Drag Race: Queens feel the pinch of rising costs

To make it as a drag queen, you’ll need charisma, uniqueness, nerve and – increasingly – thousands of pounds.

As queens return to battle it out in a new season of Canada vs The World, one former queen of the Mother Tucking World, Tia Kofi, says drag is getting “very expensive” for performers.

Tia was recently crowned after winning Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK vs The World but has long been a fan favourite after coming seventh on Drag Race UK’s second series in 2021.

Back then, she was branded “baroness basic” for her fashion choices but finding bold looks for runways and TV screens can come at a high price, Tia, real name Lawrence Bolton, tells BBC Newsbeat.

For her first season, “I did not have the budget available to buy extravagant outfits,” she says.

“I was doing drag full time. I had to pay for rent and living costs in London on that kind of budget.”

When she returned for the spin-off in March, gone were the days of strutting the runway in an “adequate dress, made of material” in her first season.

Tia was prepared to impress RuPaul and save herself from elimination – even if she didn’t save much money in the process.

She returned with a fashion glow up, something she previously admitted to the Useless Hotline podcast she spent “too much money” – more than £20,000 – to achieve.

“I know to some extent I probably set a bad example by wearing such extravagant things on the show,” she tells Newsbeat.

The second series of UK vs The World was the first time a UK franchise offered a cash prize and Tia scooped £50,000.

Winning queens on the US show can bag $200,000 (£156,000) as well as cash tips of $5,000 (£3,900) if they come top in weekly challenges.

And Tia thinks the influence of the high standards seen on Drag Race may be pushing up costs for queens.

“There are so many people who can sew and make their own outfits but for people who can’t, the prices have inflated above the odds,” she says.

One person seeing more and more commissions is Dannie Aston, who runs Dannie Does Drag in Brighton.

While she tries to cater to all her clients’ budgets, she agrees with Tia that what people see on the runway across the Atlantic is influencing the kind of outfits she’s being asked to make.

“Of course, their looks are going to be insane,” she says. “The money they have to spend on these costumes is incredible.

“And then over here I feel I’ve got to do as well as them.”

That expectation is something that affected Kane at the start of his drag career a few years ago, performing in Brighton as Raiine.

“I was getting very competitive when I was starting out to try and uphold what I was seeing around me,” he says.

“It put me in financial ruin.”

For Raiine, a full look including the outfit, wigs, makeup, shoes and accessories could cost thousands.

He says it’s “wild”, especially considering “for a shift or a gig, you’re making £100-200 if you’re lucky”.

“If people’s only viewpoint of drag is Drag Race, they’re gonna expect that level and calibre of outfits from drag queens they see day to day,” he says.

“But if one day we want to wear a £20 Pretty Little Thing outfit, I’m not against it,” he says.

“There’s a cost of living crisis.”

And while RuPaul has always said you don’t need to be rich to do drag, she’s made her views on fast fashion pretty clear.

“I don’t wanna see any H&M,” she scolded Brighton-based queen Joe Black on Tia’s season after she wore an off-the-rack dress in a challenge.

You won’t find anything like that at Dannie’s studio on the city’s seafront, where parts of an outfit she describes as a “ham jacket” lie in slices over an armchair.

“There’s a lot of work that goes into doing a costume for anyone really, but for drag in particular because there’s no pattern,” she says.

“It’s a lot of work and it’s a lot of time – it’s our livelihood.”

Since Drag Race became a global phenomenon, she’s noticed clients wanting to replicate the fierce fashion moments – and that can get expensive.

But “a lot of designers are very accommodating of budgets,” she says.

“Queens don’t always have the money – they’re not loaded.”

There are ways to keep costs down though.

“I see a lot of queens investing copious amounts of money in expensive outfits and wigs because that’s what they feel like they have to do and they don’t,” says Tia.

For Dannie, that can mean swapping crystals for cheaper rhinestones to make an outfit sparkle or choosing more affordable fabrics.

She recently made a winged look for a queen who wanted them to be made of ostrich feathers.

“That would be hundreds,” Dannie says.

“So instead we used packaging foam – we cut it into feathers and it gave the same effect.”

Kane’s found ways to keep costs down too, like buying outfits second hand and customising them himself.

“This outfit I bought for £10,” he says, pointing towards a pale blue bridesmaid dress.

“I added 15,000 stones and now I’m a Disney princess.”

What’s more, Tia says if you’re performing, maybe a £1,000 outfit isn’t always advisable.

“If you’re performing for several many huns at a brunch, it probably shouldn’t be in an outfit that cost you over £1,000 when you’re about to do a jump-split to Mamma Mia,” she says.

“But if you’re going to spend money on an outfit, make sure it’s robust, wearable and you can wear it many, many times.”

Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs The World will air on BBC Three and iPlayer from Saturday 20 July.

Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.