‘Practice, practice!’: Michelle Visage offers her advice to aspiring young drag queens

‘Remember we are an empowered family’

3 years ago

Michelle Visage, the oracle of the drag world and television accomplice of RuPaul since 1996, told The Tab her best advice for any young drag queens trying to make it big in the industry.

Whilst Michelle is famous for her harsh critiques, she’s also the judge everyone’s desperate to impress. If she likes you, you are destined for success because her aim is to shape these queens into the most polished drag artists they can be. For any young queens hoping to one day stand on that stage in front of her, here are Michelle’s top tips on how to become the next drag superstar.

Practice, practice, practice

Michelle’s guidance was grounded first and foremost in practice. She advised any young queens who are trying to get onto Drag Race or get their big break in the drag world to “practice as much as possible”. She warned queens: “Don’t try and come on Drag Race too early, beforehand make sure you follow past queens and follow the show.”

Learn how to paint well

You only need to have seen one episode of Drag Race to know that Michelle will read you for your face. If you are not painted to the Gods, you are in for a telling off and a criticism of monumental proportion. Her advice to any queens trying out for the show is: “There’s a difference between painting for the pubs vs painting for HD television.”

Don’t even think about coming on the show not knowing how to sew

To this day, Michelle, like the rest of us, cannot fathom how there are queens who come on the show in full knowledge there will be a sewing challenge with no clue how to sew. To any young queens out there, imagine Michelle Visage shouting “learn how to sew” as your final thought before you apply to Drag Race.

You need to KNOW your Drag Race

Michelle made it clear that you need to brush up on your knowledge of the show. To be successful on Drag Race you need to know the ins and outs of all of Drag Race, US, UK, Canada etc. In Michelle’s words: “Learn your crap”. Queens can’t come on the show unprepared for The Snatch Game and comedy challenges because they happen every year.

Find a way to make stuff work

Drag, like any other performance art, comes with a great deal of improvisation. Michelle made it clear that if you’re a young queen, you always have to find a way to get around the obstacles you are presented with and to put on a good show.

Remember we are an empowered family

Michelle said: “Remember we are an empowered family that allows young people to switch on the TV and see young men, young women, young people not fitting in- it’s all about confidence and self-love.” If Roxxxy Andrews showed us anything, it’s that many of the contestants who go on the show have pushed through a painful past. “These people have triumphed using drag!”, Michelle said.

Wear your mask!!!!!!

Michelle’s parting piece of wisdom to any queens: “Wear a mask”. She said: “We want to forget about 2020” and in order to get the drag community back to normal where shows are able to take place people need to keep wearing their masks.