We all shop for clothes, but everyone shops differently. It can be a social experience, but also a very personal one; sometimes it’s impulsive and fun, sometimes it’s single-minded and annoying. Where do you shop? When do you shop? How do you decide what you need, how much to spend, and what is “you”? These are some of the questions we ask celebrities in our column.How I shop.”
As Queen Priyanka, winner of Canada’s Drag Race, says her personal style is “all over the place.” (Drag queens are just like us.)
“That’s what I love about it,” she tells Fashionista. “I just love that you can play around. Some days you can be super masculine. Some days you can be super feminine. Some days you can be somewhere in between. And that’s what I love about fashion, because you can really dress up as whatever you want to be that day.”
Her love for fashion experimentation is reflected in her drag style, but Queen Priyanka is also thoughtful when it comes to how she presents herself as a performer. She consistently pays tribute to her South Asian culture and is actively involved in the design process of her custom-made costumes. It’s an intriguing duality – playful and thoughtful – that represents just the tip of the iceberg of how far she wants to spread her fashion wings. Especially now that she’s entering the music world – she released her debut album, ‘Devestatia’, last Friday and kicks off her world tour on October 9 – Queen Priyanka is on a mission to become a fixture in the performance and fashion worlds, one rhinestone and disgusting silhouette at a time.
Below, Queen Priyanka discusses her fashion approach for the first season of Canada’s Drag Race, her biggest drag queen style inspirations, a nod to Bollywood, and more.
“My earliest memories of fashion are basically hand-me-downs from my older brothers. They were baggy Fubu shirts and baggy cargo pants and things that never, ever fit me. And when I look at all my childhood photos, I’m wearing baggy clothes. It’s so weird nowadays because I love wearing baggy clothes. But I didn’t really have a relationship with fashion itself because fashion wasn’t the most important thing in my family because it was just about wearing clothes for practical and convenient reasons. I didn’t start to develop any kind of style until college when I moved out of home. Also, I feel like the more comfortable I became with my sexuality, the more I was willing to play with it. And the more I played and experimented with my fashion, the freer it felt.
“Some days you’ll see me in big cargo pants and a really tight crop vest. Or I’ll wear silver pants with a bodysuit underneath and a sweatshirt with rhinestone chains on top. Or I’ll wear a plaid shirt and jeans and look like a cowboy. I like to show diversity in fashion because I’m always in drag and sometimes not.
“When it comes to drag performances — the stage shows that I like the most — (my style inspirations) are the Beyoncés of the world, the (Lady) Gagas and the ‘Drag Race’ designers, the people who design the ‘Drag Race’ costumes. All of those great designers really shaped what pop stars wear today. Now those designers are involved with Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B because they caught the drag wind. The people I was jealous of as a kid also inspired me. There’s a reason why some days I dress up super masculine: It’s because those are the people who made me feel insecure and bullied me as a kid. I’m like, ‘All right, I’ll show you, bitch.'” So I take this college jersey, put it over some tight pants, and wear a disgusting running shoe, and I wear that as a kind of reclamation of that time in my life.