We all shop for clothes, but everyone shops differently. It can be a social experience, but also a very personal one; sometimes it’s impulsive and fun, sometimes it’s single-minded and annoying. Where do you shop? When do you shop? How do you decide what you need, how much to spend, and what is “you”? These are some of the questions we ask celebrities in our column.How I shop.”

As Queen Priyanka, winner of Canada’s Drag Race, says her personal style is “all over the place.” (Drag queens are just like us.)

“That’s what I love about it,” she tells Fashionista. “I just love that you can play around. Some days you can be super masculine. Some days you can be super feminine. Some days you can be somewhere in between. And that’s what I love about fashion, because you can really dress up as whatever you want to be that day.”

Her love for fashion experimentation is reflected in her drag style, but Queen Priyanka is also thoughtful when it comes to how she presents herself as a performer. She consistently pays tribute to her South Asian culture and is actively involved in the design process of her custom-made costumes. It’s an intriguing duality – playful and thoughtful – that represents just the tip of the iceberg of how far she wants to spread her fashion wings. Especially now that she’s entering the music world – she released her debut album, ‘Devestatia’, last Friday and kicks off her world tour on October 9 – Queen Priyanka is on a mission to become a fixture in the performance and fashion worlds, one rhinestone and disgusting silhouette at a time.

Below, Queen Priyanka discusses her fashion approach for the first season of Canada’s Drag Race, her biggest drag queen style inspirations, a nod to Bollywood, and more.

“My earliest memories of fashion are basically hand-me-downs from my older brothers. They were baggy Fubu shirts and baggy cargo pants and things that never, ever fit me. And when I look at all my childhood photos, I’m wearing baggy clothes. It’s so weird nowadays because I love wearing baggy clothes. But I didn’t really have a relationship with fashion itself because fashion wasn’t the most important thing in my family because it was just about wearing clothes for practical and convenient reasons. I didn’t start to develop any kind of style until college when I moved out of home. Also, I feel like the more comfortable I became with my sexuality, the more I was willing to play with it. And the more I played and experimented with my fashion, the freer it felt.

“Some days you’ll see me in big cargo pants and a really tight crop vest. Or I’ll wear silver pants with a bodysuit underneath and a sweatshirt with rhinestone chains on top. Or I’ll wear a plaid shirt and jeans and look like a cowboy. I like to show diversity in fashion because I’m always in drag and sometimes not.

“When it comes to drag performances — the stage shows that I like the most — (my style inspirations) are the Beyoncés of the world, the (Lady) Gagas and the ‘Drag Race’ designers, the people who design the ‘Drag Race’ costumes. All of those great designers really shaped what pop stars wear today. Now those designers are involved with Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B because they caught the drag wind. The people I was jealous of as a kid also inspired me. There’s a reason why some days I dress up super masculine: It’s because those are the people who made me feel insecure and bullied me as a kid. I’m like, ‘All right, I’ll show you, bitch.'” So I take this college jersey, put it over some tight pants, and wear a disgusting running shoe, and I wear that as a kind of reclamation of that time in my life.

“My style outside of the wardrobe is more functional unless I’m going out, but I usually don’t. I’m such a workaholic that I’m workaholic in huge t-shirts or oversized sweaters and sweatpants. Performance culture is so tight and so nuanced and there’s so much thought put into everything. With my ‘boy style,’ I ask myself, ‘What is a statement piece that I can get at any store out there, whether it’s sparkly or just denim on denim? What’s simple?’

“We had such a great time growing up in the ’90s and early 2000s. There was a time when Bollywood samples were mainstream. We had ‘Get Ur Freak On’ by Missy Elliot. We had ‘Addictive’ by Truth Hurts. We had ‘Jai Ho’ by the Pussycat Dolls. And then it all went away — my whole life, my whole culture was just a hot trend for a second. So the inspiration for (my fashion choice on ‘Drag Race’) was again using drag to bring that into the mainstream. And also the whole idea of ​​being a person of color and wanting to be a white person at a younger age because you only see white people succeed is so fucked up. I knew when I saved my big Bollywood elegance for the finale that I knew exactly what I was doing because I wanted people to see that a person of color can do anything.

“I appreciate Aquaria’s fashion style. I think she has a really good mix of performance and fashion. She’s got her credentials down pat. She looks great in everything. Plastique Tiara is incredible and Monét X Change. Shea Couleé is the ultimate, over-the-top fashion influence for me. I don’t even think of her as a drag queen, I think of her as this ethereal goddess who is a fashionista. Tayce in the UK, her fashion is incredible. She’s just as messy as she is and she’s found her niche where what she wears just falls off her body. But then there are harnesses and buckles on it too because she’s just crazy. Raja’s fashion is so interesting to me because she doesn’t give what she thinks is the hot trend. She just literally puts a look together. Everything feels very nuanced and very fashion-forward in that way, which is cool because when you see someone wearing a look and you think, ‘Oh, that’s a look only you could wear,’ she’s giving it that. So she’s probably one of the other ultimate fashion queens and also Symone.

“It’s evolved since I started doing drag, where now I have people who take me seriously and help me do the things I really want. Things I wanted before didn’t happen because people didn’t care. And now fashion has evolved because everything is so important – people understand it now. The evolution is the confidence to know exactly what you want and how to say it. It’s so hard to get these bespoke costumes for my drag. You have to fight a lot to get what you want from someone, from the fabric, the fit, the shade of the fabric, the texture and so on.

“When I make music, I always think about what I would wear and how I would make people feel with that kind of costume while I was singing the song. When I was recording ‘Devastatia,’ there was a line where we wrote, ‘She’s going to need armor tougher than an armadillo,’ like an armadillo. So I thought the costume would have to be this copper-colored, armadillo-like 3D-printed bra.

“Oh my God, when was the last time I bought a brand I like? Everything I wear now is custom made.

“In the fall, I love knit sweaters. There’s something so sexy and cozy about them. I don’t even know if that’s a fashion trend right now or not. I love darker colors. I love big, chunky Doc Martens boots. And a pumpkin spice latte.

“My first fashion purchase was a $3,000 Louis Vuitton bag. That was also my first designer piece, as was my Dior Saddle Bag. But the thing about fashion purchases is that it’s better to want something than to have it, because when I felt like I had my Saddle Bag, I was so proud of it for three weeks, but then, like with a human being, the thrill of the newness wears off. And then I sit there and think, ‘How much did I pay for that bag?’ That’s the West Indian girl in me.

“I love my denim jacket. The tag says Mavi Jeans. I think I got it when someone gave me the wrong denim jacket at the coat check and I went home with it and it was mine. I hope that person doesn’t miss their denim jacket because I have it.

“I feel like we’re going in a direction that’s becoming ‘Priyanka-esque.’ When you see something specific, whether it’s a certain detail on someone’s outfit or the way it sits or whatever, that’s considered my signature – that’s what I want. It’s like in ‘Mean Girls’ when Regina George cuts the circle over her tits. What’s my version of that?”

Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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