Think of the coolest girl in your high school. Not the one who was "cool" because she was rich, pretty, and mean. I'm talking about the girl who was actually well-liked, the one who was more loved than she was ever feared. She's the kind of girl who got good grades, was well-dressed, and had a sharp wit. She had a presence, but it wasn't put on: it was easy and natural. She's the kind of person who was reliably pleasant company at lunch, the kind who would have you laughing for the full 50-minute period over those cafeteria-grade, god-knows-what's-in-them sloppy joes.
That's Symone. The RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13 queen has quickly become a favorite among fans and former contestants alike — you might even call her this season's frontrunner. "I'm just in love with Symone," Drag Race contestant and All-Star Alexis Mateo gushed in a recent episode of Bootleg Opinions, Yuhua Hamasaki, another Ru Girl's, YouTube series. "I don't care if she slays or not — I just love Symone," she gushes.
It's a good thing, then, that slaying happens to be Symone's specialty. Originally from Conway, Arkansas, the 26-year-old, née Reggie Gavin, has delivered hilarious performances, compelling lip-synchs, and some of the season's best runway moments — all with her skin slick and shining with baby oil. Ashy where? You'll never see Miss Symone with an ankle, kneecap, or elbow not glistening for the gods.
A member of the LA-based, Arkansas-bred House of Avalon, Symone's drag is inspired by Black American culture and the people who embody it. In episode five, she paid homage to Diana Ross, riffing on a pink sequin gown with a heavily, ahem, sculpted bosom. It was a tribute to a look the legendary singer wore for her 1977 "Evening With Diana Ross" TV special. In episode six, she twirled in a black minidress made of little Senegalese twists and a recreation of the hairstyle RuPaul wore in her "Back to My Roots" music video. Even Beyoncé got a nod in episode seven when the queen hit the Drag Race mainstage in a beaded breastplate and matching bottoms. At the end of the runway, she turned her back to the camera so the judges could get a good look at her name spelled out in beads, meticulously weaved into her braided hair (more on that later).
Symone shares with Allure that she started doing her makeup at 16, and by 18, she was fully into drag. "I did an amateur night and I was like, 'Oh, this is this it. This is what I live for.'" She took to the art form like a fish to water. "I went to college ultimately to do drag — it's easier to do in Little Rock, which is where I went to college." But with the rest of her house in Los Angeles, Symone set her sights on the West Coast, where she's been living for the past four years. "I didn't move with them at first because I had a lot of soul-searching to do back home," she says. "I got myself together and saved my money. The cards just really aligned. A space opened up out here for me to move into." Symone lives in a building with other members of her house, which happens to include Season 12 top three queen Gigi Goode, who, to my surprise, is also a damn good wigologist.
Symone has performed so strongly this season that she's even caught the attention of one particularly influential Black woman in pop culture: Rihanna. The singer/makeup mogul/lingerie czar slid into the queen's DMs just to stan. "You soooo EVERYTHING!" she wrote. "Nasty Lil bitch! I live for every second of it! You're a true joy to watch!" Now, when Rihanna calls you a "nasty lil bitch," you know you're doing something right.
ALLURE: You're clearly a fan-favorite on this season of Drag Race. How does it feel to have all these people rooting for you?
SYMONE: Oh my God, it's so crazy because you go in and you create the best package you possibly can. You just never know how you're going to be received. To have people receive me so well has been so beautiful and heartwarming.
Coming from where I'm from, you dream big and hope to make it. To have people stand behind you and love what you do has just been so beautiful. I think about it sometimes and I'm like, "Wow, people are just living and that's amazing." It's the best you can hope for, so I'm so proud and honored.
ALLURE: Now, we have to get into some of the hair looks you've served. The first is your promo look. I immediately thought of a hairstyle Nikki Nelms created for an Allure shoot. It's such a gorgeous rendition. Then, I read the credits and found out Gigi [Goode] had done the wig for you. I was shook! I didn't know she was nice with wigs like that!
SYMONE: She can turn a wig. She is a hair witch diva.
ALLURE: I was completely floored. Tell me about how you arrived at creating that look.
SYMONE: [The theme of the shoot] was "Pastel Pinup." I was looking through images, but wasn't really connecting with any of them because, yeah, they were in there, but there weren't that many women of color. I was talking with my house, and we all said, "You know what? Why don't we do our version of a pinup?"
I was [thinking of] all these things I love about our culture. The grills, the decked-out jewelry, the polo shirts, low-hanging pants, big hair — we were like, "You know what? This is Urban Pinup."
That was the process of it — I got all the things together that I find so beautiful about who we are and made it drag. I was very nervous about the look because you're either going to get it or you won't. But it's still a very striking one and I'm just so proud of it. I saw that hairstyle from Nikki and was like, "That's it. That's the hair." So we did, of course, modify it a little bit. Gigi did the hair had some custom-made bamboo earrings put in there with my name and "The Ebony Enchantress."
ALLURE: I think it's very easy for the audience to connect to your looks. I immediately get the references because they're always so rooted in Black culture.
SYMONE: And that's what I wanted. I wanted to go on the show to reference, bring life, and shed light on the beauty that is who we are. Of course, I try not to do exactly the same thing. I make it my own, while still paying homage because it is who I am and it's a beautiful thing.
Going on a platform [as far-reaching as Drag Race], the people who are in the culture will get it, but there are a lot of people who don't even know about these things. This is a moment for me to reference, to teach, but also have fun and show the beauty that is who we are.
ALLURE: I would love to hear a little bit about your "Bead It" look from episode seven because that was just…everything. Can we talk a little bit about the hair? Because when I saw it, I immediately got the Ivy Park reference and was so excited to see it come to life on the Drag Race stage.
SYMONE: [When I was imagining that look,] I kept seeing the color combinations (black, yellow, red, and green). I thought, "Why don't we do something in that realm?" And then of course that silhouette, that beautiful silhouette! Originally, I wanted to do the traditional beading [for the bikini] that you've seen with the smaller [beads], but it would have taken too long. We didn't have enough time. So I thought, "Okay, how do we do it in the timeframe that we have?" And the suggestion was hair beads and I was like, "Oh my God, that's it. That's what we're doing." Michael Brambila, the one who constructed [the bikiini], did that all by hand.
[After that,] we had to focus on the hair. We had the braids, of course, but the category was beads, darling, so if you want us to do beads we're going to do beads. I wanted to push it to the next level. We were looking through [reference photos] and I saw that picture of Beyoncé and said, "This is what I want, but with my name in it."
Gigi did that hair as well and there was math involved. We had grid paper. We lined it out. We counted the braids. We did everything. And so she went through tendril by tendril and threw those beads on there to spell out my name.
ALLURE: Another thing that you have been known for on the runway is that melanin shining. You are constantly slick and gorgeous; what type of body-care do you use?
SYMONE: Oh my God, I'm giving away my secrets! Okay, I moisturize twice a day. I'm obsessed with it. One of the things growing up was you got the lotion on the lotion. It was always a thing, especially for my mom, that I moisturize twice a day. When I'm in drag, I want to be as slick as possible, like if you touch me you can't hold on — very that. So, I use baby oil gel.
Symone radiates. I want to convey that in every way possible. So, we need that skin popping. When I do the baby oil gel, it's not one layer. I put on three to four layers of it. So, I'm really slick, really oiled down — there's no escaping what's going on there.
ALLURE: Oh my God, I love it. It reminds me of when you're a kid and your mom puts all the Vaseline on you before you go to school — enough for the entire day. Now, I'm wondering what are some of the other products you love to use when you've got a show.
SYMONE: For foundation, I actually use the Juvia's Place foundation because I love how full coverage it is. It's thick, but it spreads easily. I'll combine it with the Nars Radiant Longwear Foundation. The Juvia's Place is drier, so I'll mix the luminous with it to bring the glow, if you will, back into my skin. And then I love a highlighter, darling. I love to be high lit. So, I use Anastasia's Sun Dipped Glow Kit to bring all that shine out. Just like I said, I want to radiate inside and out.
ALLURE: Who are some of the style icons that inspire you?
SYMONE: Rihanna is my girl. She's my number one.
ALLURE: Didn't she slide into your DMs recently?
SYMONE: She did. We were actually shooting [an Instagram Reel] for the beads look in the desert before the sun was up. I'm on Instagram in the car and right before we get out to go do our little hike to get there, she DMs me.
I said, "Y'all, y'all, y'all. Rihanna just slid into my DMs, y'all. This is not a joke. This is not a drill, okay?" When I first looked at it I thought, "@Badgalriri? Okay, whatever," because you never know. Sometimes there's one tricky little extra I at the end or G in the name somewhere. And then I saw the checkmark and knew it was the real deal. The message she sent me was very sweet. You could not ask for more from someone that you look up to and admire inside and out.
What she's done with her career and what she's done in fashion, makeup, and music is something you aspire to when you want to be a mogul. Her style, it's effortless, it's edgy, it makes you think, it's fearless. It's all of the things that I want Symone to look like. I also love Grace Jones. The androgyny, the fearlessness in her style. Lil' Kim, too. I love her sexiness, her unapologeticness… is that a word?
ALLURE: It is today.
SYMONE: Put it in Webster's! All of the fearlessness of all those women, I put in my little box. And then when I want to get real glamorous, I'll put Diana Ross in there. All of those people put together make up who Symone is.
ALLURE: And it's clear looking at your drag.
SYMONE: You get it, which I love because that was the whole point. I want to shed light on all this beauty and this grace because it's been done before me, and many a queen has paved the way for me to have this moment.
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