When a top drag queen hits the stage, they have one goal in mind: getting 10s, 10s, 10s across the board. Costuming is integral to any queen’s performance. They’ll use fashion on the runway as a bold tool for bigger storytelling, and reference a hyper-specific pop culture moment. Recently, Jimbo’s custom pink marabou dress was inspired by fanciful poodles, Sasha Velour’s hand-embroidered magenta cocoon gown by firebirds, and Shangela by cactus couture. There’s one go-to designer who’s responsible for all of these winning style moments. Enter Diego Montoya.
Montoya’s love of fashion design traces all the way back to his childhood—long before he started creating all your favorite runway looks on RuPaul’s Drag Race today. Born in Lima, Peru, Montoya grew up with a grandmother who was a dressmaker. He would often watch her sew, and quickly developed an interest in fashion from there. “She used to let me ‘help’ her make these very layered christening gowns and frilly party dresses for family and friends,” Montoya tells Vogue. “I wasn’t actually old enough to do anything but hand her what she asked for and observe in fascination.”
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It didn’t take long for Montoya to start learning the craft on his own. When Montoya was around 10 years old, his family moved to Miami, where he began experimenting with altering his own outfits throughout high school. “It wasn’t until college that I started to really focus on design,” says Montoya. “My boyfriend at the time was a circus acrobat, and I ended up designing and making all of his aerial costumes.” It was when Montoya finished school and moved to New York in the early 2000s, however, that he quickly became enthralled with the Brooklyn drag scene: He felt so inspired by it that he began designing pieces for local queens, too. “I was blown away by the energy and raw talent of the queer community,” Montoya says.
The designer began collaborating with all sorts of queens—many of them friends of his—on one-of-a-kind ensembles, where he began to cultivate a signature aesthetic. “It was amazing because all of my younger influences—many layers of materials and embellishments I learned from my grandma, circus garments, the colorfulness of my ’90s Miami childhood—were able to be brought together,” says Montoya. One of his first famous drag clients, meanwhile, was Sasha Velour back in 2017: He made her a New Year’s Eve headpiece. “We knew of each other from the Brooklyn scene and shared a mutual love for each other’s work,” says Montoya. “Our first collaboration felt very natural and fun, and I went on to design her look for her season nine premiere on Drag Race.”
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Since then, Montoya has dressed just about every Drag Race star imaginable. It’s a natural fit, given the designer—who often uses recycled materials—has a campy sensibility. Montoya’s recent favorites include the pink marabou poodle look that he designed for Jimbo on this season of All Stars. “All of the built-out shapes were completely covered in marabou feathers,” says Diego. “It was a pretty tricky look to figure out and construct, but the end result looked really effortless and light.” Last year, he was also responsible for Jinkx Monsoon’s technologically advanced witch ensemble from All Stars. “We had this vision of a witch burning at the stake and being engulfed in rising flames,” says Montoya. “We worked closely with our friends at Smooth Technology who engineered and programmed all of the insane tech to make our vision come to life. There really was an entire control room’s worth of batteries and wires under her skirt, and she walked down the runway so elegantly.”
Working with such a wide range of queens—all of whom have their own tastes and personalities—Montoya has been able to nail what defines an exceptional drag look overall. It’s less about following a formula, and more about catering each and every detail to the particular talent he’s working with. “Everyone has their own persona, so the appropriate elements for a look depend on what that person is trying to do or say,” says Montoya. “That can vary anywhere from a cool thrifted piece, to an embellished catsuit, or even dressing as something nonhuman!” In other words, the sky’s the limit.
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Given it’s currently Pride Month, Montoya’s creativity is at an all-time high, too. The designer is busier than ever crafting new fashion ideas for queens and their upcoming Pride appearances. “I often don’t know when or how some of these looks will be worn, or for what, but it’s always nice to see pieces we’ve made pop up during Pride,” he teases. The designer also hopes to expand his repertoire this summer by designing for more dance or film productions. (He won an Emmy Award last year for his costume work on HBO’s We’re Here—no big deal.)
Montoya will always have a soft spot for the art—and power—of drag style, though. “I have always admired the audacity of drag to refuse to see the world through the lens that society wants us to,” says Montoya. “Drag allows us to find beauty, sadness, and humor in the reality that we as a queer community experience for ourselves every day. The same applies when designing for drag.”
