Racing to the top
I am confronted with an array of nuts: big ones, small ones, wrinkly ones, funny-shaped ones. Oh boy. Ordinarily, I would not be fazed by such a selection, far from it. But stood in front of a shelf bulging with bags of the stuff in a Holland & Barrett in Kentish Town, I feel a bit overwhelmed. For the life of me I can’t remember what type of nut Bimini Bon Boulash said they wanted to nibble on. I plump for almond and cashew – or rather, ca-phew. Turns out I made the right choice.
Things have been more than a little nutty for Bimini since they bing, bang, bonged their way to the finale of series two of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, coming this close to snatching the crown and sceptre. Given their post-show success, though, the self-proclaimed genderbender, cis-tem offender and (tender) lentillover seems to have made losing the new winning, conquering the worlds of music (debut single God Save This Queen reigned supreme), publishing (Bimini’s book Release the Beast: A Drag Queen’s Guide to Life is out later this month) and fashion (they walked their first LFW runway in September).
The cherry on top, obvs, is bagging the Style Award. Whether they are going for super-glam, high-voltage punk or, as you do, amoeba realness, everyone’s favourite vegan sure knows how to turn an eyeballgrabbing look. “I do like to switch it up as much as I can,” Bimini says. “Like pulling references [for the photo shoot] today, OK, let’s Megan Fox it. I’ve always been obsessed with femininity and women that exert their femininity; Pamela Anderson was a huge one, Megan was a huge one, and yet they’re so different in their aesthetics. Growing up as a queer kid and struggling with my own identity and how I felt attractive – or, like, my physical attractiveness wasn’t what I wanted it to be
