Lights, camera, drag
Welcome to a series on Proudly.blog where we will be given the chance to speak to the biggest and the best artists that the UK drag scene has to offer. Our drag culture thrives on being unique, uncensored and unexpected. When you go to a drag show in the UK you will never know what you are in for.
As a country we possess a certain ‘charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent‘ unlike any other making us quintessentially British. We promise you that what you saw on the first series of RuPauls Drag Race UK was just a little snippet of what the true drag community of Britain is like.
Across the country there are phenomenal trans and non-binary drag queens, DragPunk queens, monster queens, spooky queens, bearded queens and genderf*ck mavericks from all sorts of backgrounds that will challenge your ideologies of what a drag queen should look like.
It is an honour to showcase these phenomenal performers and share their incredible stories here on Proudly.blog. Drag for me is a huge part of the LGBTQ+ community and it is time to give them the platform they deserve. So, sit back, relax and let us show you the stories about the fiercest queens in British herstory.
Our aim is to share these incredible stories from these amazing queens to hopefully inspire the next generation of drag queens. We have already shared the story of Birmingham’s own Yshee Black, Jenna Davinci, London’s Coral DeVille and the Cardiff duo Dr Bev BallCrusher & Baroness Mary Goulds
Today we are gifted with the Belfast beauty who is currently strutting her heels residing in Toronto Canada, it is Tiffany Lovestick.
Tiffany’s drag evolution
‘Hi, I’m Noel and if you ever see me in an 18″ inch blonde wig you can call me Tiffany Lovestick.‘
When Tiffany is out of drag she works at a hair salon and has an online beauty, fashion and travel blog TheInFeature.com.
Tiffany explained that her drag persona is an exaggerated version of Noel. ‘I think of it as false eyelashes. Everything is bigger, over the top and twice as fabulous.’
Having done drag on and off for the last five years, Tiffany spoke with Proudly about the overall gay scene in her hometown and how difficult it can be for aspiring drag queens.
‘The gay scene in my hometown Belfast, Northern Ireland is incredibly compact – there is only three or four gay bars / nightclubs and I personally found it incredibly hard to book gigs. It essentially got to the point the seasoned queens who booked gigs stopped responding to me. I felt lost and like I didn’t fit in’
– Tiffany Lovestick discussing her struggles in taking off her drag career in Belfast
Tiffany went on to say how grateful she is of Proudly for using their platform to share the stories of so many talented drag queens from all around the UK. ‘Proudly is such an important organisation, It makes me feel closer to my brothers and sisters who bravely share their stories.’
My drag inspirations
‘I have two main inspirations when it comes to my drag persona:
‘Willam – who was the first big named drag queen I ever became familiar with, to me she had everything that rapid fire wit, sensational singing abilities, to die for figure and IDGAF personality. It was everything I wanted to be.’
– Tiffany speaking about what she admires about William
Tiffany’s second inspiration, while not a drag queen is Britney Spears. Her dancing ability, the spark in her eyes when she is on stage, that “can’t get enough of” indescribable thing that made me such a huge fan of her. Her songs are gay anthems – instantly recognisable and iconic choreography which is why I love performing them.
‘If I could aspire to be anything it would be to become a Britney Spears impersonator. Even THE Derrick Barry commented on one of my Instagram dance videos I did of ‘Me Against The Music.’
Our readers can be treated to this iconic full performance of ‘Me Against The Music’ here.
It has Tiffany so long to consider herself a drag queen because it is an art form – and it is extremely competitive and expensive.
‘The best piece of advice I was ever given when I was starting out was: never show up for two shows in the same wig and change it up.’
– Tiffany on the best piece of advice she was given when starting off drag
Before Tiffany started doing drag in Toronto she made sure I had three wigs in a variety of styles and colours and got extremely versatile eyeshadow palettes to create a variety of looks.
Everyone has a standard ‘base‘ make up look that is specific to their face shape and becomes part of their persona, but to keep it different and exciting to the regulars a change of eyeshadow colour makes all the difference.
A whole new world
Tiffany began doing drag whilst growing up in Belfast before moving away to Toronto, Canada. We discussed the difference between the two places. With the emergence of RuPaul’s Canada’s Drag Race the Canadian drag scene has been put on notice worldwide. With the winner of the first series being from Toronto , Tiffany spills it all on what life of a drag queen is like in the ‘la ville reine‘ (the Queen City).
‘OMG the difference is crazy! While the Toronto gay scene is obviously bigger, there is still a limited number of nightclubs and every week pre-covid there was twenty new emerging drag queens all fighting for that gig.’
-Tiffany on the drag scene in Toronto and the difference from her hometown in Belfast
Tiffany has actually only managed to perform four times this year before the country went into lockdown back in March. She explained that she has not felt comfortable enough to return to the scene since it reopened.
There is every type of drag you can think of here – it is inspiring to see such a diverse range of performers come out and all deliver the second they get on stage.
‘Canada’s Drag Race has definitely raised expectations (I mean will any of us ever deliver a lip sync more iconic than Kiara and Priyanka?!) a spot on Drag Race is definitely something I would aspire to do – whether the Canadian or UK version is still undecided because the rona has left my current visa situation up in the air.’
Tiffany on her admiration for the Canada queens on RuPaul and her own aspirations to one day join the show
When Coronavirus finally comes to an end, Tiffany wants to travel to as many places as possible. ‘I would love to perform at every drag nightclub’s open stage across Canada and the UK and Ireland when I eventually move back home. I love exploring and feeling the vibe of another city and audience.’
The importance of drag to the LGBTQ+ community
Drag is a massive part of the LGBTQ+ scene and is only becoming more and more important. Rupaul’s Drag Race single handedly made drag mainstream.
While it is still a queer art form it is far more socially accepted and celebrated. Tiffany feels that drag has had a lot of misrepresentation in the past by people who did not understand the art form and for that matter did not want to bother understanding.
Social media has definitely had its benefit during this pandemic, so many queens have taken to Instagram for make up tutorials and live performances which is keeping our communities spirits high and giving us something to look forward to on a Friday.
‘When Ms Rona ends and we can return to how life was before I think we will have much more appreciation for Friday night at the club watching our favourite queens and making out with strangers.’
– Tiffany on what she looks forward to when Coronavirus ends.
Advice for the future generations of drag
This is the last question we ask all drag queen who participate in the ‘Drag is my destiny’ series. We feel it is very important that we have now read their stories, we would want to hear what advice they would share as well. Not only to the future generations of drag but any advice they wish they could have told their younger self too.
Proudly will quote Tiffany Lovesticks answer.
‘To my younger self I would say: own who you are! You are going to waste so many years being afraid. Afraid of being judged, or laughed at or considered weird.Make up and Hair is your passion so pursue it sooner. You adore fashion so buy that monthly Vogue magazine.You love dancing – so dance until your feet hurt, even when there is no music playing and people are looking’
‘In my personal experience and as the years have went on I have received nothing but love and support for being exactly who I am.Be yourself unapologetically and love yourself every minute of every day.’
Tiffany Lovestick social pages
We highly recommend following Tiffany on her social media accounts, you will be blessed with iconic looks, incredible humour and spectacular style. You will not regret it. Click on the logo’s below to check it out for yourself.
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