Marie Antoinette & The Queens of "Drag Race"

Chris here. As we've been reminiscing on Marie Antoinette, it's worth calling out what an enduring fashion icon she remains hundreds of years after the fact. Her persona and iconography has been used endlessly in pop culture moments big and small, such as Madonna's iconic VMA "Vogue" performance. But naturally I'm here to talk about her influence on a particular art form: drag. The queens of RuPaul's Drag Race to be specific.

Category Is: Marie Antoinette At A Ball. Let's take a look at what the queens served when interpreting the Queen.

Raja - Season 3

This look was another high fashion standout from Raja, though in retrospect is much more simple and basic than it was at first look. The moment the statuesque Raja catches the camera's eye is still gag worthy.
What the Judges Said - Safe
What Marie Antoinette Would Have Said - Let her eat cake

Jinkx Monsoon - Season 5

Jinkx obviously took a more comicaly approach, all devilish grin and coke snorting glee. The runway challenge was simply pink inspiration, so this character was an early way for Jinkx to show her point of view.
What the Judges Said - Top
What Marie Antoinette Would Have Said - Let her eat coke

Max - Season 7

While Max received criticism for this look not being green enough for a green challenge, it still is fun while showing Max's point of view. And if the over-affected Max isn't perfect to embody the Queen, I don't know who is.
What the Judges Said - Bottom
What Marie Antoinette Would Have Said - Let her eat something, anything

Detox - All Stars Season 2

Here Detox played Marie Antoinette in the Bad Girls of Herstory challenge rather than on the runway. The color story is awfully close to Jinkx's iteration but with more polish, however the performance was hilarious
What the Judges Said - Top
What Marie Antoinette Would Have Said - Let her eat *SNAKE EMOJI* (you know she would have been pissed about Rolaskatox too)

Which Marie Antoinette-inspired Drag Race look is your favorite?

Comments

[choog]

Of these 4, Raja is definately my favourite. She killed her runway looks! I seem to recall Manila serving up some Marie Antionette 80s hair fantasy at some point ( may be remembering incorrectly) & Robbie Turner in season 8 with a poorer version of Detox's look?

[NATHANIEL R]

I had totally forgotten about Jinkx's look so good call that Detox stole the color scheme. Weirdly now that i see the Jinkx look again I remember being wowed by it.

the other thing i'd like to note is that i feel drag queens are celebrating Madonna celebrating Marie Antoinette arguably more than they're celebrating the actual Marie Antoinette. ;)

[par]

@nathaniel - if that were true, marie antoinette would come out in a kimono

[Carmen Sandiego]

I was just reading about it online so it may not be true, but apparently Madonna's inspiration for that Vogue performance was Dangerous Liaisons, not Marie Antoinette, and she supposedly wore an actual costume from the movie. I easily rank it as the best VMA performance of all time and one of Madonna's finest moments on stage (and that's a tall order, she can be so incredible as a live performer).

If these DR looks, my favorite is Detox's, for the humor she brought to it.