My Trip To Drag Con!
You might have read my recent piece about how much I love attending a good Star Trek convention and how great it is to be surrounded with people who all instantly have something in common – Honestly, the atmosphere in this type of situation is absolutely electric! Today, however, I’m going to talk about a different type of convention. One that I’d been itching to do for a couple of years which finally came to the UK this past January. I’m talking about RuPaul’s Drag Con, of course!
So, early on a Saturday morning in January…. Wait, morning? Those aren’t supposed to happen when you’re on holiday, surely? Well, sometimes. We knew there would be queueing, so we got up and out early and made our way to London’s Olympia in Kensington to join what we already knew would be a massive queue. Or, as we found, about six queues. Now, straight away, I know there were some reports of queueing issues and I feel really sorry for the people who spent a good portion of the day outside (or, as some reports had it, didn’t get in at all), but I’m not going to focus on those reports, as there’s bound to be some teething problems on the first day of a UK-first event. We managed to get in fairly quickly actually and were inside within about half an hour of arriving.
Just in time to see the Queens’ Walk – The grand opening extravaganza where all the queens in attendance from RuPaul’s Drag Race sashay down the red carpet running down the centre of the room. What a sight. To see heroes from TV right in front of you, glammed to the nines, doing their thing is just fabulous! It really is something to behold. Of course, they were all in amazing new, glossy and fantastic outfits to wow their crowd – Who, by the way, were going wild! At the end of the walk, which culminated in a walk by The Vivienne, the winner of the first season of Drag Race UK, the queens assembled on the central staircase to pose for photos and the crowd just couldn’t get enough of it!
Once the queens dispersed and the crowd began to move, we headed in to look at all the stands. The place was packed, people milling about all over the place. Much more chaotic than the other conventions I’ve been to. But, I’m no stranger to a crowd, so I just wove my way through, looking straight ahead at where I wanted to go. The only problem was, I had no idea where I was actually going! Once we got our bearings, I quickly found one of the stalls selling thunderclap fans, which I’d already promised myself a couple of. Disclaimer: When I’m shopping and I say ‘a couple’, what I really mean is an unspecified number only limited by my baggage allowance. So, at that first stall, I came away with seven. Quite restrained, if I do say so! To be fair, only six were for me, as one was a gift. My favourite I got there was some Glen Hanson artwork of Goldie and Meryl’s characters from Death Becomes Her (one of my favourite films) emblazoned with “En Garde, Bitch!” – You’ll get this reference if you’ve seen the film and if you haven’t, then sort that out quickly as it’s an absolute classic!
We moved around the stalls and exhibits just trying to take everything in (and me trying not to buy everything). There was just so much to see! There were wig stores, jewellery stores, gowns, t-shirts, all manner of merchandise and… the queens each had their own booth where you could buy photo ops with them. Mental note, you can make a ton of money doing that, as one of the major queens would later tell me. Put it this way, in the two days she’d earned enough to be half way to buying a reasonable house! I want in on this!
So, after a wander round the ground floor, we headed upstairs to the balcony level to look at yet more stalls and booths. There were some fabulous handmade crafts and things upstairs for sale, but knowing we were flying home and my case was already pretty full, I resisted most of them. I did treat myself to a nice Drag Race bobble hat and a ‘Ru-Peter badge’ at the RuPaul official mercy stand right before their unthinkable happened.
I heard my friend gasp and I spun around only to find myself face to face with RuPaul! Literally a metre in front of me in a fabulous burgundy velvet suit. Somehow, I managed to trip over absolutely nothing and actually stumbled in front of Mama Ru! I picked myself up and got out of the way and I’m not going to lie, was absolutely starstruck! Let’s hope when I eventually make it onto Drag Race one day she doesn’t remember!
Ru was en route to the main stage to do an hour long DJ set, which was absolutely incredible and full of all the best tunes. We waltched for a while, but as you could hear it through the whole convention hall, we carried on looking around while we enjoyed the music. Still upstairs, we could we a large group moving toward us with someone clearly at the centre. As they got close, I got the chance to briefly meet the incredibly talented (and even more handsome in person) Todrick Hall, which was fantastic!
After a few hours of looking around, taking it all in and accidentally spending lots of money, we decided to head. We both had a big night ahead of us, so wanted some food and a nap before we had to start getting ready. I was equally terrified and excited as I had my very first London gig that night at one of THE best gay venues in town , so wanted plenty of time to make myself pretty and get my head in the game. Soaking up the atmosphere and seeing some of the finest queens ever made me feel pretty fabulous, so we swung by yet another wig stall where I got another two wigs and then went back to the jewellery store where I’d talked myself out of this beautiful pink and turquoise necklace. I’d now talked myself into it. So, final purchases made and huge smiles on our faces, we headed outside. There were so many people still waiting in the queue! I really hope they got in and had a great time.
All in all, it was a fabulously glitzy, start studded extravaganza. I’d have loved to have spent some more time there, but when you do a London citybreak, it tends to be pretty jam-packed and high paced, so your feet will already be killing you – and that’s before wearing six-inch heels for the night! I’d totally recommend it though and at some point, I’d love to see the RuPaul’s Drag Con in New York and Los Angeles.
The gig that night went incredibly and I was even sharing a dressing room with a week known queen from the show, so that wasn’t too bad! There were a few other well known queens there too that night and they were all absolutely wonderful. I was worried there might be a ‘them and us’ sort of divide, but these folks are professional and were all the same as us before being on TV. I have to say, they were some of the nicest people I’ve had the pleasure of spending time with and my liver will never forgive them for how much we drank together! And my heart goes out to one who was out with us til two in the morning and had to be on stage at Drag Con the next morning at eleven, then do another night gig!
If only I could have just half of her energy!
