Canada’s Drag Race Queen Perla Talks McQueen, Dragcon and Runways
Perla, the most recently eliminated queen from Canada’s Drag Race Season 5 and a fan favorite, is celebrated for her stunning runways, expert wig styling, and deep passion for fashion. We catch up with this talented queen to discuss her love of fashion, favorite horror films, journey with sobriety, and what’s next on her horizon.
TEM (The Extra Mile): You just got back from dragcon. How was that for you? I mean, you know, it’s because it feels kind of fresh because the show still airing.
Perla: It was the craziest experience of my life. I was not expecting it to be as crazy as it was. We were in like a Drag Race universe boots, so they had like a section where all the franchises could come and we had like scheduled meet and greet times and we had to cut my lines all day, all two days because there was too many people and they added an extra time slot for me and we still had to stop the line because we wouldn’t be able to like see everyone in the time frame.It was so out of body to be like, oh, these people like legitimately want to talk to me. Why? And it was like, that’s the best way to describe head explosion.
TEM: Did you have a favorite queen that you got to meet ?
Perla: Okay, I had a few, I had a few. I did get to go for dinner with Sasha Velour and that changed my life. Kylie Sonique Love ran up to me and was fan-girling and then I started fan-girling and that was like insane to me. And oh my god, Zahirah from UK6, I love her so much. Literally shout out to Zahirah . She’s one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. Her, Kyran and Actavia, Charra Tea, like, love them all.
TEM: You had some of my favoruite runways this season. You mentioned in one of episodes that your grandmother inspires you. Can you tell me a little bit more about that and like how she kind of influences your looks and artistry?
Perla: Absolutely. Honestly, I would give it to my grandma and my great grandma. Both of them are Eastern European old ladies. You know that they are, they love to represent themselves very put together, poised, and my grandma is a Leo, so you know she’s like extra crazy. My grandma would always say no matter what, you could always get dressed even if you’re just hanging out at home. You never know who’s gonna knock at your door and you should just always be expecting and ready for anything. So I took that to heart like way to heart where like I will be at home lazing around but I will be in a suit. Like out of drag I will literally sit in a blazer and just be comfortable in a blazer. weird. It’s very weird. And my great-grandma used to always keep a pair of kitten heels by her door, so whenever people would come into her house, she’d let them enter first and then she’d slip into the kitten heels, so she was like all cute and put together for herself. And I really held onto those moments. And when I got older and fashion really started to come into my life, those always stuck at the back of my head. And I’m 30 and I’ve never let them go.
TEM: Did you have any designers as well or any fashion icons that kind of inspired your drag as well?
Perla: Oh my god, yes. A lot of my package had McQueen references. My promo look was inspired by the beekeeper collection of, I believe was spring summer 2013, Sarah Burton’s collection for the McQueen label. My best drag look was inspired by the famous spray paint dress that Shalom Harlow, a Canadian model wore in 1999. The alien look we actually found archival patterns from the Plato’s Atlantis collection of Alexander McQueen and combined two of the runway looks with the actual patterns. That’s like the gag of it. They were the actual patterns to form the dress. And so McQueen has always been a huge influence to me. As of recent, Schiaparelli has been a huge favorite of mine, Richard Quinn, Alessandro Michele with Gucci, I thought was just immaculate. Now he’s with Valentino and it’s just as immaculate. Jonathan Anderson of J.W. Anderson and Loewe. I could go on for hours.
TEM: What was actually your favorite runway look?
Perla: I got to say my favorite. It’s a tie between Alien Superstar and Time and Place. Alien I do love because it’s like a little bit of a love letter between me and my partner. It was such a collaborative look between the two of us. And he hand-beated that entire dress. Like that took three and a half weeks of hand-beating. I got to do the hair for it with such a love moment between the two of us. And then time and place was such an amazing example of drag on a budget that would be like 120 bucks. We made it look like couture. That was done with me and one of my best friends, Benjamin Toner, who he did the majority of my package and my partner did everything he didn’t do.
TEM: You’re also well known for your wig styling and hair whips. What is the secret to- creating such an iconic wig moment?
Perla: Oh my God, I wish I knew. Hope in a prayer that it stays together and you can never go wrong with a high pony. They’re great, they stay at their face and I don’t know, just looking as good as you can with a lot of adhesives to hold that wig together.
TEM: What was your favorite moment during this? Oh, oh, this disappeared.
Perla: Honestly, my favorite moment from the like literally the entire season was my reactions to Makayla having a great, great monologue moment when I caught strays and somehow ended up with the net in my hands. I was like, I don’t even remember that happening. But that was iconic. And then it was her giving her like, however, and I’m sitting there living my best life. I was I was living for it in the moment and I was living for it rewatching the moment.
TEM: I feel like you’ve connected with a lot of audiences as wegot to see a couple vulnerable moments from you, especially, you know, there was one moment where you talk about, you know, sobriety. So what advice would you give to like performers or anyone that’s kind of struggling with that or be afraid to take the next step?
Perla: Honestly, I think that when anyone is considering sobriety, the reasons do not need to make sense to anyone else. It is completely your reason and your path and your choice. And you never look at someone else’s sobriety journey and think that that’s exactly what’s going to work for you. Sobriety is not linear. It is not one step, two step, three step, four step. It’s anything that works for you and your time frame, your spacing. There is absolutely no right or wrong way to go about it. And there is absolutely nothing you should beat yourself up for during that journey, because it is your journey at the end of the day. And you need to go with what feels right for you and follow through with it in however you can that suits you.
TEM: Fan question, What is your favorite horror movie?
Perla: This is a loaded question. You just like you open Pandora’s box with that. . Talking franchise franchise. I’m gonna say it’s a tie between Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street, but only a Nightmare on Elm Street, one, three and a new nightmare. If we’re talking solo film, I would say it’s anything Dario Argento’s like Opera. and Suspiria, Tenebrae and if we’re talking like current, I would say the remake of Stephen King’s It. But also if you haven’t seen the new Nosferatu or long legs, go see them.
TEM: Another fan question, What is the name of your pug?
Perla: Oh my god, my dog has the dumbest name. I feel like when you get a pug, if they have a normal name, you’re doing it wrong. My dog’s name is Lil Bubs. She looks like a Lil Bubs.
TEM: What’s next for you?
Perla: What is next for me? Honestly, I just want to enjoy this ride while I’m on it and have as much fun as possible, but I really want to continue to push fashion. That’s such a huge part of who I am and what I love. So I want to continue that and push Canadian fashion as much as I can, take it to London, take it to Paris, Milan, New York. I want to be doing the fashion weeks. I want to be in the campaigns that even though I’m 5’5 , don’t tell anyone that. Yeah, and I want to I want to just keep like connecting with people. It’s been so amazing to resonate with so many people and get to meet them at places like DragCon, but I want to be touring and I want to be seeing those people in person and having those moments together. So like book me and let me do that close connections.
TEM: So my final question here before we wrap up is so here we’re all about going the extra mile. So how does Pearl Go the extra mile whether that be in drag or in your personal life.
Perla : How do I go the extra mile? That’s a really good question and I’m totally trying to think about it. Well, also like totally brain farting on it, but we got this. I go the extra mile just I will never stop pushing myself and I will never stop trying to achieve another level than what I had already done and I think that’s going the extra mile. I want to push myself and keep pushing myself and be held accountable in my pushing. want to be like, okay, that sounded like a mean girl’s quote throughout that whole goal. Oh my god. But yeah, no, I think that striving for the next level is always a great way to push yourself, hit your goal, but already be prepared for what could come next after you’ve reached that goal.