RuPaul’s Drag Race UK stars reveal how to turn a knockback into something positive
Watch: Baga, Blu and Vinegar talk about turning a negative into a positive
If there’s one person that can dish out advice on confidence, it has to be Vinegar Strokes, star of the West End and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK.
As a musical star, she’s had her fair share of knock-backs – and none were so public as when RuPaul declared her fashion sense to be a little confused on Drag Race UK.
“The world saw RuPaul come around and say, 'You know what? Your fashion is kind of, um…hodge podge!'”, recalled Vinegar.
“Now, honestly, as a drag queen the last thing you want to be called is hodge podge. I think that's probably the worst things that someone could ever call you.”
Listen: Vinegar Strokes, Baga Chipz and Blu Hydrangea talk about their nerves on being in RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
However, Vinegar made a huge negative into a positive and it’s something she recommends we all do.
“I was like, ‘Call it Hodge Podge Couture,’’ she recalled about the incident.
Read more: Vinegar Strokes' makeup transformation is next-level mesmerising
“I think that's been my survival mechanism throughout life… That when someone says, 'It's a bit s***’ you can either sit and cry about it or go, 'OK, let me turn this into a massive, positive and learn from it.'
She continued: “That's definitely what I did with Hodge Podge because it's made me very, very rich, so that's good!”
Fellow agony queen Blu Hydrangea’s advice on dealing with naysayers is to understand that it’s all down to personal opinion.
“Art is so subjective as well,” said the look queen, who has become a huge Instagram star due to her amazing makeup creations.
Read more: British women feel ‘ugly’ from just six years old
“So, someone's opinion saying, 'Oh, this isn't good enough’ that's just their opinion too. You've put passion, effort, love into what you're doing. If it's not good enough for that person, forget them.”
All three drag stars have a huge social media following and they all agreed that social media – especially negative comments – can affect your confidence. Vinegar said that you can have 99 people telling you you’re amazing, but you’ll only focus on that one person saying something horrible.
“It's really interesting how that kind of mindset that we put ourselves in,” she said.
Blu agreed, saying that social media often made it worse.
She said: “Being on social media all the time you actually really do get that because there could be a hundred comments, but there's the one that you just read over and over.”
Read more: Baga Chipz on why it’s important to be your authentic self
As usual, Baga Chipz was there to dish out her no-nonsense advice to anyone else struggling to deal with negative comments or trolls on social media.
“There's a lovely thing called the block button and you just block them,” she laughed.
“And then they just miss out on future stuff that you're doing. They're just missing out on all the fun and missing out on all of this!”
Watch: How to tell your parents you want to wear makeup
