Yahoo Movies Luxx reveals unaired, tear-filled Drag Race moment with RuPaul: 'I get very emotional'
Luxx Noir London gagged RuPaul a bit, for sure — and for an extended period of time — on the set of RuPaul's Drag Race season 15.
The New Jersey native exclusively tells EW's Quick Drag podcast (below) that the tear-filled moment she shared with Mama Ru on Friday's episode (after Luxx debuted a tribute look inspired by one of RuPaul's ensembles from 1986) represented only a fraction of the heartfelt conversation the pair had on the Main Stage.
"It went on for a lot longer than it was. She told the history of what she was feeling, it was a whole story about what she was doing the night she wore this look and what came out of the night she wore this look," Luxx explains. "What happened that night is partly the reason why I was even standing on stage on RuPaul's Drag Race."
Luxx moved RuPaul to tears when she sashayed down the runway in a look that drew inspiration from Mother's days as a budding queen in 1980s Manhattan, including a pair of football shoulder pads and tattered white fabric recalling an outfit Ru wore on stage to perform with her former band, Wee Wee Pole.
RuPaul and Luxx Noir London on 'RuPaul's Drag Race' season 15.
When asked to clarify what she meant about connecting her own journey in drag to RuPaul's experience in Manhattan, Luxx declines to elaborate, but suggests that RuPaul "met some people who ended up changing her life in ways that she didn't even imagine could happen," with reference to the Wee Wee Pole performance she referenced on the episode.
"And then was born RuPaul, Supermodel of the World, and current mother of Luxx Noir London. That night changed her life and I felt like in that moment, the story she told me and having that moment with her was my RuPaul-in-the-shoulder-pads moment," Luxx says. "I think about that moment a lot and I get chills sometimes that it even happened. I get very emotional. It's a moment in my life that I will cherish forever."
A trip down memory lane! 🥹 @luxxnoirlondon pays homage to a Mama @RuPaul lewk from the 80s 🫶 pic.twitter.com/nbircik7rG
— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) March 11, 2023
While the moment made an emotional impact on Drag Race, Luxx also notes that it wasn't her "first concept" on the runway. She worked with another designer on a different look for the Rip Her to Shreds category, though that person backed out of their collaboration with about 48 hours left to go before Luxx departed to film season 15.
That, she remembers, set her on a mission across the state of New Jersey to find elements to incorporate into the look.
"Me and my boyfriend called every sporting goods store in the state of New Jersey, and only one had a pair of adult football shoulder pads," she says, adding that she asked them to put the item on hold before she could pick it up, and "finished the rest of the look in one night" in her hotel room once arriving to the Drag Race set.
Fans — and other queens — have since pointed out that Luxx wisely incorporated RuPaul looks into her runway package, but, for now, she's only willing to admit that one look in her suitcase was a strategic placement: her Night of 1,000 Beyoncés dress.
"I'm just a fan of RuPaul. She's a reference for a lot of the ways that I carry myself in drag. She's a reference for a lot of my ideas and concepts. RuPaul is the ultimate reference for me," she says. "The Beyoncé one was a little strategic, I will say. I knew that RuPaul loves Bob Mackie, I knew Beyoncé wore the outfit, it checks the mark of being a Beyoncé looks, but also people that RuPaul adores: Cher, Tina Turner, Lynda Carter, RuPaul have all worn this outfit, so I'm kind of like joining the legacy of people who've worn this iconic Bob Mackie piece!"
RuPaul's Drag Race season 15 continues Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. Listen to Luxx's full episode of EW's Quick Drag above (also including an exit interview with Marcia Marcia Marcia) and hear more from the cast in our podcast feed below.
Subscribe to EW's Quick Drag podcast for recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including reactions with the cast, special guests, and more.
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