Symone Is The New Fashion Queen of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’

Eight years later, Symone is now gaining national recognition as part of the cast of season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, currently airing on VH1. She has emerged as an early frontrunner on the competition show, and her polished looks, which regularly nod to Black fashion icons like Lil’ Kim, Rihanna and Grace Jones, have brought her attention from luxury brands and over 300,000 Instagram followers.

Growing up in Conway, Arkansas, Gavin had a lonely childhood. His two siblings are more than a decade older than he is. With no affinity for local pastimes like sports or hunting, he found small-town life not only isolating, but at times suffocating. Like many queer children, Gavin often silenced himself, fearing that speaking up would lead to embarassment or even physical danger. He turned to television as a mode of escape, getting lost in shows like Charmed, That’s So Raven and a variety of soap operas.

Gavin was a teenager when Drag Race debuted in 2009, and he had never seen a drag queen before. His interest was instantly piqued. He got a part-time job as a dishwasher and busboy at the local Something Brewing cafe and began saving up to buy makeup. In the two-hour window he had after school, before the sounds of the garage door in motion signaled his father’s arrival home, he would sit in front of the mirror and practice applying makeup.

“It was something I really wasn’t ready to share yet. It was just my time to do something, and it made me happy,” he says, acknowledging that he also knew it wouldn’t be acceptable to his dad, with whom he already had a strained relationship. While the pair have strengthened their connection since, Gavin says there is still work to do.

When Gavin joined Instagram the next year, he began to share his makeup looks. Having seen his posts, school friends asked him if he would go to the prom in makeup. He was emboldened by the idea and decided to do it, turning up at the 2013 Conway High School prom in a pink $68 dress and a long wig. The principal and vice principal greeted him warmly at the door. Weeks later, he performed for the first time in drag, under the name Delilah Alamaine. Years later, the name would eventually change to the mononym Symone, pulled from a play Gavin wrote in high school.

“Symone is who I really am, and Reggie is the mask, the protective shell I built around her to protect her.” Gavin says. Reggie is a quiet-spoken, Black man. Symone—the result of long suppressed feelings, thoughts, and opinions throughout the years—is a firecracker.

“I’m really excited to see the world watch Symone not give a f—ck about what they think of her and how they perceive her,” says Gigi Goode, a Drag Race season 12 finalist and Symone’s frequent collaborator. The pair met two years ago through their shared connection to the House of Avalon, a queer collective out of Arkansas. “She has found such an important point of view with her drag,” Goode says. “She has found a way to bring light to a lot of different cultural references for so many people that are [rarely] shown on national television.”

Goode and the House of Avalon have been key to developing Symone’s fashion and artistic skills. The House was started in Little Rock by stylist Marko Monroe, who now works closely with singer Lizzo, artist Hunter Crenshaw and creative director Grant Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt recalls the first time he saw Symone perform, while he was judging the Fresh Fish drag competition at Club Sway. “The tights were about four shades darker than her natural skin tone, and she had on a pair of knee-high Payless boots that were wide-set and it looked like [she] had a stick inside a huge boot because of how skinny her legs are,” he says. But, despite the fashion novice’s missteps, Vanderbilt says Symone had a star quality that he couldn’t ignore. “She could be performing amazingly or she could be eating chicken noodle soup, but I’m watching it,” he says.

That moment became the beginning of a friendship that eventually morphed into something familial. Monroe, Crenshaw and Vanderbilt, the last of whom Symone considers her drag mother, exposed the budding performer to need-to-know references in culture and drag—great divas like Madonna and Cher— and more important, how to extract lessons from them to inject into her growing persona. They have all since relocated to L.A., and live together in a two-story duplex where they create their art. Goode, who lives nearby, has become a close friend of the collective.

On Drag Race, Symone has made a splash wearing young LGBTQ+-owned and operated brands like No Sesso and BCALLA as well as Monroe’s designs. One much-discussed Monroe look channeled Rihanna’s spring 2017 Fenty x Puma collection with an embroidered corset. On her head, Symone wore a durag that trailed feet behind her as she stalked down the runway.

Symone has been shot in a Pride-themed video series for British Vogue, while Jean Paul Gaultier, Jeremy Scott and Moschino have dressed her for appearances and photos on her social media. She’s also appeared as one of the models in a Christian Cowan presentation.

Though Gavin started off as the protector and Symone the protected, the personas are slowly melding into one. “As Reggie I’ve taken a lot from [Symone],” Gavin reflects. “I’m definitely more confident than I was, and I had to take a lot [from her] as far as personality and the confidence I exude while I’m in drag. Now I definitely see them more as one person.”