“RuPaul’s Drag Race” released its 17th season premiere this past December, and there’s been quite an uproar for this season’s queens’ looks. This season’s promo theme started with a “H2Oh My Gawd” where all of the looks were centered around water to introduce the unique 14 queens entering the show. Those queens are as follows: Lana Ja’rae, Sam Star, Hormona Lisa, Crystal Envy, Jewels Sparkles, Joella, Kori King, Lexi Love, Lucky Starzzz, Onya Nurve, Suzie Toot, Lydia B. Kollins, Arrietty, and Acacia Forgot. With the ruthlessness of fans on social media, many have already separated the queens from best to worst looks.
Let’s begin with three queens who have been proclaimed best based on reactions from fans and other articles: Lucky Starzzz, who received the title of the best promo look, Sam Star in second place and Lana Ja’rae in third. Starting with the third place contestant is Lana Ja’rae’s promo look. She appears to be wearing lingerie, which would make sense since her name is Lana Ja’rae. Lana has on very flowy blue sleeves that act as wings for her outfit. She is also wearing skin-tight diamond-colored leggings with a pair of large glass high heels to complete the look. An eye-catching part of Lana’s outfit has to be her hair, which starts black at the roots into a more ombre effect into a lighter blue. Paired with her hair are some blue accessories that stick out of the sides of her head. She has a pearl crown that has two strings that loop around her head which to me, was a choice. She should have just worn a normal pearl crown because the pearls around the head make it look silly, especially in the “Meet the Queens” video where it started to shift to one side. She also has hanging diamond earrings to match with her pearly crown that flows down to her neck. Her outfit seems to be trying to represent a flying fish, seeing that her sleeves look just like wings when she’s posing. Honestly, comparing her outfit to Jewel Sparkles, I wouldn’t put this outfit near the top three, but if I’m correct about the flying fish statement, then it definitely served flying fish.
Sam Star, our second-place winner, is wearing a blonde wig that looks to resemble seaweed paired with bubbles in the hair as an accessory, which I think is so fierce. Sam Star also has on a corset that matches her skin tone along with a metallic-looking dress that wraps around her lower body, which also has the same bubble accessory scattered around it. Due to her large dress, her shoes are not visible, but I imagine she’s still wearing heels. She has a metallic shrug piece that wraps around from the front to the back creating an illusion that it’s climbing her. With the same bubbles on her wig and dress, her aesthetic honestly doesn’t match Sam Star’s brand, which is country-drag as seen on her Instagram.
Finishing strong with our first-place winner, Lucky Starzzz, her outfit is very well constructed and beautiful, going from the top down. A pearl helmet covers her whole head, but on the side of her helmet, large seashells stick out sideways with long, dangling pearl strings. Lucky is also wearing seashells all around her to cover her body, and of course, pearls are hanging on those seashells as well. The shells on her outfit become smaller as the camera pans down her body. Lucky’s top half has on two large shells cupping her waist. On her back is a large clear cape, which also has more pearls dangling from it and I believe some pearls are even sewn onto the cape. She has no shells on her legs, but her heels are silver and glittery.
“Lucky Starzzz is definitely the clear winner. Her drag is something I don’t think has ever been seen on this show,” Champlin Park High School student Joe Monari (10) said. “However, we all know how RuPaul is and there’s already [riggory], seeing that she lost the talent show despite clearly being in the top.”
Now that we’ve gone long on our top three, next we’re going to go into queens that aren’t necessarily bad, but fans tend to agree that they need more work or lack some compared to the other queens. Hormona Lisa, Joella and Kori King are these queens whose looks “need work.” Beginning with Kori King, who is wearing a short blonde wig kind of in the style of a wave, I fear it’s kind of ‘Plain Jane’ for me. She also has on a metallic necklace with some pairs of hoop earrings and a metallic corset-like dress. On her shoulders, Kori wears some sort of indefinable head-piece that covers them along with some high-heel boots that go up a little past her knees, which also sports a metallic wavy pattern. She is a body queen, so she’s going to do everything in her power to make sure people acknowledge her curves, and that may prove to be her biggest flaw. Kori’s whole outfit, besides her necklaces and her earrings, has an illusion where if it hits the light, it looks like wavy water and that admittedly does give the outfit an interesting look to it.
Our next queen, Joella, this is an outfit that is all around… dare I say kinda messy. Consisting of a large blue wig on, a dark blue bodysuit with lighter blue jewels that seem to be stitched or glued onto it, and a clear cap connected at the waist, I genuinely feel like she was overwhelmed and looking at her outfit, honestly—same. Her high heels are also dark blue like her bodysuit making the two seemingly blend together. Joella’s outfit has a lot of beads and jewelry on it too. To add to her body suit, she’s also wearing a cropped bra with beads to further exaggerate her already exaggerated bodysuit. Joella definitely needs work on what she’s going to add and when to stop because her outfit is extremely much.
Last but definitely not least is my queen Hormona Lisa. Hormona is wearing a white body dress that flows more towards the bottom when it extends outwards. Her outfit is tighter than most to really define her figure like Sam Star’s outfit. In this outfit. Her dress covers her shoes like several of the others, so we don’t know if she has high heels on too, but I doubt the queens would show without heels. Hormona’s hairdo consists of a wraparound pink wig, but it’s not going up in a beehive; it’s just in a bun type of hairstyle. Going with her hair, she has a long pink cape that flows on both her right and her left. As a side accessory, she’s carrying a clear umbrella to match the outfit. It’s sad to see her being hated on since she’s honestly really gorgeous, but I do see why she’s down here in comparison to other queens. She’s definitely struggling the same way as Kori with a more plain outfit. I don’t think Hormona wanted her body to be the main thing, and I believe that she’s just lacking a bit more to her outfit to really pop. For me, I really love Hormona Lisa because her aura on the show is just very friendly and patient. I would love to watch her go far, but knowing that the other queens barely have any weaknesses when it comes to talent, I fear for her.
“Hormona Lisa doesn’t deserve her placement in the bottom. She isn’t plain,” Heights resident and “Drag Race” superfan Melody Hang said. “She’s simple. The only reason Kori is plain is because she’s trying too hard to be the body queen when she already is.”
Overall, the promo looks of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 17 were very good looks. I agree with lists I’ve seen online and I can change my view if placements from my list change. Since then six episodes have been released, and it is truly a gag. Three queens have left the show out of the six episodes. Lucky Starzzz who has won the title of best promo look, is unfortunately the first eliminated. Ironically, she went home on a design challenge. The other queen who has gone home is Joella, which is not surprising to me. Seeing as though her promo look and talent show set the bar for her being the weaker queen of this season. Sadly, Hormona Lisa was the most recent queen to have been eliminated. Hormona left on a Ball challenge. She lip synced against Lana Ja’rae who was third in the rating for best promo looks. Based on what has happened in the show, I am slowly starting to believe that the promo looks don’t really play into placements in the show. Next week, we are seeing the most popular challenge on Drag Race which features the ‘Snatch Games’.
