Quite frankly, Justice For Ivy-Elyse Monroe.
if nothing else Drag Race Holland is certainly dedicated to going all out on the Rusical episodes and extremely petty and unpredictable judging.
The Statement of It All
The runway theme for this week’s episode was a very emotionally and politically charged one as the queens were asked to present a look that made some sort of statement, which most of the queens really delivered on and then, as is to be expected, the more fashion-focused queens kind of fumbled. Also the main challenge was an acid trip of a Cinderella parody and there was some questionable judging. It’s truly the Dutch Drag Race experience in a nutshell.
Tabitha
A couple of queens did go the route of writing slurs on their garment, and we have seen it done before but this is still *very* good – the dress fits impeccably and the placement of the text makes sense and helps make it all look very flattering – and the asymmetrical neckline with “Do I look fat in this dress?” is GENIUS.
Ivy-Elyse Monroe
This was unabashedly my favourite look of the night – her statement being Stop Asian Hate which has seen a huge surge in the wake of the Coronavirus epidemic. I immediately got that the spiked red ring around her was meant to be alluding to the virus itself, the judges felt it was a little too crab-like which isn’t necessarily yikes but felt A Little Yikes™ for some reason. She did go on to remove the red halo, albeit not entirely very elegantly but still far from the worst reveal we’ve ever seen on Drag Race. The final garment being a stunning, sharp white dress and some truly enviable shoes
and this is what I appreciated, she said she wanted to portray the contemporary and modern Asian woman rather than going with something cliché and stereotypical that would appease a white audience – a statement that made The Countess VERY uncomfortable on stage given that during the reading challenge she made a joke about Ivy being called “The Asian Doll” and this being why her drag is so cheap and manufactured
the visible squirming on the stage – DELICIOUS.
Let it also be known that I thought Ivy absolutely slaughtered the lipsync and was genuinely very good and certainly blew The Countess’s wafty strutting out of the water.
My Little Puny
She could quite honestly win the whole season off the back of this look alone, it was such a powerful and well delivered statement about addiction – having lost her father to alcoholism you could tell that this look meant a lot to her and she really made it a moment to remember
it’s genuinely one of the best delivered runways we’ve ever seen – these queens are bringing it on every level and really this season is getting rather undersold, much like España.
The Countess
This is a beautiful dress and I have no doubt that she paid a pretty penny for it, and it was worth it purely for the way it moved
it’s a dream.
However… it was hell of an undercooked concept for this particular runway with her statement being “Breaking Boundries” [sic] and the delivery being more of a minimalist one woman performance of a Kate Bush music video
which I’m sure she thought would have a lot of impact on the runway before she had to follow the likes of Puny and Ivy who had put their all into their looks.
Vivaldi
Nice of them to sandwich both of the misfires right in the middle of several very good runways. She openly admitted, in much the same way Gigi Goode did (there’s a pattern here), to not liking to mix drag and politics which… you know, seems like a fundamental misunderstanding of drag.
Her statement was “Deforestation” which I in no way get from this dress and I have no doubt in my mind that this was a dress she used last Halloween and just thought she could make work for one of the runways. And it is a very cool dress so I can see why she would have wanted to showcase it on the show. It’s just thematically not great – and I loved that she got called out for wearing a plastic dress for an outfit making a statement on deforestation and climate change. Also shocked that in a season of petty judging critiques she didn’t get called out for the incredibly visible black waist cincher…
I really don’t understand how she wasn’t in the lipsync over Ivy, or at least in the bottom 3 over Vanessa van Cartier, Queen of My Heart, Light of My Life.
Keta Minaj
As someone who has battled a multitude of mental health disorders (Gotta Catch’em All!) I’m not entirely thrilled when someone’s go to for making a look illustrating them is to wear a straightjacket but I also kind of like the Silent Hill Troll Doll, and even preferred it to the revealed look which just felt a touch undercooked
it’s a little “Andy Warhol’s first time in drag”.
Vanessa van Cartier
And now for the second of our “I’ll write some words on my outfit” look, at least this came with a reveal because I’m not sure anyone would get away with wearing just a fur coat down the runway
every day I think about that look and how mad Alexis Michelle got that nobody told her that her look was basic as all fuck.
Vanessa’s statement was Trans Pride and she very much wore the go-to trans pride gown
Does she look stunning? Yes of course, she’s a Goddess (I refuse to hide my bias) but this isn’t wildly original. I think a more modern looking gown would have benefitted the look immensely, especially given the fact the wig looked so cool and I get the judges wanting her to do something a little different (although she had just dressed up as a man-killing alien last week before so maybe wait another week for that particular critique, yeah?)
A Statement Runway Ranking
- Ivy-Elyse Monroe’s Asian Pride.
- My Little Puny’s Addiction Smashing.
- Tabitha’s Well Kerned Text.
- Vanessa van Cartier said Trans Rights.
- Keta Minaj as Andy Warhol as a Troll Doll.
- The Countess Just Wore a Pretty Dress.
- Vivaldi Just Wore Her Halloween Costume.
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