Star Struck Style

March 30 is Miss Fame’s birthday.

I’ve been thinking about Miss Fame’s season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” a lot lately because I was never really sure who was going to take the crown (sort of like Season 12 which is currently airing). The talent pool ran deep on the show, but even the frontrunners themselves seemed to be struggling in the challenges and not quite sure of what they needed to do to please the judges. Nevertheless, Season 7 produced one of the most successful queens in “Drag Race” herstory as its eventual winner. Violet Chachki has gone on to have a stellar career that has surprised even her most vocal critics. What’s more, the same season introduced the show’s fans to “All Stars” legends Trixie Mattel, Katya and Kennedy Davenport, not to mention “Drag Race” royalty Ginger Minj and Jasmine Masters.

Lost in that mix is Miss Fame. I know that she has more than a million Instagram fans, but maybe that is one of the reasons that she seems so much less memorable in comparison to much of the Season 7 cast. She walked into the work room as a “look queen,” and she left without proving that she was anything more. Sure, she was charming and fun to watch at times (I’ll never forget her talking about chickens in her confessionals), but she was definitely in the middle of the pack talent-wise.

Now there is no shame in being a “look queen,” especially when you have Miss Fame’s talent for creating looks. What interests me is that I often implore Aries natives to be something more than the first impression that they so eagerly give. It’s a genuine talent to turn heads the way they do, but winning the crown on “Drag Race” takes a lot more than that. Perhaps that is the reason why it took me so long to warm up to The Vivienne on “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” (the show’s only Aries winner so far). I thought she was a “look queen” because her persona was so carefully cultivated. The depth of her talent only became apparent to me a few episodes into her season. Once that happened, I knew that she was unstoppable.

Yet Miss Fame was never able to do the same for this armchair critic. Again, that doesn’t mean that I don’t like her or appreciate what she brings to the world of drag, but she pales in comparison to the other Aries queens who have gone far on the show, like Raven and Miz Cracker.

Still, her look is as iconic as anyone who has ever set foot into the workroom. It takes a lot of talent to craft an image like that, so I need to give credit where credit is due. She really is something else!