Top 20 Worst RuPaul's Drag Race Runway Looks
#20: Laganja Estranja’s Black & White “Glamazon by Colorevolution”
Laganja Estranja was one of Season 6’s biggest and boldest personalities and she reflected this in her weird and wild wardrobe choices. For Episode 7, the runway theme was pretty simple: “Black & White.” You can’t go wrong with that, right? Well, take a look at what Laganja chose to wear. There were a lot of ideas here… none of which look like they should go together: From the weird black mohawk, to the spotted silver lips, to the see-through pants with black underwear. Also, pants AND a train? It looked like the world’s strangest Elvis impersonator was getting married. Luckily, her and Adore Delano’s winning pairing in the main challenge saved her from the Bottom Two.
#19: Kimora Blac’s Princess Banana Lady “Draggily Ever After”
The concept was bad, the look was bad, and the delivery was bad. Kimora Blac certainly knew how to serve face, body and sass on Season 9, but her runways were always hit and miss. For the “Draggily Ever After” challenge, the contestants were asked to create a fairy tale princess persona, complete with a runway outfit and talking companion. The challenge proved a bit too much for Kimora, whose “Banana Lady” Princess left a LOT to be desired. The name wasn’t exactly helped by her accompanying costume, either, which was not only unoriginal, but poorly put together, too. Along with her lackluster performance as her princesses’ monkey sidekick, Kimora found herself in danger of elimination that week.
#18: Soju’s Kim Chi “Whatcha Unpackin?”
Season 11 began with each queen replicating the look of a past contestant on the show. Soju was assigned Kim Chi’s box, and quickly got to work on an outfit inspired by their shared Korean heritage. The fact that Soju essentially used the dress as an excuse not to cinch her waist was the first red flag, clocked by Vanjie who had been eliminated the previous season for an undefined silhouette. The result was a messily constructed garment that didn’t have much shape, and while her makeup was on point, we can’t help but see this is a missed opportunity to do more of the exaggerated style that Kim Chi’s known for.
#17: Nina Bo’nina Brown’s Club Kid “Your Pilot’s on Fire”
Nina Bo'nina Brown made a splash early on in the competition with her high concept looks and brilliant makeup artistry. This made her a perfect fit for the Club Kid runway, inspired by the New York avant garde drag scene of the late 80’s and early 90’s. Unfortunately while we could see what she was going for, the execution left something to be desired. Nina served fierce face, but the unfinished makeup on her chest really broke the illusion, especially when compared to a few more of the fully formed ideas on the runway.
#16: Aja’s Princess Disastah “Draggily Ever After”
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Kimora wasn’t the only queen who fell foul of the “Draggily Ever After” challenge. Going into Season 9, Aja was hyped up as Brooklyn’s hottest new queen, and they seemed to buy into their own hype a little too much. Confident that they’d slay the challenge, Aja’s “Princess Disastah” character name ended up ironically predicting what their performance would end being. Drawing inspiration from fiery natural disasters, Aja strutted down the runway in a strangely shaped wig, badly blended make-up and pants that didn’t fit them properly. They went on to redo the outfit in All Stars 3 for their “RuDemption” runway, proving just how much they’d improved over a short space of time.
#15: Magnolia Crawford’s Party Box “RuPaul’s Big Opening: Part 2”
Before Monique Heart’s iconic “brown cow, stunning!” look, Magnolia Crawford walked the Season 6 runway in a less than stunning bovine print dress. It was created from party supplies given to her as part of the two-part season premiere’s sewing theme. Magnolia’s party box was themed around a “Hoedown,” hence all the cow print. She felt defeated from the start at how “hideous” her materials were, and we too were woefully let down by how basic the outfit ended up being. Sure, cow print is a bold look, but, to quote Michelle, “it’s… a piece of fabric.” Magnolia didn’t help her case either by being very short with the judges when they critiqued her lack of effort.
#14: Alexis Michelle’s Roast of Michelle Visage “RuPaul Roast”
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We wish that we could say Alexis Michelle’s outfit made up for her terrible jokes during the Roast of Michelle Visage… But we can’t. We were as confused as the judges as to why She-Hulk stepped onto the runway for this Season 9 comedy challenge. Alexis quickly explained that was wearing Michelle’s least favorite color, and you know what they say about jokes you have to explain. We’ve seen body paint on “Drag Race” queens before, but when you commit to full body paint, you have to commit to the FULL body, otherwise it just looks sloppy. The color also clashed with her dress, which was a completely different shade.
#13: Silky Nutmeg Ganache’s Facekini “Trump: The Rusical”
While Silky Nutmeg Ganache was always fairly confident about the strength of her runway outfits, the other queens - especially her bitter rival, Yvie Oddly - were often quick to point out their flaws. Usually, her impeccable make-up (sharpie eyebrows and all) were enough to salvage her less polished presentations, but in the case of her Facekini look, Silky had nothing to fall back on. In fact, she didn’t even bother to put any makeup on under the mask. While her cockroach, sorry, “FLY” idea was an interesting take on the theme, the delivery of it was very flimsy, particularly compared to BenDeLaCreme’s incredible insect realness from Season 6.
#12: Shangela’s Christmas Eleganza “The Queen Who Mopped Xmas”
When Shangela returned for Season 3, she was determined to not let the first episode’s traditional sewing challenge defeat her like it did in Season 2. But, once again, it very nearly did. Rather than have their materials for this Christmas-themed runway challenge handed to them, the queens had to source and buy their own from a thrift store. Shangela decided that a round, white lampshade could make an interesting, snowball-shaped skirt. She wasn’t wrong, but her seamstress skills failed her yet again, with the outfit falling apart as she walked the runway, and her wig making it look like she’d been electrocuted while trying to plug in the Christmas tree lights. Not even the addition of an oversized prop could save this one.
#11: Mystique Summers Madison’s Country Realness “Country Queens”
While everybody does love Mystique, her outfit for the country realness runway missed the mark on the theme of the challenge. Serving more business casual than country girl, her over-the-top eye makeup did also no favors to the underwhelming shirt-pants combo. Not to mention, Mystique made the fatal error of wearing the same top on the runway and in the challenge. The look landed her in the bottom, where she proved no match for the now legendary second season runner-up Raven, who sent her sashaying away.
#10: Cynthia Lee Fontaine’s Roller Girl “RuCo's Empire”
Cynthia Lee Fontaine may have the shortest run of any Miss Congeniality winner, but sadly this outfit simply did not match the fierceness of her charming personality. A confusing mashup of an elegant top with a country-inspired bottom half and hat resulted in an ill-fitting mess. An admirable but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to try something new by the queen of cucu, in the end, it was a bit of an assault on the eyes. Though Cynthia lip-synced for her life, she was no match for Robbie Turner’s roller-blading skills, which ultimately sent her packing. Hopefully she was able to take solace in the golden trophy the fans later awarded her.
#9: Honey Mahogany’s Bedsheet Caftan “Black Swan: Why It Gotta Be Black?”
Only two times in the “herstory” of the series has a lip-sync resulted in a double elimination - and one half of the very first can be attributed to Honey Mahogany’s third and final loose-fitting caftan to be torn apart by the judges. Though the previous attempts were elegant enough to keep her out of the bottom, the third strike more resembled a sparkly bedsheet tied together with a belt than an actual outfit. Coupled with an equally gaudy wig, there’s no one point of focus, so the only option is to take in the entire jumble in one unsavoury gulp. At least she was able to prove her range come finale time.
#8: Shangela’s Gone with the Window Gone with the Window
Shangela may now be one of the more recognizable names to come out of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” but that doesn’t excuse her earlier outfits from this list. Tasked with creating a runway look out of window curtains, the admittedly burgeoning queen made a dress more reminiscent of corn stalks than couture, and was criticized by the judges for its overabundance of accessories, design, and failure to be form fitting. Luckily for all of us, she was given the chance to showcase her talents in the next season as well as All-Stars, proving that if at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again.
#7: Naysha Lopez’s Drag on a Dime “Keeping It 100!”
To be fair, Naysha was the first to admit that she was an amateur designer, a skill level which wasn’t helped by the fact that her task involved making her dress out of pieces of garbage. With an unflattering shape and a baffling color combination of green and gold, the finished look was less garbage-inspired glamor and more… nauseating. The garbage-theme was apparent from the end result, as was the lack of design experience. Unsurprisingly, RuPaul decided to give her the boot, though she would later return to the show...for a brief stint of two episodes.
#6: Serena ChaCha’s Garbage Couture “RuPaullywood or Bust”
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Poor Serena ChaCha. She was only able to serve up two looks during her brief tenure on “Drag Race,” and both were seriously considered for this list. The challenge was to turn garbage into couture...but Serena didn’t entirely finish the transformation. We’re honestly not entirely sure how she was able to escape elimination with this abysmal outfit. From the lack of creativity to the shoddy execution, there’s little room to defend this offering. However, we have to cut her some slack for being the season’s youngest queen. She clearly learned from her time on the show and has since developed her aesthetic.
#5: Derrick Barry’s Tin Man “Wizards of Drag”
Derrick Barry came to Season 8 of “Drag Race” as a famous Britney Spears impersonator, hoping to find her own personal style independent of the pop princess through competing on the show. While the effort was definitely there, the know-how certainly wasn’t. This Wizard of Oz-inspired challenge saw each queen creating a look based on a character from the movie. While Robbie Turner’s look also landed her in the bottom, Derrick’s look has become a timeless invocation of the dreaded corset wrapped in fabric. Whatever vision existed was marred by shoddy construction, which Barry infamously defended in Untucked - much to the frustration of everyone else.
#4: Jiggly Caliente’s Apocalypse Couture “RuPaulcolypse Now”
Jiggly Caliente’s run certainly got off to an explosive start, though not in a good way. The first challenge was to create an apocalyptic look based on materials gathered from garbage, and for Jiggly, it unfortunately shows. Appearing as though she threw everything she could get her hands on into the outfit, the final product was an amalgamation of mismatched colors and material. It seemed she was destined to be the first elimination; however, Jiggly’s bubbly personality allowed her to overcome her initial misstep and find a decent ranking among the queens of season four.
#3: Kelly Mantle’s Downton Abbey (aka the Baconator) “RuPaul’s Big Opening”
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For Kelly Mantle, a well-intentioned use of flower fabric went terribly wrong in the sixth season premiere. In an attempt to make a look inspired by “Downton Abbey,” she presented an outfit, that while unremarkable at first glance, was critiqued for having a top piece looking more like bacon than flower petals. once that was pointed out… there was no way NOT to see uncooked breakfast meat across her chest. And Despite being remembered mostly for the unfortunate-looking outfit, Kelly has shown she’s able to laugh at her mistakes in hindsight, which makes a winner - at least when it comes to attitude.
#2: Kennedy Davenport’s Death Becomes Her “Ru Hollywood Stories”
Kennedy Davenport was very lucky that her team managed to not be on the bottom the week she chose to wear this number. She took to the runway (the theme of which was “Death Becomes Her”) in a bizarre orange jumpsuit adorned with feathers and what looks like coagulated blood. In “Untucked,” she explained that the story behind it is that a pimp gutted a hooker and burned her alive, but instead of dying she...crystallized? They say a joke is no good if it has to be explained, and here, apparently, the same could be said for a high-concept outfit.
#1: Lala Ri’s Bag Ball “The Bag Ball”
By the time Season 13 rolled around, the queens had no excuse for not knowing how to sew. That didn’t stop the charismatic Lala Ri from enlisting the help of hot glue and Jesus for this challenge though, as her lack of familiarity with sewing machines resulted in an instantly iconic look for all the wrong reasons. The idea was to attach brightly colored bags onto a corset to create a dress, however as time ran down and the bags ran out Lala was forced to walk the runway in this, um, outfit we guess you could call it? Credit where it’s due, she sold the garment and served the lipsync, but this look will go down as a shining example of what not to do in a design challenge.
