Fierce, fearless, and refusing to flinch, Queens of Everything captures the raw magnetism of New York City Drag in full command. Shot by photographer Martin Gatti for DSCENE Magazine’s Defiance issue, the story turns its lens on a cast of performers who know that power is performance, and they never ask permission. From the first lash to the last beat, every image stands as a challenge, a celebration, and a perfectly sharpened threat to conformity.
ORDER IN PRINT AND DIGITAL
Drag has always been about transformation, but in New York, it’s also about resistance. Rooted in decades of underground brilliance, queer liberation, and cultural rebellion, drag strips power from the center and hands it to the margins. It’s theatre, fashion, protest, and survival, all in one exaggerated wink. In a city that never stops watching, these queens don’t just get seen. They take up space.
Creative direction by Jimi Urquiaga (Missleidy Rodriguez) pushes the shoot into high-voltage territory, where gender explodes and glamour reigns with a snarl. The styling by Kat J. turns camp into couture, building looks that bite just as hard as they seduce. Beauty comes courtesy of MAC Cosmetics, while We Love Colors outfits the cast in gloves and tights as vivid and unapologetic as their wearers.
Drag is art.
Drag is protest.
Produced by Chancey Bridges and Citrine Cash Collins, and staged at Pier59 Studios, the shoot becomes both battlefield and ballroom. The casting, led by Jimi Urquiaga, centers the fiercest names in the NYC scene: Missleidy Rodriguez, Jazzmint Dash, Oracle, Angel Au, Luxx Noir, London Mx.ology, Tillie the Clown, Lolita Starr, Elle LC, Citrine Cash Collins, Obscura, and Evangeline, each a sovereign in their own right.
Drag is power.
In a time when queer visibility is under fire and trans expression is politicized, drag stands its ground. These queens remind us that defiance isn’t always loud, sometimes it comes in the glide of a heel, the precision of a brow, the way a wig whips on a turn. It’s glamour as resistance, spectacle as truth. With Queens of Everything, this cast doesn’t ask for acceptance. They demand to be seen on their own terms. Loud, luminous, and unbothered.
New York City Drag goes beyond performance, defiant in heels, rhinestones, and attitude. Queens of Everything reveals the beauty and the nerve behind every look.
Photography: Martin Gatti
Creative Director & Casting: Jimi Urquiaga (Missleidy Rodriguez)
Stylist: Kat J.
Photography Assistant: Celso Assuncao
Producers: Chancey Bridges, Citrine Cash Collins
Studio: PIER59 Studios
Cast: Missleidy Rodriguez, Jazzmint Dash, Oracle, Angel Au, MX.Ology, Tillie the Clown, Lolita Starr, Citrine Cash Collins, Obscura, Evangeline
Beauty: MAC Cosmetics
Tights and Gloves We Love Colors
