Divine drag queen out of.drag9/22/2023 ![]() ![]() “Right now, we are really in a good place,” Marina says. One thing to come out of Marina’s time on Drag Race Philippines has been healing the rift between her and Xilhouete, her former drag mother. “That crown was the one that got away, you know what I mean? I really wanted to win, so bad.” But in every instance, crown or no crown, Marina would still work hard, doing all the things she set out to do. “I was trying to put a smile on because it was heartbreaking for me.” Sometimes she’ll find her mind drifting off into “what if?” scenarios, a glimpse into the alternate worlds where the crown is hers. “It’s always hard and hurtful when you did your best and you did everything that you could, and fell short,” Marina says. Her vulnerability placed her as a paragon of grace and class. At a public event, she spoke candidly about being the last to grieve her loss. The other eliminated queens knew they didn’t win the crown months prior, as they filmed, but Marina’s fate was up in the air until the final episode aired. The show’s finale aired at a special live crowning event, where Marina felt a flurry of feelings happiness that Precious Paula Nicole will burn bright as the inaugural winner (“She really is the epitome of Filipino drag”), but also a sadness (“I always like to think that I'm too small for the Philippines”). Marina assembled the headpiece with Clark Platino, and she laughs recounting their process of perfecting it, utilizing every school subject imaginable: “Apparently drag involves math, geometry, physics… it was pretty much art and science combined.” Made by Quizora, a wedding dress house in Iloilo City, and complete with ruched cream finishings, it’s one of the best looks to grace the runway this season. “It’s a sin to go home and not wear that,” she told herself. Space on set to hang clothing was limited, so Marina gave her “LED There Be Light” lampshade look pride of place on the hangers, a symbol of her intention to work hard and make it to the episode where she could wear it. ![]() Marina’s one goal was to “pop off with those lyrics,” and with such stellar lines like “Prove that I can conquer / Age is just a number / Oh my God, is that Marina? / I’m your Filipina winnеr,” she definitely pulled it off. I had lyrics written down even before coming into, before going into the lock-in shoot,” she says. “Coming into the competition, I knew I had to ace that challenge. Marina exuded charisma in her run in Drag Race Philippines, most notably in the girl group challenge, where each queen had to write lyrics for the original song “Pop Off Ate.” Songwriting is a particular passion of hers, and the girl group challenge is always her favorite staple in any Drag Race season. That’s when she fell in love with the art of drag. She only settled in her sexuality, and discovered the fullest extent of her self expression, once she found her place in the queer community and amongst Manila’s nightlife. But that's not the case for me,” Marina says. “The notion was, when you’re gay, if you wanted to dress up as a girl, you wanted to be a girl. When virtual drag became the sole avenue of performing in the pandemic, she became Marina’s offscreen zipper-upper and hair-fixer while preparing for Drag Race Philippines, she drove Marina from province to province for designer fittings and when money was tight, she loaned Marina funds to get what she needed.įemininity seemed to taunt young Marina dressing in women’s clothing, living her full Beyoncé fantasy - all impossible, forbidden. But it digs deeper than that.” She’s come around, and in meaningful ways. “She didn’t want my siblings to get bullied because of me doing that, so maybe that’s just it. “It comes from a place of love, in a sense,” she says. Marina can see how conservative culture and traditions shaped her mother’s perspective on dressing up. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |