Stories and photos by Steven Chang

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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.