Her aesthetics are a strong combination of Dragula enthused with incredible outfit concepts set straight out of a movie. The planning and constructing of her outfits are impressive, Lavender Frost is one talented queen. Winner of the Andy Candy’s 2017 fantasy contest, her make up skills is extraordinary her #31daysofhalloween gained deserved attention. Get to know this Orlando queen who is packed with plenty of talent…..welcome Lavender Frost.
Dragadventures: What made you get started in the drag industry? Was there a particular person that made you think “This is what I want to do”?
Lavender Frost: The one thing that made me take a huge interest in drag was when I first went to a gay club and saw two amazing drag queens. It was at an old Club called Brink, and Ginger Minj was hosting, and the other queen, whose name I forgot, had a huge feather headpiece and fully stoned bodysuit and I just thought that was the most magical human I had seen, I still regret not getting her name to this day. At that time I was interested in becoming a fashion designer since I was 17, yes I did sneak into the club with a fake and was into making clothes and designing dresses.
Eventually, I started sewing and making things, and would ask all my female friends to model the clothes for me, they would agree, but rarely actually model for me. I got so frustrated one day that I said that I would just start drag and model and show my own designs off, and that’s how it all started. But the first time I actually went out in drag, me and my boyfriend did it together. It was for Parliament House Orlando’s white party. We planned out outfits, I made both of our costumes, and then we went out. Ever since we just kept on, and I kept developing my drag persona, and to this day I’m still learning and growing.
DA: What inspired you to generate your drag name, did you go through a few others beforehand?
LF: My drag name came to me sorta easy actually. I know I wanted something that sounded like a magic fairy or something magical. Not really a normal “girl” name. My favorite color is Purple, and Lavender is a shade of purple so that seemed fitting. The Frost part came from watching too much magic related TV shows and movies. I was always drawn to the “Ice” or ” water” elements or fairies and such, so that’s why I went with the frost part. Lavender Frost just sounded to me at the time like a Magical Fairy Queen, and I rolled with it. As you can tell, I love to do lots of fantasy looks so it seemed fitting!
DA: You create some stunning makeup looks, what three makeup products could you not live without?
LF: This is probably the hardest question considering I’m obsessed with makeup!! I would say the three things that I just cannot live without would be eyeshadow, Lashes, and a good contour kit!
DA: For people just discovering drag and having fallen in love with wanting to be more creative what advice would you give to beginners exploring their artistic side?
LF: Literally nothing is impossible. No matter how hard something looks, or that you might not be able to make a look turn out how you envision to not give up, and the more you practice the better you will get. I say this because it is easy to give up or to think that you’re not going to be able to do something and then not even attempt it. There were times when I would be going out anywhere, but I would just in front of the mirror and practice my makeup, try different techniques and see which worked for me and which didn’t. You do not need to go out in order to practice, the more you can do to better yourself, the more polish and put together you will look.
Another huge tip is to do your own thing, you do not have to box yourself in because you only one style of drag, or only one style of makeup, and try and create original looks and concepts, you do not always have to copy or go for the “normal fishy” drag looks.
DA: How do you go about producing or coming up with a concept for your stunning looks?
LF: It all starts with a theme, a color scheme, and whether I’m going to perform in it, just a walk around look. The majority of the time I will look up 4-5 different images of designer pieces, some fantasy artwork, and then pick a color scheme and color story for the look. Once I have that down, I take a step back and think to myself whether its something that I can perform in, or not.
I typically like to feel free when performing so I will do either a bodysuit, or separate pieces that won’t get in the way, and nice cover up for a reveal is always nice as well. If its a look to just walk around, or I’m not performing, then I can do a gown or something more complex that won’t need to have lots of ability to move. Most of my outfits are inspired by work that I see on websites like Pinterest, devianart, or movies. Like I said, anything magical or badass instantly draws my attention.
Once I have all of that decided, then I sketch my design and begin construction. This is my favorite part of the process, as I take all my ideas and inspiration and make it my own. I hate copying something or trying to make something identical, so I always add my twist to my outfits. I always need to sketch a design, I come to realize that if I don’t sketch something out, I keep adding more and more and more, until its too much and end up spending twice the time to finish an outfit than I had originally planned to spend.
DA: Our favorite looks of yours are very Dragula which we love! If you had to choose to compete on one show what would it be – Dragula or Rupaul’s Drag Race? What challenge would you love to do on either of those shows?
LF: This is by far one of the most commonly asked questions I get, and I would have to say RPDR. The only reason I say this is because the extermination challenges freak me out so much, and I love to pop music. I feel like Dragula is more to showcase the amazing queens that represent and perform more alternative and rock, and other music that is normally not done at the clubs.
I’m also a very picky person when it comes to what I eat, and a huge germaphobe, so imagining doing something like what we’ve seen in the past two seasons is just insane to me (laughs). I would honestly love to do any design challenge from RPDR, especially the ones where you have to tell a story, or the dollar store challenge. As for DRAGULA, I would absolutely love to do either the alien challenge or the goth wedding challenge. To this day I’m still waiting to create a whole futuristic alien look and performance, maybe soon I’ll do it!
DA: You won the Andy Candy fantasy contest 2017, what made you enter and what was the best thing to come out of it?
LF: The reason why I entered the Andy Candy Fantasy Contest because of Halloween. The past two years I have been doing the #31DaysOfHalloween, which means that I do a different Halloween type of look every day for the whole month of October. Since ACM had just launched and he was hosting the contest, I thought it would be cool to incorporate the whole Candy Fantasy to my Halloween looks and entered it.
I honestly never expected to win considering it seemed like every single InstaMUA was doing it! The best thing that has come out of the contest is honestly networking with Andy, getting his whole first collection, and planning for this years Halloween…Which can’t release too many details on that, but it’s def going to be something huge in the very near future, so keep an eye out for that!
DA: What is the drag scene like where you’re from? Are there any local queens that people should keep an eye out for? For people visiting your city, can you recommend venue(s) they can’t miss out on?
LF: The drag scene in Orlando and Kissimmee is SICKENINGGGGG!!! I feel like nowadays everyone is either a drag queen or club kid. Which is totally amazing, the more the better! There’s a lot of queens that you should keep an eye out for, too many to name honestly. I think the cool thing about the drag scene in Orlando is that there is so much diversity in it. More than any other place, in my opinion.
The venues that you should come out to when in town would definitely be Jrs Nightclub Gay Friday nights in Kissimmee, which I perform there every Friday for their Latin nights! The others in Orlando would be Southern Nights, Parliament House, and Stonewall nightclub.
DA: On your YouTube channel, you’ve got amazing make-up tutorials. Is there any particular look you’d love to teach the children soon? Would teaching make-up be something that you’d be interested in doing (i.e. like Miss Fame does)?
LF: I love to do Youtube, it just takes lots and lots of time, which is why I have not been as active on it lately, but I will be making tons of more content starting next month! I plan on recreating and doing tutorials on every single look that I did for Orlando Munster Live, which I competed in. I also have a Wolfgirl look that I have planned with a full face prosthetic, as well as a purple fairy look with huge wings, and a gorgeous gown that I’m dying to do next! Makeup is something that I would love to teach, I do makeup on the side for special events, and other queens, so teaching would also be amazing. I actually learned a lot from Miss Fame’s tutorials. I would stay up late till 1am or 2am practicing and follow her tutorials online when I first started actually! I even have pictures of me following her Platinum Aura tutorial!
DA: What does the future hold for you, are there any dream collaborations or plans you’d love to get involved in?
LF: The future looks very promising (and extremely busy)!! I’m actually working on lots of things as of right now, but I’m more of an “action speaks louder than words” type of gal so I bust my butt now, and show everything off once I can release it. There is lots of makeup collection collabs in the near future for me, as well as collaborations on just looks and photoshoots, as well as performances for Lavender.
One thing that I’m dying to do is to create at least a mini capsule collection with some of my original designs and headpieces with some of my fave local queens. One of my biggest goals, however, is to really expand and explode my Etsy store: HAUS OF MONTOYA, to a fully independent brand, and a makeup and drag queen lovers go to brand. Fingers crossed I can do that within the next year, which I would say is my biggest dream.
Follow all things Lavender on social media:
Instagram: @thatmontoyakid
Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq5Dq6s6542ezQcXKdKISbwcreative, drag, Drag Queen, fantasy, lipsynch, local talent, make up, Orlando queens, US local queens
