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As told to Olivia Emily
Angel Fiorucci is a London-based student, party host and drag queen currently competing in Soroya Marchelle’s Next Drag Superstar UK competition. They sat down with PRUDE to look inside their wardrobe and discuss expressing individuality through drag.
“Jasmine Masters was right when she said that RuPaul’s Drag Race fucked up drag. Everyone thinks they have to do that style of drag now, and they don’t. It’s boring.
Now, I don’t think every drag queen has to look amazing or have the most distinct style, but if you’re going to all of this effort to put a look together and you just look like somebody else, why bother? If you’re going to put effort in, do it in an individual way.
Angel Fiorucci’s style
I’m a massive slut, so I go for anything that’s super short. Skirts and dresses can’t be short enough or have a high enough slit. If it’s not bordering on public indecency, then I don’t want to wear it.
My makeup is a mixture of Siouxsie Sioux, Grace Jones and Nina Hagen – like punk, 70s and 80s club weirdo. There isn’t a lot out there like my face right now, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve invented anything, because I definitely haven’t. It’s just about figuring out what influences you and why.
That nasty bitch Coco Chanel said to take one thing off before you leave the house. I disagree. I think you should put five more things on. Or take it all off and start again.
While my style has running themes, I feel like I really can do anything. I don’t think anyone should ever feel restrained by their style – just because you haven’t worn it yet, that doesn’t mean you’re never going to wear it, or that you’re never going to serve that kind of look.
Where does Angel shop?
A lot of what I wear is second hand – I do a lot of charity shopping. Especially TRAID – the black and yellow charity shops all over London. They always have really good dresses. Other than that, Depop is great, and Etsy is surprisingly really good. There’s also an Oxfam online shop which, like, no one knows about, so you can get really good stuff there.
I hate an ‘Amazon queen’, but you can admittedly get some nice stuff on Amazon. At the moment, these little model girls are running around Central London wearing no underwear and lingerie POSTER GIRL dresses that are completely see-through. It’s amazing – but they’re also like £500 for a little bit of nylon. You can get a six-pack of very similar things on Amazon. They probably aren’t made in the safest or most ethical way, but, you know, there’s six, you buy them once, and then you’ve got 12 outfits because some of them are tubes, so you could wear them as a skirt or a top.
I’m a terrible person in that I don’t like to wear the same thing twice, but I also don’t have enough money to buy a new outfit every day. So I shop in my own wardrobe a lot, which sounds silly, but I’ll take something that’s already there and cut it up or rip it up or bleach it or something like that, and make it into something new.
Some of Angel’s most memorable looks
Drag doesn’t have to be a gorgeous costume – it doesn’t have to be a brand, or even nice at all. If you feel it in the moment, it doesn’t matter what you’re wearing. You can walk into that room like you’re wearing the latest collection of whatever, but then it doesn’t matter if you’re not because no one’s going to be able to tell you otherwise.
If we’re doing a look inside my wardrobe, though, it’s just going to be string. My friend did a sci-fi video game-themed night. I dressed as the portals from the game Portal. All I did was wrap ribbon around me and call it an outfit, and then wore some underwear, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m serving. This is totally clothes.’ And it was just, like, ribbon.
For New Year’s Eve this year, I wore an outfit that was made entirely of Kandi, which is a type of bracelet that they make and wear at EDM raves, mainly in America but worldwide as well. Basically, they trade these beaded bracelets with each other, and they do a whole ritual trading thing, and it’s weird. But it stands for peace, love, unity and respect, and it’s a really fun community feel. Apart from my thong, my entire outfit was just those beads wrapped around me like a harness. It wasn’t an insane amount of beads, but it was a lot.
Two years ago, a boy put up a TikTok from Halloween, and he was wearing this Les Miserables rag that he’d covered in blood. I texted him through TikTok and I was like, ‘Can I buy that off you?’ And I did – in fact, I didn’t buy it, I traded a lipstick for it. Then I wore it in drag.
Angel’s go-to shoes
Don’t buy shoes from ASOS and expect them to be long-wearing, hard-hitting shoes that you can go partying in. They’re going to hurt, because they’re not made by people who make shoes. Some shoes are so badly designed that you know that they literally thought about the look of the shoe and absolutely nothing else.
However, if you look at brands like Pleaser, they’re designing with shoes in mind, not fashion. Pleaser do very traditional stripper shoes, but they’re really hard-wearing. You can run around, you can jump, you can kick.
Boots are the best thing in the world. Everyone loves a strappy little heel or a little sparkly pump, but a big chunky boot is much more comfortable. Another favourite brand is Demonia.
Even if you have to splash out a bit, it’s worth it. I think my eight-inch, calf-high Pleaser boots were £90 or £100, which isn’t a lot of money for a shoe that is going to last me years and years.
And don’t be afraid to wear a stupid shoe. I have some platform crocs that I love, and they always get a good response. People are always like, ‘what are those!?’
Angel’s go-to accessories
I am the worst for always forgetting to put jewellery on. I don’t personally like gold – I am a silver queen. I tend not to go for too many diamante or bovine stone things that you get from, like, Primark, because it can look really cheap. But if you’re going for cheap, then maybe do go for that. There’s an art form to being cheap. ‘It takes a lot of money to look this cheap’, Dolly Parton said. Which, you know, is a vibe.
I have some horrendous pieces of jewellery. I have a large blue disc with a starfish embedded in the centre with resin. And I’ve never even worn it, because I’m like, ‘where the hell am I gonna wear that?’
I don’t do a lot of hair. I’ve got a handful of wigs but I like to do my natural hair. I love to spike it up, mess it up, slick it back. I do love a good headpiece, though. I don’t wear enough of them because I don’t have any time to make them. But I have my ‘fag’ mohawk. This is a tutu that my flatmate gave me – I used white tape to spell out ‘fag’ along the side of it, and I pin it up so it stands up.
And finally: nails
Always paint your nails. They don’t have to be long, they don’t have to be anything fancy. Paint your fucking nails. If I was Prime Minister, I would ban bare nails. I think it’s a travesty. And it’s not even just drag queens, it’s drag kings, too. If Machine Gun fucking Kelly can paint his, you can.”
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