“My outfits are always in service of the performance,” We’re Here star Sasha Velour says about how she chooses her attire for a big gig for Pride Month. Ahead of taking the stage at the Los Angeles Pride in the Park concert event on June 8 — headlined by Ricky Martin — the RuPaul’s Drag Race alum explained the thought process behind choosing her drag ensembles on a Saturday morning Zoom call. “I’m doing kind of a twist on a beauty pageant winner who can’t quite let go of her crown,” the drag queen said about the performance and outfit she wore for Saturday’s event. “Can’t relate at all, just totally a fiction,” joked Velour, who took the stage a few hours later with her fellow We’re Here co-stars Jaida Essence Hall, Latrice Royale and Priyanka. For Saturday’s L.A. Pride event, Velour said the look she created, a bright orange spaghetti strap dress, felt “very L.A.” and very “sexy and arms out.” She added: “I know this is drag outdoors in the summertime. We always have to be mindful of that.” She shared exclusive photos and behind-the-scenes videos with The Hollywood Reporter of her preparations for the event. Keeping on that former pageant queen theme, Velour described the outfit as featuring plenty of shine with as many jewels as she could fit in her luggage. “I’ll bring the sunshine,” she joked, noting the morning’s gray sky. Makeup plays a big role in bringing a look together, and for L.A. Pride in the Park, Velour decided to try something new. “I’m doing an orange glossy lip to tie in the dress, which is very out of my comfort zone,” Velour said. “I’m always a red glitter lip, but it just… that’s not the fantasy for this outfit.” Velour finished her glam off with a glitter eye shadow, and, of course, some dramatic eyeliner. “When I don’t have a snatched cat eye, I just don’t feel like myself,” she explained. On We’re Here season four, the first for its current cast, Velour, Hall, Royale and Priyanka traveled to small town America to meet the local LGBTQIA+ community and put on a drag show in various locales. The show focuses on Oklahoma and Tennessee, two of the states involved in an uptick in anti-LGBTQIA+ laws. “When I first heard about We’re Here, I understood it as the arrival of queer superheroes, which is very much how drag queens have to view ourselves,” Velour said of the Max show. Velour said she now believes the show brings a needed spotlight on the resilience of small town queer communities. “I really have come to see it as about shining a light on the existence of queer people and queer community in every single place in the world,” she said. “You go to small places, conservative states, that have been some of the first to push forward anti-trans and anti-drag legislation, but then it spreads everywhere, and you discover that there’s queer people,” Velour added. “There’s drag already happening in those places, and the laws are not recognizing their own people.” The meaning of pride itself has evolved for Velour throughout the years. “At first, pride was just permission to not be ashamed of myself for who I was,” she said. “It was the coming together of a big community to make you feel like you belonged for a person that maybe didn’t quite feel that, or felt like they would have to hide who they were to ever experience that feeling of belonging.” Now, Velour sees pride in a different light. “I see it as political because of those things. I realize that’s not just a given, and that making some people in our community feel like they belong… that’s not even enough” she explained, emphasizing that pride must be inclusive for everyone in the community. “We still have work to do,” Velour said. “I see it as an evolving mission, but one that comes from a place of love.” Check out Sasha Velour’s full get-ready-with-me video below.
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