MERRY DRAGMAS, DARLINGS!
Just look at these ridiculously fabulous Christmas Ho’s while we ruminate for a bit.
We’ve had two things on our minds a lot lately: Drag Race (because we’re currently rewatching the series from episode one, which is all kinds of illuminating if you want to track the cultural shifts surrounding LGBT presentation and representation in the last decade, but that’s a long story for another day) and Christmas (because, well… Christmas).
We’ve also been on a bit of a drag history kick lately, and we’ve cycled our way back through everything from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, to To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar to Female Trouble to The Queen and even The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (all very recommended as a start if you want a comprehensive look at the art and politics of drag in the last 50 years). Not to get all serious about it; just that our minds have been filled with visions of dancing sugarplum drag queens for weeks now.
So we fully admit we were primed and ready to sit down amidst the boxes of decorations and strings of tangled lights in our living room, turn off our brains for an hour, and just let the holiday glitter wash over us.
Which turns out to have been the exact right approach to take because while this episode will never rank high in the show’s history, it was a sort of joyously dumb celebration of artifice and that most sacred of holiday traditions: product-hawking.
Yes, it was nothing more than an hour of queens lip-synching and dancing to tunes from Ru’s holiday albums, with a little too much in the way of faux surprise reactions, faux banter, and faux laughing at faux jokes. We thought the faux dancing was hilarious, though.
No idea what this was about.
Anyway, we honestly didn’t mind the blatant cash grab and exuberant dumbness of it all simply because first, everyone was in on the act, and second, because money-grabbing artifice is pretty much working in the core principles of dragdom. You gotta werk those skills to get those bills.
To be blunt, it was like one of those Yule Log videos you can watch this time of year; holiday video wallpaper with a soundtrack, nothing more.
And we were fine with the sheer silliness of it all simply because we didn’t expect anything more from it. Prance for us, Christmas Queens.
Eureka O’Hara
She was paying tribute to a Holiday Barbie from her childhood and we’d say she nailed it. If she lit up, she’d be a perfect lawn decoration. Honestly, that’s high praise.
Sonique
We love when the show remembers it had a lineup of queens prior to the VH1 years, It was great to see Sonique again and while we think the gingerbread queen idea was a really cute one, the execution could’ve been zhuzhed up a bit. A bronze sequin version of this suit would’ve been perfect.
Latrice Royale
She is serving us Christmas Eve Choir Soloist Glamour and we’re feeling it.
Trixie Mattel
Because Trixie, that’s why. She was never going to serve any kind of Christmas Angel except a vaguely unsettling one that looks like it just survived a high-velocity collision with a picture window.
Mayhem Miller
LOVED this. The idea is fabulous and the makeup is flawless. We just wish the Beyonce bodysuit wasn’t so basic. Krampus drag deserves a bit more creativity than that.
Jasmine Masters
We don’t get it. Did she have a sudden zit crisis?
Shangela
This bitch is a star. If they could give out Drag Race prizes for Most Improved Queen, there’s no question she’d be the winner. The makeup’s still a bit harsh and the wig work could use some finessing, but that is a high-glamour, high-camp holiday drag look werq’d to perfection. Winner-winner chicken dinner, as far as we’re concerned.
Kim Chi
Although Kim Chi gave her a bit of a run for her money. She still stands out from the queens for having a much more artistic approach to her drag; one that doesn’t lend itself to runway presentation but often takes a stunning picture. We loved this look, but she could barely walk in it.
This was fun! Maybe we should think about doing old-school recaps of All-Stars when it returns next week.
[Photo Credit: VH1]
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Jennifer Lopez in Valentino at the “Second Act” Los Angeles Premiere
T Lo’s Weekend Pop Culture Reading List Next Post:
Jennifer Lopez in Valentino at the “Second Act” Los Angeles Premiere
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