Symone Is a Love Letter to Blackness and Queerness

“I had to learn to love my Blackness,” said the winner of this season's ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race.’ “I’ve learned to love my queerness. I had to learn to love myself.”

For years, Symone — the drag queen persona created by Reggie Gavin — has been collecting folders of memorable looks, with hundreds of references to Black women. There are photographs from Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar of Lil’ Kim, Whitney Houston, Grace Jones, Diana Ross, Tina Turner and Rihanna. She started storing the images on the camera roll on her phone, taking note of the clothing, shoes and makeup — not to recreate the looks, but rather to honor her idols through homage in drag. “We, as queer people, that’s kind of our thing,” Symone, 26, said from her home in Los Angeles, surrounded by posters of women she looks up to. “We look up to our heroes. They give us strength.”