Drag queen makeup mainstream series#

Drag queen makeup mainstream series#

Over the next several decades, the technique exploded well beyond the drag community, finding popularity among makeup artists and later, the Kardashians, who helped bring contouring and highlighting to the mainstream alongside TV series like RuPaul's Drag Race.

This tradition continued well into the days of old Hollywood – actresses like Vivien Leigh would subtly employ this technique to help their features pop on-screen – before finding popularity among drag performers.īy strategically placing highlights on the high points of the face and contours near their natural shadows, drag artists used this practice to make their faces appear more feminine (or masculine, in the case of drag kings), drawing attention to the cheekbones and other features. In the 16th century, Elizabethian actors would apply chalk and soot to their faces as a proto-highlight/contour to help their expressions carry throughout the theater. Long before the Kardashians – who are often falsely credited for inventing this trend – ever even existed, contour and highlight were theatrical staples, finding their origins in the performing arts. Though it may seem as if the highlight and contour craze appeared overnight as must-have elements of any makeup routine, accentuating the bright points and shadows of the face is nothing new, according to L'Officiel. In honor of this progress –– and the RuPaul's Drag Race season 14 finale this weekend –– we decided to investigate the origins of some of our favorite drag-influenced beauty techniques.

Meanwhile, other notable drag performers like Kim Chi and Trixie Mattel have launched their own beauty brands. In recent years, RuPaul's Drag Race alumni, including Alyssa Edwards and Gigi Goode, respectively, partnered with makeup giants like Anastasia Beverly Hills and Christian Audette. Yet it seems this exclusion has slowly started to change, with more and more drag performers arriving towards the forefront of the beauty world. 'Why do I say that? When was the last time you saw a drag queen in a commercial for L'Oreal, CoverGirl, anyone? We're not there.' 'Do I feel the drag community has been given the credit it deserves for highlight, contour, cut creases? No I don't,' legendary New York City drag performer Vivacious quipped to the magazine at the time. 'I think that we're moving into a moment where people are digging in a little bit deeper and they're like, 'Where does it come from,'' he continued, noting that while drag performers were 'starting to get some of the recognition' they deserved for their influence, this credit was 'long overdue.' 'I don't think that the drag community gets the credit they deserve for the trends that are happening with makeup - so many trends started within the drag community,' he told Elle in 2018.Īt the time, Vasquez explained he had noticed a change in the industry – drag actually being acknowledged for its contributions to the beauty world. From contour to long lashes, several of today's hottest trends find their genesis in drag culture, a fact that celebrity makeup artist Renny Vasquez once described as being ignored for far too long. As legendary drag performer RuPaul once famously said, 'We're all born naked and the rest is drag,' yet it seems this sentiment has a much more literal meaning in the world of beauty.