Culture

Drag Race just gave us some of the best and worst looks in HERstory

By Matt Moore

30th January 2021

Some queens were serving lewks, while others made… choices.

Drag Race season 13 has thrown a ball and on that runway HERstory was made, as we not only saw some of the most iconic lewks to sweep the runway, but we also saw what might be one of the worst.

The episode started out with some Kandy vs. Tamisha drama and conflama – and this looks like it’ll escalate as the season goes on – over Kandy viewing Symone as her main competition, which irked Tamisha given that Kandy hasn’t seen all that the girls can deliver.

The queens then had to get into some quick baby drag and “shake rattle and roll” for a mini-challenge that saw LaLa Ri triumph.

RuPaul then announced they were throwing a ball, and not just any ball, but a bag ball. The queens had to serve three looks: Mixed Bag, a punny look including bag in its description; Money Bags, a bad executive bitch who owns everything – complete with a customised Coach Create “purse first” – and an original Gag Us With Your Bag’Us look.

As the queens designed, Tamisha Iman spoke about the ball scene, and held a miniature ball for Utica who had never experienced one, but there was also a poignant talk about the Black Lives Matter movement.

Kandy mentioned that she had been at protests held in New York City, saying: “When I see Black people being murdered by police, it puts so many things in perspective.”

And Symone added that she was glad that “people are waking the fuck up” adding: “Even with corona going on, I felt immediately compelled to be involved and protest in Los Angeles, enough is enough.”

An emotional response came from LaLa Ri who lived close to where Rayshard Brooks was shot and killed in Atlanta last year. Breaking down in tears, she said: “I don’t know how it escalated from him saying he could walk to someone’s house to getting shot. To be a Black person in this world, you could get killed for nothing. You get killed because of the colour of your skin.”

The queens also reflected on the violence that Black, trans women face, with Olivia Lux pointing out how statistically they faced the most violence.

On the runway, the queens served some bagnificent looks, and the judges were left gagging over Gottmik and Utica’s looks. They declared Denali, Elliott with 2 Ts, Kandy Muse, Olivia Lux, Symone and Tina Burner safe.

During judging, Joey Jay was read for some simple looks and for not fully understanding the pun in her first look, while LaLa was praised for her Money Bags look, but her Gag Us With Your Bag’Us look was an “epic fail” as it was just some bags glued to a corset. Tamisha Iman was also criticised for some basic looks.

Meanwhile, Rosé was praised for referencing her Scottish heritage, but the judges reserved most of their praise for Gottmik and Utica, being in love with all three of their looks, with Gottmik’s Money Bags earning the most praise and even a surprised gasp from RuPaul.

The judges ultimately gave the win to Gottmik, but some fans felt that it should’ve been a double win for Utica and Gottmik, especially given how Utica designed an entire dress from sleeping bags in, as Nicole Byers put it, “the same time LaLa glued bags.”

LaLa and Joey ended up in the bottom two and strutted their stuff to Iggy Azalea’s iconic 2014 hit Fancy. LaLa owned the stage, even helping herself to some tips after Joey’s money reveal and won the lip-sync, eliminating Joey, much to Kandy’s sadness, given her earlier crush on the queen.

But if the lip-syncs in this season so far are anything to go by, this is turning out to be one of the best seasons of Drag Race ever.

Fans had a lot of opinions on the looks tonight, with one criticising LaLa’s look, saying: “That bag dress was the worst thing to ever grace the main stage.”

Others had high praise for Gottmik, with one saying: “It’s hard to choose my fav in #dragrace because there’s so many good ones this season but omg @gottmik this week.”

But others were firmly team Utica: “Still thinking about how Utica’s sleeping bag look should’ve won the entire challenge, sorry about it!” one said.

Related: Drag Race UK fans hail “powerful” conversation on non-binary identity between Ginny Lemon and Bimini