Drag queen Blair St. Clair won a place in our hearts during the tenth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race: 2 years on, she’s still there. Having cemented her status with a strew of singles (not to mention a number 1 selling album), she’s managed to do what hundreds of her peers can only dream of: make it in the music mainstream and create some serious waves in the process. Find out more with these ten quick-fire facts.
1. An Indiana First
St. Clair’s first taste of glory came when she was announced the winner of Miss Gay Indiana in 2016. 2 years later, she went from local hero to international sensation when she won a place on the tenth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The first-ever queen from Indiana to compete on Drag Race, she was eventually sent home after losing a lip sync battle with The Vixen.
2. It’s Now or Never
Clearly eager to make the most of her time in the public eye, St. Clair took just one day from departing Drag Race to release her debut single, “Now or Never”, featuring fellow drag artists Jinkx Monsoon and Manila Luzon, and YouTuber Max Emerson. On June 26, 2018, she released her 2nd single, “Call My Life”, closely followed by her debut album of the same name. The album was a roaring success, selling units by the boatload and peaking at number one on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Sales Chart. Since then, she’s released several more singles, including “Irresistible” on October 25, 2018, and “Easy Love” on July 12, 2019.
3. Overcoming Adversity
One of the most powerful moments in Drag Race history came when St. Clair opened up about being a survivor of sexual assault. “My first sexual experience – I was raped at a college party, and from that, I’ve looked to find pretty things,” she said to the judges. “It’s something I need to get over, but I’ve tried to turn positive the best I can.” Until that moment, St. Clair had never told a soul about the experience, feeling, like many survivors, that she’d somehow been responsible or to blame for the attack. Drag Race gave her the opportunity to finally speak up about the experiences, something she’ll forever remain grateful for. “I might not have won the crown, but I won the competition by growing into a stronger, more resilient person,” she later shared with Seventeen.
4. From Blame to Blair
After years spent blaming herself for her attack, St. Clair found drag, and drag, more than anything else, helped her find herself. Birthing Blair St. Clair provided an outlet, a coping mechanism that let her take her feelings of shame and turn them into something empowering. “All of these things happened to me as a person in my boy life – they happened to Drew – and once they happened, I was seeking so much self-love and confirmation that it wasn’t my fault and I shouldn’t feel guilty about it,” she explained to Seventeen. “And I created a character that could kind of offer this therapy for me. So, Blair came to light without purposefully knowing what I was doing, but now I know I was creating a therapeutic image for myself.”
5. Gossip Girl
Wondering where Blair St. Clair got her drag name from? Then wonder no more. Blair comes for the character “Blair Waldorf” on Gossip Girl, while St. Clair was taken from the name of St. Clair Street in the star’s hometown of Indianapolis.
6. Struggles with Alcoholism
St. Clair has made no secret of her struggles with the demon drink… although given how her casting on Drag Race was leaked several days before the official announcement due to a DUI from several years before, she couldn’t if she’d tried. Although devastating at the time, the press coverage of her drunk-driving offense finally gave her the wake-up call she needed to quit the booze for good. “I finally decided to look at my life as a means for loving myself,” she told Billboard. “I didn’t recognize, and I didn’t know, and I didn’t understand for such a long time that I was not in a place of loving myself for so many things that have transpired in my life.”
7. Hero Worshiping
One of St. Clair’s all-time icons and biggest inspirations is Bye Bye Birdie actress and singer, Ann-Margaret. “Her demeanor and the beauty she exudes is something that was really inspiring to me,” she explained to Billboard. “In general, old Hollywood actresses of that era have inspired me to find that kind of wholesome vibe and edge, and beauty and glam that the time period offered. Because what I’ve experienced and talked about a lot is that old Hollywood was a very unglamorous time, especially for female actresses, but it depicted such glamour on-screen”.
8. The Relatable Queen
She may not have won Drag Race, but St. Clair managed to worm her way into our hearts regardless, and two years later, she’s still firmly in residence. Blair herself credits her success to her relatability; how, despite the glam outfits and the big hairstyles, she not trying to be anyone but herself. “I come from middle-class Americans, and I’m just like everybody else,” she explained to Forbes. “I happen to be really blessed and I was on a TV show and I got to share a lot of myself with, but I like to relate to a lot of people. I’m just a normal person with a lot of dreams. I tell people I was a small city girl with big dreams, and now I’m a bigger city girl with even bigger dreams. I’m trying to push past boundaries and relate to as many people as I can.”
9. Blair Magic For Sale
If you’ve been inspired by St. Clair’s glam look, you can now experience it yourself thanks to the exclusive range of merch she sells via her official website. Whether you want a gorgeous Japanese fan emblazoned with her face, a cozy sweater for lazing around the house, some casual scarfs or a full-feathered extravaganza, it’s all yours… for a price.
10. Queen of the Runaway
What viewer of season 10 of Drag Race couldn’t have failed to be wowed by St. Clair’s grand finale dress? The frock was the creation of none other than Project Runway graduate Mondo Guerra. The pair kept up their association, and in October 2018, St. Clair was chosen as one of the special guest models at Guerra’s show at FashioNXT.
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