You will not soon forget NYC‘s glamorous and multitalented drag star Amnesia! [Cover photo: Aline Mayagoitia Sixtos]
Thotyssey: Amnesia, hello! Halloween is nearly upon us… do you have an array of spooky looks prepared, or is this just another week for you?
Amnesia: Hello hello, and thank you for having me! Honestly, no I don’t… it’s just another week for me! But I’ve made a few Shania Twain and Zara Larsson recreations this year, so I’ll probably pull out some of those to bop around in. I’m a Halloween Queen at heart, but I’m too much of a scaredy cat to play with true horror!
I hear that. So Hocus Pocus and Halloweentown are prob more your vibe, lol?
Absolutely! Maybe even a little Kill Bill, if that counts.
Sure! You’ve become pretty well known in this town for a strong aesthetic: makeup, hair and costumes. You make a lot of pieces yourself, right?
Thank you! I do, andI admittedly take it a bit too far and make pretty much everything from scratch; so you’ll never catch me in SHEIN, that’s for sure. I make my own corsets with built-in body, ventilate and style my own wigs, pattern and sew my outfits, and just finally caved and bought a soldering iron to start making my own drag jewelry.
How might you describe your drag aesthetic, overall?
I think it’s rooted in burlesque / vaudeville, with an emphasis on corsetry and a dash of camp. I love to make bright, monochromatic looks with a ton of movement and an endless number of rhinestones.
Can you share a bit of your origin with us? Where are you from originally, and were you always so steeped in creativity?
I bounced around a bit as a kid, but I mainly grew up in Austin, Texas. After my mom and dad divorced, he came out as gay, and then I moved in with my stepdad and younger twin brothers. My first time ever in drag was Halloween my freshman year of high school, when I made a Lady Gaga dress and wore it to all my classes. I was only a Halloween queen until I started to find my drag persona in college at OU, alongside Vanda La Rose and her then-daughters Plasma, Blacc Cherry and Hysteria. I may paint young… but I’ve been around the block since the days of the West End Lounge!
And yeah, I’ve always been a bit of a creative force. Comically, my gay dads are the least artistic men you’ve ever met. But I get a lot of my creativity from my late grandmother, who was a painter. I’ve always found a great deal of purpose and joy in taking an idea and bringing it into the world. While I’ve loved realizing other people’s dream looks over at [my creative brand] @bitchcraft, Amnesia has been a long overdue exploration in creating my own visions and concepts!
What’s the origin of your drag name?
I played with a few drag names back in Oklahoma. But when I joined family with Plasma and Hysteria, I wanted a medical-ish mononym that end in “A.” I’ve been a huge stoner since college… so Amnesia kind of fell into place!
There’s an Amnesia Martini in town who just won Miss’d America… do you two know each other—and do you often get each other’s DMs by mistake, lol?
Nope, we still haven’t met! And no, I don’t think I’ve ever been mistaken for her. I’m usually in Hell’s Kitchen and occasionally in Brooklyn, I think she’s mainly been out in Fire Island and now Jersey for Miss’d America, so we haven’t had a lot of overlap just yet!
It would be a very “memorable” first meeting!
Haha, memorable indeed!
What have been the joys and challenges of New York drag for you?
The joy is 100% in the community–all the fun pieces and numbers I’ve been able to work on with my friends, late nights rhinestoning, last minute rehearsals, love letters tucked inside a Mood bag filled with costumes. There is just so much love infused in all the silly, whimsical art we put out into the world.
As for challenges, I think it’s particularly hard to get a foothold in the NYC scene at the moment. Bars are closing, competitions are ending, and to be honest I don’t see a lot of drag families growing anymore. I’m extremely grateful to be competing in Wilma’s Drag Derby at Red Eye, I think Wilma’s bringing some fresh energy to the scene, and a real commitment to developing the art of drag. I think there’s a lot of pressure in NYC to develop a serious drag career, and sometimes I just want to make art and be silly!
The Wilma Carstart hosted competition Drag Derby is just entering it’s third week (Tuesdays at Red Eye), and you’ve already been performing quite strongly starting with a Week 1 win! Is it the sort of competition where you were able to prepare a lot of themed looks and numbers ahead of time, or is it a week by week, learn-as-you-go situation?
It’s a bit of both! We got a list of runways, in order, and a playlist of potential lip sync songs to start learning back when we got announced. The challenges are assigned live on stage every week, along with the lip sync songs for the top and Bottom 2. I’ve loved the chance to get some of the runways together in advance, but Wilma is keeping us on our toes… or hooves!
There was a moment of controversy with your Derby group challenge number this last week: someone in your group was accused onstage of using AI for multimedia effects! It turns out it was actually her original artwork, and it looks like since that accusation all fences have all been mended. What was it like working with that group, and how did you feel about how all of that drama went down?
Yes, it caused quite the stir! I think it was a really eye-opening experience for everyone involved, especially in how we should go about asking for proof when it comes to AI regulation. Things got very heated very quickly–and while I know we need to have strict boundaries with AI, I think we need to go about it with compassion for artists and accountability towards businesses. Some of the competitors in the Derby are newer to drag; this should’ve been a learning experience, not pressure to drop out in protest. I think Wilma handled the situation beautifully, and made it very clear that AI would not be tolerated in the future.
As for the actual group, the XCX Men, I think we were robbed! We had a great concept, cohesive looks, clean choreo, and great chemistry; I’m very proud of what we presented. I think it was a huge challenge to put together a number with drag artists we had just met the week before, with such varied experience and perspectives… but we rose to the occasion and really collaborated to come up with something that represented all of us!
Can you share anything about what’s coming up for you, Derby-wise or beyond?
With 10 weeks of Derby, I’m all Derby all the time until December! This week’s runway is the one I’ve been working on for the past two months. The theme is Before Technicolor, so we’re doing old Hollywood looks in full greyscale... Detox Season 5 Finale style. I’ve been thinking about making this dress for over ten years, and I cannot wait to bring my favorite Ginger Rogers dress to life! I’ll give you a little hint… it’s got over 100 yards of ruffles, and they’re gonna float across the stage like a technicolor cloud!
OMG, I die! To wrap up: what’s the best Halloween candy… and what’s the worst?
Okay I know it’s a bit controversial… but hands down candy corn with the pumpkins mixed in. The pumpkins are the best part, but you need the candy corn in there to break it up. And there’s a lot of bad Halloween candy, but I think Smarties are the lowest of the low. Who wants to eat sour chalk bits?
Always an L for Smarties! Thanks, Amnesia!
Check Thotyssey’s calendar for Amnesia’s upcoming appearances, and follow her on Instagram.
