This “vintage woman of the future” might just be our next reigning Mx. Nobody… Oracle! [Cover photo: Bon Duke]
Thotyssey: Oracle, hello! Thanks for chatting today! How has your July been?
Oracle: It’s been great! I’ve been preparing a lot for Mx. Nobody, which I’m in this Friday. Been working on costumes, sets, and props. Really excited for people to see it.
You have a great look, per your Instagram. How might you describe both the looks and the numbers you like to do these days?
To me, the look is really captured by “vintage woman of the future.” I like to take vintage materials and pieces, and style them together with pieces of different eras to create a look that transcends vintage and modern.
For performance, I often start from the point of a song I really enjoy and have a concept for a look for. I build the look around the performance of that song to function as a performance piece that sells the emotion of the song.
Where is your original hometown, and were design and performance always parts of your life?
I’m from Atlanta — at least for my teen years, but lived in Asheville, NC and Rochester, NY during parts of my childhood. I started in Catholic church plays at the age of four, and was the lead in our first production. Up until graduating high school, I was in about twenty total productions… and that definitely got me started on performing.
Design began as just crafting. At home I was always building toys, dollhouses, and marble mazes out of paper and cardboard. Eventually my mother taught me the basics of sewing, and I combined that with my craft ability to start making costumes.
How and when did you discover drag and ultimately become Oracle?
I discovered drag through the Courtney Act music video for Ugly,” and had never seen anything like it before. I then combed through YouTube for pretty much every drag related video I could find, and became addicted to “Fashion Photo RuView” with Raja and Raven. Every aspect of the drag I was already doing in some sense with makeup, fashion, hair and performance, but once I saw drag I realized that I could
create my own character and perform however I wanted.
I spent the majority of high school planning out the concept of my drag character, and preparing what I would eventually want to look like — practicing makeup and trying different hair colors. Once I started college, we were reading The Odyssey in an intro class — and I really felt that my future drag character had a piece of herself in that world. After combing through all the names and ideas, I landed on “Oracle” because I didn’t want to be a regular human — but I didn’t want to refer to myself as a god either. So I chose as an in-between, and it felt so right.
I wrote my origin story, The Birth of Oracle and released it in March on the first day of spring. It is available to read both on my Instagram and through a Google document in my LinkTree. That project meant a lot to me. There are more photos, as well as literary content related to that world that I am cooking up!
Per that name, have you ever been able to predict the future?
I did predict that Doja Cat was going to blow up in a major way as soon as I saw “MOOO!” start to circulate on meme accounts… but sadly I think that was the extent of my prediction abilities.
How do you like navigating the Dragiverse of NYC? Is it all about art and fun and community, or is there a lot of frustration to navigate?
I think it’s both, but mainly community for me. The thing I’ve found about drag here is there are so many different scenes and options to work and hang out in. I feel like I’ve found the scene I most enjoy, and have so many friends and sisters that I both love their art and love them as a human. Being able to meet those people has been the best part of NYC drag for me. The thing about New York is, we have the ability to do crazy concepts and niche song picks that audiences will still understand if you position yourself right.
In terms of frustrations, there’s a lot of girls and only so many stages. So, sometimes it’s hard when you feel you miss out on an opportunity that you would’ve loved. But I feel I’m still on my way to proving myself and showing the scene what I’m capable of.
Tell us more about participating in the Mx. Nobody preliminary round at Purgatory this weekend! What made you want to enter, and will this be your first big pageant situation?
One of my best friends, Mx. Ology, competed in it last year… and their journey through it inspired me a lot. This competition celebrates high concept and artistic performances, and I felt I had a perspective that could be seen very well in the lens of Mx. Nobody. I want to show that when given the opportunity, I can produce a big spectacle that could only be created in my vision. This is my first pageant, and so I’m putting everything I have into it to show my complete idea of Oracle.
What else is coming up for you?
Other than Mx. Nobody, I have a couple unreleased photo shoots as well as a big (currently unannounced) show with Andie Sleaze coming up. Both should be going live in the Fall.
Very exciting! Okay lastly: what’s the most essential item in your drag bag, cosmetic or otherwise?
Mac Studio Fix powder in shivering white! I could leave the house with everything else in the bag, but that’s the one thing I will always need for a night out in drag.
Thanks, Oracle!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Oracle’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Instagram and LinkTree.
Thotyssey 