Raja recreates 'eye-conic' season 3 entrance look as Drag Race All Stars 7 takes over Saks Fifth Avenue
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The only "boogers" in sight are the ones running down our faces after crying over the excellence of the RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 7 queens on display as real-life Saks Fifth Avenue mannequins.
Mama Ru's returning winners — set to compete for another Drag Race crown across AS7 — each received their own display window at the department store's Manhattan location on Wednesday night, with each segment of the store's exterior tailored to fit the personality of the queen inside.
Raja sported a remixed version of the "eye-conic" entrance look she wore for her first time in the Werk Room back on season 3 of the Emmy-winning competition series. (Watch an interview with her at the event above.) The Los Angeles-based queen (and former America's Next Top Model personality) made her debut on the show in 2011, and quickly became a fan-favorite competitor as well as an entertaining source of emotional spectacle thanks to memorable clashes with fellow contestant Shangela.
"That tension built up made for amazing television," Raja previously told EW of her time with Shangela on season 3. "People still today, 10 years later, tend to think of us as being these rivals when oftentimes I really just want to make out with her."
On top of revamping her entrance look, Raja held on to other sentiments — and physical elements — from season 3. She exclusively told EW that she kept a "petrified" orange Tic Tac she took from the set 11 years ago.
"In my hand I hold a Jonathan Adler ceramic container that says 'DOLLS' on it. On my season of RuPaul's Drag Race, what most people don't realize is there was about three weeks to a month that we had to take time off and go back home, and when we returned, in thanks for us being so patient, Ru and the crew had given us these beautiful little jars," Raja said in a video interview for our cover story on AS7. "I have used this, and I keep this at an altar in my home, inside of it — first of all, it's signed underneath, it says 'To Raja, from RuPaul,' I had RuPaul sign it. And inside I have my Tic Tac from my Tic Tac lunch."
Raja's All Stars 7 sisters received windows at Saks as well, with Jinkx Monsoon, Monét X Change, Trinity The Tuck, Yvie Oddly, The Vivienne, Jaida Essence Hall, and Shea Couleé also taking up perch behind the glass.
The queens' New York City takeover also included the gals ringing the Nasdaq Opening Bell Monday at the New York Stock Exchange, and continues Thursday evening as the cast returns to the Empire State Building, where they will light the building orange in support of the Trevor Project's initiatives in suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQIA+ youth.
"People complain about too many seasons, but we watch each and every one of them because drag is this explosion. We're all lucky to live at this time where drag is celebrated the way it is," Monét also told EW in our AS7 cover story. "I hope that, going forward, it gets even bigger — that drag queens are performing at the Grammys, drag queens are winning Oscars. I see that for drag, and I'm happy to be part of that legacy that can make it happen."
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 7 premieres its first two episodes May 20 on Paramount+. See the queens' Saks Fifth Avenue windows below, and read EW's full cover story on AS7.
Raja (season 3 winner)
Jinkx Monsoon (season 5 winner)
Monét X Change (All Stars 4 winner)
Trinity The Tuck (All Stars 4 winner)
Yvie Oddly (season 11 winner)
The Vivienne (RuPaul's Drag Race UK season 1 winner)
Jaida Essence Hall (season 12 winner)
Shea Couleé (All Stars 5 winner)
Subscribe to EW's BINGE podcast for full recaps of RuPaul's Drag Race, including weekly season 14 recaps with the cast.
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