“People Need Drag – It Saved My Life”: Symone On Becoming More Than A Fierce Fashion Queen

Talking to RuPaul’s Drag Race star Symone, who is surrounded by colourful clothing rails and fabulous wigs in her dressing room, is a breath of fresh air. The Arkansas-born, LA-based queen positively lights up the Zoom screen as she tells British Vogue what a typical day looks like: “Drag, drag, drag baby!”

The series 13 contestant, who quickly emerged as a clear frontrunner owing to her ability to use drag as a platform for political activism  – while looking remarkably directional in the process – says she never intended to be labelled as a “fashion queen”. “My style is very edgy and very sexy, but there’s also a point to everything I wear,” she asserts. “Bold would be a good word to describe it.”

As part of the drag House of Avalon – “by day we worship in the church of pop culture – by night we create playgrounds from our imagination,” reads the group’s Insta bio – 50 per cent of Symone’s looks are custom made by creative collaborators, including Marko Monroe, who works with Lizzo. Symone’s “Say Their Names” dress, which shone a spotlight on Black lives taken unjustly, was created by costumier Howie B, while her “Ebony Enchantress” boxing-ring get-up was realised by visual artist BCALLA. When she is not working with like-minded people – former Drag Race star and drag sister Gigi Goode is the mastermind behind many of Symone’s sculptural wigs – she is busy thrifting in Los Angeles’s vintage havens. “I love finding old things and making them new again by putting them through the Symone filter,” she says, flashing a signature cheeky smile. “People would be surprised by the treasures I’ve found in Arkansas.”

Applying for Drag Race encouraged Symone, whose real name is Reggie Gavin, to refine and elevate her looks. “I had to figure out who I was and what I wanted to say,” she says of swapping vintage kilo store trips for moodboarding sessions. “I had to develop a Symone thesis.” 

Symone started drag over a decade ago after observing the transformative power of make-up and fashion on RuPaul Charles’s early series of the now-monumentally popular show. “I was a very, very shy kid. I needed a way to express myself and I found Drag Race,” she says. A teenage Reggie saved up to buy beauty products, little by little, and practised painting his face during the two-hour window between school and his parents coming home. At 18, Reggie went to senior prom dressed as a woman. By freshman year, he was performing at gay clubs as Symone.

“I felt alive… like I was doing what I was meant to do,” Symone recalls. It’s this buzz that keeps the queen pushing because, Symone admits: “It can be exhausting… you’re constantly keeping your fantasy alive.” As drag as an art form becomes more mainstream, the need to stand out on social media, while remaining authentic, is the most challenging aspect of choosing drag as a career. “Everyone wants that new shiny thing, so you have to adapt rather than fade into the hundreds of other girls,” Symone says of working hard to reinvent herself. “Outdoing yourself is very difficult, but it’s fun.”

The end goal? To be a drag superstar of course (a consummate professional, Symone doesn’t let any Drag Race spoilers slip). “I want the world to know who I am and that I do drag for a living,” she asserts. “At first, I would always think of Symone as a different person, but now I’ve realised that I am that person.” As well as leading by example, and showing that people from the smallest towns can realise their biggest ambitions, she wants people who feel alone – like the young Reggie Gavin did – to know that there are kindred souls out there.

“People need drag,” Symone says passionately. “Drag saved my life, and I want to be that for someone else. It might feel like it’s dark and that no one understands you, but Symone gets it.” Blazing a trail that is bright, beautiful and essential is what will make Symone a star long after the credits roll on Drag Race series 13.