Can we talk about RuPaul’s Drag Race — and I mean RuPaul’s Drag Race the show, not the discourse, not the rumors, not the drama? Can we talk about Season 15’s content for a second, because — y’all, these queens deserve all the praise in the world after the latest episode, “House of Fashion.” The episode was, top to bottom, an excellent showcase of how fierce this cast really is and I’m not letting this season slip by without us talking about these queens!
Let’s talk about that Reading Challenge. Okay, yeah, it would’ve been great to hear more than one read from most of the queens, but also we got to hear reads from 13 queens. The Reading Challenge was so tightly edited, we only got to see the best of the best reads — but some of those reads were all-timers.
Lux Noir London: “Marcia, Marcia Marcia — y’know, looking through your closet it looks like you got everything from Marshall’s, Marshall’s, Marshall’s.”
Sasha Colby: “Anetra, your name sounds like the insurance company Loosey had to call for that shoddy facelift.”
Loosey LaDuca: “Miss Malaysia: I really think you should commit to the name ‘Malaysia’ and disappear like that flight.”
Let’s talk about that Maxi Challenge, which put a new spin on the usual sewing challenge. The queens had to compete in three teams and create a cohesive lineup of looks all made from unconventional materials pulled from three rooms decorated in the vibes of Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews, and Michelle Visage. We get sewing challenges every single season, but this one added a few unexpected — and welcome — twists. Having the queens work together to create a cohesive line? That’s something that trips up Project Runway designers every season. The final results? Actually somehow better than what we’ve seen in many Project Runway seasons!
Truly, there was not a LaLa Ri bag dress in the bunch. I struggle to think of any other design challenge across the franchises, I don’t know, 800 seasons that resulted in this many solid looks. The House of Visage gave us elevated New Jersey eleganza from Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Aura Mayari, Amethyst, Spice, and Luxx Noir London.
The House of Kressley served badass school girl realness from Robin Fierce, Jax, Anetra, and Salina EsTitties.
And finally, the House of Mathews presented Palm Springs couture from Sasha Colby, Loosey LaDuca, Malaysia Babydoll Foxx, and Marcia Marcia Marcia.
Like — all of these would be safe at worst in any other season. They all have redeeming qualities: if the sewing is off, then the design is right. If the design is iffy, then the seamstress skills are correct. Luxx and Sasha — two of the season’s look queens — gave us their best looks yet. Even Spice served, and I only single her out because this was her first challenge without her twin Sugar — and Sugar was the seamstress of the pair. Everyone rose to the occasion and no one just hot-glued a bunch of nonsense to a corset!
I’ll even go out on a limb and say that the bottom two were absolutely safe compared to some of the bottoms we’ve seen before. Amethyst’s perfectly fine gold dress is way more fierce than Jiggly Caliente’s baked potato raver look or the aforementioned gift bag lewk, and Salina got kudos from Janelle Monae for innovation with her pretty sickening vest-to-cape reveal. I’d actually say that Salina should have been safe for knocking out that many garments for one challenge (!), but then we wouldn’t have gotten that lip sync.
Salina and Amethyst turned it out in a duel that played to both of their impressive strengths. Amethyst proved, for the third time, that even though she comes across as a bit of the nerd next door in a ’90s sitcom in her confessionals, she’s got a surprising amount of funk and swagger in her. That’s just some good, fun lip-syncing right there. And Salina — the beast was unleashed. Come on — her dropping her skirt like it was a wardrobe malfunction seconds before lip-sycing “am I a sinner with my skirt on the ground?” And then jumping into a cartwheel? These two gave us a fight — the first canonical lip sync of the season.
This is what Drag Race is all about. It’s easy to get caught up in behind-the-scenes drama, or who posted what on Instagram, or whatever extracurricular nonsense is generating today’s hot takes. None of that is Drag Race. Drag Race is Mistress reading Loosey with, “After hearing you sing, I think I understand homophobia.” Drag Race is hearing Jax talk about what it’s like to be a queer person of color adopted by white parents in Connecticut. Drag Race is all the girls telling Spice that they are her sisters now. Drag Race is Malaysia Babydoll Foxx taking us to Palm Springs Baptist via the first look she’s ever made. Drag Race is that f’ing lip sync.
This is what we gotta keep in mind, no matter what else is going on outside those fake pink brick walls. We’ve got a new season of RuPaul’s Drag Race right now, and I can’t wait to see how this turns out.