In the first episode ever of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which aired in 2009, a group of nine drag queens received the mission of creating glamorous looks by using thrift store clothing and items found at a 99-cent store. More than 16 years later, the award-winning reality show competition returns on May 9 with the 10th season of its “All Stars” franchise, and the fashion level is far from being “drag on a dime.”

Throughout the years, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” contestants kept raising their fashion game, saying goodbye to the do-it-yourself aesthetic, often seen in the show’s first runways, and embracing designer-inspired looks. For instance, Violet Chachki notably paid tribute to Jean Paul Gaultier and Thierry Mugler with her fetish-inspired designs in Season Seven (2009); Shea Couleé became the first competitor wearing couture in a Valentino gown in “All Stars” Seven (2012) and then Gottmik showed up in a custom Loewe gown in “All Stars” Nine (2024). 

“Drag fashion has, of course, evolved tremendously. And certainly, the show has had an impact on that evolution,” Carson Kressley, designer and judge of the show, told WWD. “The show has literally put drag on a world stage, and all sorts of folks who watch the

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