Stories and
photos by
Steven
Chang

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abot

A sample of the looks Rogue serves at their shows.

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BELOW: You can never have enough makeup when doing drag.

Makeup is a huge part of drag culture and provides a great way to express ones art by serving face.

Rogue appears

The performer's journey to the stage

ecoming a drag performer

isn't as easy as it looks and

comes with its own chal-
lenges, according to one drag per-
former in Vancouver.

Rogue, a non-binary drag per-
former in Vancouver wasn't just in-
spired by RuPaul’s Drag Race but
saw themself in the contestants and
started doing drag while in school.
Being non-binary, Rogue is not

When realizing drag was their
chosen career Rogue said the hustle
became a lot more work.

“I was doing a little bit of drag
when I was still in school. But I
knew I wanted to do drag for a liv-
ing. I had to hustle way harder and
get better at doing makeup,” Rogue
said.

According to Rogue, part of that
“hustle” was all about joining a

confined in makeup
their er- " 1 1 contest
their Per The biggest thing for me contest
to stick toa wasn'ttolearn howto move cember
gender. . where

‘+t fel in Well during a performance. It they not
deg eel was how to perform in heels." oy ved
named Pearl, — ROGUE, DRAG PERFORMER their
I really like skills but
the personal- created a
ity Pearl por- name for

trays because it was very similar to
mine,” Rogue said.

Pearl is a Drag Race contestant
and was a runner-up in season
seven.

Inspiration for their drag also
comes from nostalgic characters
from their childhood, such as the
genie from Disney’s Aladdin, and
exploration with colour.

“I do a lot of mainstream pop
like the Shawn Mendes songs. It’s
perfect because it’s a market that
everyone knows about. I love doing
memorable characters that people
grew up with,” Rogue said.

themselves in the community.

Makeup however wasn't the only
challenge that Rogue faced becom-
ing a drag performer.

“The biggest thing for me wasn't
to learn how to move well during
a performance. It was how to per-
form in heels,” Rogue said.

“I would force myself to walk in
heels from the beginning to the end
of the night.”

Rogue has walked in both Van-
couver and New York Fashion
weeks.

‘They continues to improve their

drag.