Yahoo News 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Star Luxx Noir London on Her Unbreakable Confidence and Fierce Fashion (Exclusive)
The season 15 finalist got candid with PEOPLE about the confidence that took her to the end, her references in fashion and the threat of drag bans
It's safe to say Luxx Noir London "gagged them a bit for sure" on her run in season 15 of MTV's RuPaul's Drag Race.
The 23-year-old New Jersey native entered the competition strong with "the face, the brand, the fantasy" and the unbreakable confidence that secured her a spot in the finale of the iconic drag competition. She ultimately tied for third place with two challenge wins and $12,000 in prize money.
Though some might disagree, the outcome wasn't a surprise to Luxx, who was applauded by RuPaul and her fellow competitors for her self-determination, faith in herself and vocal self-love.
Luxx has always been the first to pat herself on the back for her "sickening" displays of fashion, her never-ending pit of pop culture knowledge and her ability to knock any reference out of the park.
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The source of this confidence? Her loving parents … and Lady Gaga.
She tells PEOPLE exclusively that growing up, she was often teased about things that were a natural part of her being. Her parents were there for her, though, sharing "these nuggets of wisdom and self-assurance" that gave her a solid foundation to grow from.
During this "pivotal" period in her life, she also discovered Lady Gaga, and she "kind of saved" her, she says.
Luxx explains that the Born This Way singer came into her life at exactly the right time when she needed someone to tell her that it was "okay to be weird and crazy" and that it's "okay to not fit into the mold."
"I just saw her, and I saw so much of myself in her," she adds.
Between Gaga and her parents, Luxx says she found the strength in herself to walk into any room with power.
"I owe it to myself to let myself feel that way," she says.
During her time on the show, her unrelenting insistence on living her proudest, most authentic truth brought both support from fans, as well as nasty, often racist comments. And while it can be difficult to see such comments show up on your social media channels, Luxx didn't let it get to her. To her, it meant that these people didn't have their own level of confidence, which is why they reacted negatively to hers.
"They see someone who has something that they want," she tells PEOPLE. "They will do everything they can to try to knock that person down a peg and make [confidence] seem like it's a bad thing."
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Luxx's confidence came out through her fashion on the show, particularly referencing and reinventing fashion moments that come from every aspect of culture, like couture fashion houses, past Drag Race contestants and pop culture icons — walking the catwalk in designs inspired by Beyoncé, Mugler, Drag Race winner Alaska 5000 and RuPaul herself.
The look she modeled after RuPaul started as an accident but ended up being one of the "most meaningful moments" in her life, she shares.
When she walked down the runway in football shoulder pads layered under 15 yards of white fabric fringe, a black-and-white striped pair of bottoms and a towering mohawk, she wasn't expecting RuPaul to be nearly brought to tears of nostalgia over the look inspired by her 1986 self — especially since Luxx made it in a hotel room in a day after the designer of the original look backed out of their arrangement.
"So about a day and a half or two days before I had to leave to film Drag Race, I got a message from the designer of the original look that I wouldn't be able to use it," Luxx tells PEOPLE. "I was researching 'RuPaul mohawk,' and I found this video that I'd seen before of RuPaul in this look. I was like, 'Okay, this looks easy enough to make in the amount of time that I have, and it's a nod to Ru, who I love and adore, and it's her show, so why not take a swing at it?'"
She went and bought the fabric and got to work in her hotel the day before she had to walk it down the runway, and the rest is history.
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These kinds of references make sense for Luxx, who tells PEOPLE that a "big part of culture is referencing the past" and something that's inherently tied to drag.
"Drag is very referential to culture, to pop culture and to things that have happened in the world that are significant," she says. "I like to keep those things alive with my drag sometimes. I've been inspired by so many things in my life, so why not use some of those things that I've been inspired by as a catalyst for me to create?"
She continues, "I like to say that Luxx Noir London is a culmination of every celebrity that I've been obsessed with growing up, and her aesthetic is inspired by everything that I found fascinating as a child, as a teenager, as an adult. Luxx Noir London is a direct reflection of culture and pop culture at large."
The drag star hopes that her appearance on the show helps her break into the world of fashion so she can make a difference by creating more space for queer Black people.
"I think that so many drag entertainers and so many drag queens have such a keen eye for style and fashion," she says. "I just want to give the people like me visibility in these spaces that isn't just like, 'Let's have a drag queen for diversity hire.'"
"It's very evident that drag is influencing fashion, and fashion is influencing drag. So if these two creative entities can just come together and not fear prejudice or fear judgment for being in tandem with one another, I think that that is something that's needed now more than ever. I would hope to be one of the many catalysts for creating that change."
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Luxx and her colleagues in the drag world know change is more important now than ever, especially with the rise in anti-drag and anti-trans legislation popping up around the country.
"I think that now more than ever, it is super important to be outwardly sure of what you're doing and who you are, because there are so many people who want us to not feel that way," Luxx shares, adding that the LGBTQ+ community needs allies more than ever now too. "At the moment, I think all of us need to stick together and support one another, because there are so many people against us. We are stronger as a unit, and we are stronger as a whole, and we need to remember that."
"Just donate to the ACLU Drag Defense Fund," Luxx says. "It's a super important cause. It's going to help so many people. Please just donate. Do whatever you can. We really appreciate it."
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