Yvie Oddly Respects & Values Her Collaborators

Yvie Oddly backstage during the finale of Rupaul’s Drag Race season 11. Dress by Kristi Siedow-Thompson, Headpiece by Darrell Thorne, Photo by Brittany Travis

This week in Drag, RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Katya Zamolodchikova was called out for a small passage in her book with Trixie Mattel ragging on Yvie Oddly’s 2019 New York Drag Con appearances for not “polish[ing] [herself] up a little bit” as the winner of season 11. This article gives a good rundown of both the passage in question as well as Yvie and other fan’s responses. When I read about this, I really appreciated Yvie’s response, and Katya’s subsequent apology and statement.

I wanted to share my experience working with Yvie because when it comes to drag queens and custom pieces, Yvie is a class act and absolutely knows the value of these expensive things.

I have had the pleasure of making looks for several RPDR queens in the last few years, and have learned what a financial commitment it is to be on the show. I know queens that have spent 20-30 THOUSAND dollars prepping looks for the show and then not actually make it very far in the competition. I have made a few looks in conjunction with other designers that haven’t made it on air, which is always a bummer but it is a risk you take by accepting that work. Queens pull out the stops in their community with financial loans as well as costume and accessory loans. Some queens work with makers having the understanding that they will make money touring so can “pay people back later”. The main issue with this concept is that the show does not air until nearly a year after it is filmed, so those makers have to wait that long for payment and often their pieces don’t make it on screen. Also with the pandemic this year, all the season 12 queens have not been able to tour which pretty much eliminates most of their income. Designers are never mentioned in the show, so although it can lead to an influx of business from exposure, designers rely on queens to tag them on social media to get recognition. If a queen is voted out in the first few episodes, their reach will not be nearly as big to uplift designers like myself.

Outside of RPDR, many excited young (and some seasoned) queens have very skewed ideas of what it costs and the time involved to create a custom look. They expect the same costs as fast fashion pieces ordered on Amazon. These pieces are so cheap because they are made in bulk out of cheap materials and made in sweatshops by people who are not making a living wage. I can’t even buy fabric for the cost of some of those things, let alone get paid for labor. Some designers also don’t know how to properly price their work, and severely undercharge queens which creates a false sense of what custom items cost when someone is making their living creating them.

Fitting for the finale dress in April of 2019

Yvie and I talked about working together years ago, before she even auditioned for Drag Race. I always knew she didn’t call me because she couldn’t afford to pay me. And rather than just expecting me to give her a deal, she respected me enough to know my work had value. When she finally contacted me to make the look for her season’s finale, I knew she still didn’t have a huge cash flow, but she paid me IMMEDIATELY for my materials. Fabric alone for a custom piece can be hundreds of dollars, even when it’s cheaper quality. Later when I sent Yvie my final bill for labor and expenses, she paid me within an hour. She has also tagged me in every image she’s ever posted of the look, and in subsequent posts where she utilized pieces of the items I made for other looks. When we did a fitting for the look, she was only home in Denver for 3 days between touring dates, so I flew out for 36 hours from NYC to fit her, and she even offered to pay for my flight (which I covered but very much appreciated). When I saw her she was beyond exhausted but still working hard to pre-sign autographs for fans, create new looks for the road and upcoming filming for the show, as well as somehow packing and unpacking all of her life for use on tour. She had some money coming in from touring I am sure, but she was also staying organized and paying people who helped her right away, which I really respect.

Considering I still have queens that still owe for looks I made years ago, prompt payment is NOT the norm in my experience. This is also why I do not take commissions anymore unless they are special cases, like Yvie Oddly, who I can trust to both let me do my best creative work as well as VALUE the work that artists do for her by paying what it is worth. I saw her during Drag Con in NY last fall and she greeted me saying that “we” won because everyone who supported her was part of the win. She said that she couldn’t have done it without me (which I know she absolutely could and would have) but it is just an example of how authentic Yvie is.

I still love Katya and appreciate her apologizing for her off-the-cuff comments. I also appreciate Yvie’s response whole-heartedly because I know how grounded she is and how she doesn’t hold it against her. But I think it’s also good to recognize the privilege of both time and money (and race) that a lot of previous winners have had before Yvie, and the classism IS and continues to be a thing in both the drag and regular world.

Anyway, I would absolutely work with Yvie again in a heartbeat, and I encourage any other designers to work with her too. She is smart about her looks, but also lets a designer’s creative influence shine through. She truly is a collaborator, and I am proud to consider her a friend as well.