Queen Be by Drishti Sachdeva

Want to see more of Love and Skyy? Check out an exclusive online photo gallery at smulook.com QUEEN BE photo by Ella McDonald

STEP 1:SELF-REFLECT & EXPLORE You don’t have to look too far for a unique theme. Love takes inspiration from her Indian heritage to select songs and outfits. For her first performance at the Rose Room, she chose a saffron sari and danced to a Hindi song.

“It’s just something that I want to do to express my love for my culture and for performing, dancing and singing,” says Love.

Jenna finds her inspiration from holidays and special events. She reserves her red outfits and love songs for Valentine’s Day, goth looks for Halloween and halftime shows for the Super Bowl weekend.

“I try to plan appropriately – it tends to maximize the response from the audience,” Skyy says.

Channel your inner fairy godmother – Billy Porter style – to create the outfit of your dreams.

QUEEN BE Makeup is the make-or-break point of a drag look. It can easily take up most of your budget, so it’s important to focus on what’s important. For Skyy, eyeshadows and moisturizers are worth the splurge, while the drugstore will do fine for lip liners, eyeliners and blushes. Entertainment is a tough business, and having a thick skin is necessary. Love says this advice helped calm her nerves before her first Rose Room performance. “When I was backstage and I was told that I was going to go on next, I was freaking out,” says Love. “I was pacing all over the place and then one of my friends STEP 3: READY, SET, BLEND STEP 4: DON’T TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY STEP 2: GET CRAFTY WANT TO GET INTO DRAG? by Drishti Sachdeva On the surface, drag seems to be all about extravagant outfits, bright makeup and sexy numbers, but it’s not as effortless as it appears on reality TV. Translating a personal creative vision into a fierce stage persona takes practice, persistence and a lot of confidence. With all this going on, where should a baby queen start? To find out, we went to the Rose Room, one of the premier Dallas venues for drag entertainment to get the tea from two very different divas: Love, a drag newbie, and a veteran of the scene, Jenna Skyy.

was like, ‘just take like six seconds before you go on stage and just channel it.’ ”

THESE DALLAS DIVAS SERVE THE TEA. Love is a recent winner of the Rose Room’s amateur night, earning the honor a mere three months after segueing from fast food to the big stage. Skyy has been serving looks for nearly 20 years. She is a member of the Rose Room’s permanent cast and also a former Miss Gay America. Here are their top tips for stepping into the world of drag:

“The idea is not to look like a pedestrian,” explains Skyy. “People dream and fantasize about wearing those kinds of things, and if you can buy it off the rack then there’s no fantasy.”

But custom doesn’t have to be a drain on your bank account.

“Early on, I learned to sew and craft because it was the most cost-effective way,” says Skyy. “They look terrible on the inside, but on the outside, you safety-pin it till it looks right.”

One of her favorite looks, a Cruella de Vil-inspired gown, took weeks to make. The costume’så debut coincided with the premiere of the live-action movie. And by channeling “it,” she means the glamorous boss queen that struts in front of the audience and rocks their world, Love says. Embody the sassiest, most confident woman you know, she says, and make that your drag personality.

Skyy says she learned this lesson the embarrassing way during her Star Wars cosplay performance.

“I’m just serving it on stage, and I looked down and this woman has laid herself out across the catwalk and is reaching at my boot,” says Skyy. “Then I realized that I had a napkin stuck to the bottom of my boots.”

Skyy lived through the shame and laughter – and had a blast doing it.