While LOGO TV's hit show Rupaul's Drag Race is on summer vacation, for Rupaul's Drag U, school is now in session.
In this new series, everyday women are teamed up with a former contestant from Rupaul's Drag Race in a competition that's less about huge hair and more about living large. The first episode features three self-described tomboys who's self-confidence (and femininity) goes from zero to six-hundred in three point five.
A good friend once said, "Some people have baggage...well, I have luggage." Unfortunately, these women have baggage, and lack a good wardrobe. One contestant hadn't worn a dress in twenty-five years, and another was afraid to because of a past history with assault. Fortunately, Rupaul and his "falculty" of drag-professors are ready to school these real women in the art of big hair, big lashes, big shoes, and a take-no-prisoners attitude that would have Helen Reddy singing.
As always, music, fashion, and television icon, Rupaul Charles, who's lived enough for nine lifetimes, does what he does best presenting something unexpected, outrageously entertaining, and almost always classy. Some reality television features fake tans, fake breasts, gaunt figures, too much awful makeup, trashy clothes and fake personalities that inspire higher viewership for diet drug commercials. Oddly, the real women contestants on RuPaul's Drag U show off fake hair, full figures, lots of delicious makeup and of course trashy clothes, but instead hyperbolic alter egos that inspire a sense of humor, better posture, and the chance to shatter your status quo.
Surely these women won't return home start to wearing floor length sequin gowns and teased wigs, and of course extreme makeovers never last. That said, for one contestant, lipsyncing and dancing to Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" was her chance to feel ecstatic and find the boost of confidence she needed to reinvigorate her marriage.
While not everyone will be ready to accept the idea that real women dressing in female impersonation garb is a metaphor for spiritual awakening, Rupaul's Drag U reminds us that no matter where our lives have gone, each morning in your makeup mirror offers the chance to put your best face forward.
Click here to watch full episodes and bonus clips of Rupaul's Drag U.
Andrew Sotomayor is a celebrity makeup artist in New York who's worked with Juliette Binoche, Kerry Washington, Saffron Burrows, Rose Byrne, Justin Kirk, Jonathan Groff and champion boxer Andre Berto. His clients have appeared on Project Runway, The Today Show, The CBS Early Show, Good Day New York, and CNN. He's created the makeup for Victoria Beckham's denim and eyewear look books, and assisted on fashion shows for Dior, Diesel, Marchesa, and Project Runway. Magazines like Marie Claire, Shape, InStyle, Glamour, People, and numerous blogs have interviewed him, and he's appeared on television for Access Hollywood. Andrew leads makeup artistry workshops for the students at The High School of Fashion Industries. See his work at DramaFreeMakeup.com
