sets on the empire that RuPaul built, and its stars combine some of fashion’s favorite things: reality TV, celebrity, fashion and high camp. But the show format also gives everyone a little heart, in a way that appeals to the more emotional side of fashion.

“I will raise the horn! I think people just connected with our season and had fun, so they wanted to see that at the fashion shows,” Symone said. “People who come to fashion kind of grew up with the show, so they want girls to come and be a part of it, because they realize it’s one and the same — especially when you know the work that’s going into that show, the thought process, the love, the care, the art.”

CT Hedden and Janet Jackson at a Fashion Week after party.
Photo: CT Hedden

Coach creative director Stuart Vevers didn’t exactly grow up with the show, but he considers himself “a huge fan” of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The brand collaborated with the series on a challenge in season 13, with Vevers himself as a guest judge – “A dream come true for me,” he said – and in addition to Aquaria, they’ve worked with Drag Race alumni like Bob the Drag Queen and Utica Queen. “Drag is about celebrating the courage to express yourself, which is something I’ve always wanted to celebrate at Coach, especially in our runway show,” said Vevers.

Like any other representative in the fashion industry, there is always the risk that a popular drag queen sitting in the front row can be perceived as a sign of inclusion; as Aquaria said, “Sometimes it feels like it’s just an opportunity for a brand to be LGBT or whatever.” More important for the queens is to see how brands continue to build those relationships throughout the rest of the year, whether it’s making sure the girls get paid campaigns or borrowing clothes for big events. “As much as I love the possibilities, the real ones feel like, Okay, you’re down, you’re honest. It’s not performative,” Aquaria explained.

“At the same time, this space is lucky to have people like me here because I’m the show before the show,” she added. “What the front rows look like is part of the show, and I like being part of that show.”