The Drag Industry Variety Awards Announces Vanity Will Enter The DIVA Hall Of Fame
Image: Photos: Supplied
The Drag Industry Variety Awards have announced that the 2026 inductee to the DIVA Hall of Fame is Vanity.
It’s the late nineties and the Sydney scene was occupied by queens either influenced by Priscilla the Queen of the Desert or what was termed ‘robo drag’. Either way: a very theatrical look and style of performer. Vanity was none of that.
“When I started in 1997, I was doing very fem/girly drag and was told that if I wanted to be taken seriously, I needed to ‘do Drag’ like the older queens,” Vanity tells me. “So, I did, long enough to be put into shows and then I started to express myself the way I wanted. I was inspired by everything that was happening on MTV.”
Such was her impact that she became the DIVA poster girl of 1999, giving cred that looks were changing. Audiences were awestruck by her beauty and her ability to deliver a perfect lip-sync. Vanity was awarded the DIVA Rising Star of 2000.
Her star was on the ascend, and in 2001 Vanity won the two major awards of the time: Entertainer of the Year and Sydney’s Favourite Drag Queen. One was decided by her peers; the other by the fans.
I asked Vanity how she recalls that time.
“That was obviously amazing, but it was a lot. I was so young and I wasn’t mature enough to really have that responsibility, but it did give me a blinding permission to shine. Drag consumed every part of my life, the scene was exciting and I did some wonderful work.”
Courtney Act recalls her long-time sister being a “supermodel” of the time.
“When I arrived on the Sydney scene in the year 2000, Vanity was already the ‘supermodel’, a vanguard of new millennium drag who defined an era,” explains Courtney. “A master of every craft in the artform; makeup, hair, costume, lip sync, performance, she’s inspired and informed everything I – and so many of us – do.”
Vanity became a resident performer on the Oxford Street strip. Cut her teeth headlining legendary production shows at the Stonewall Hotel alongside her late drag partner Maxi Shield and Staycii Gayski. At Arq with Minnie Cooper and Chelsea Bunn.
She told me “One of my favourite parts of drag is hanging out with sisters backstage. I love the banter, the jokes, the gossip. I don’t get to do that anymore and I miss it. I have lifelong friendships with lots of amazing queens, so the cackles still roll in, but I miss the dressing rooms.”
DIVASTATED arrived in 2002 and Vanity along with the creator Ashley Swift and Courtney Act brought a new direction to the Sydney drag production show with its pop concert styling.
Vanity said “DIVASTATED was like a master class of drag. We did almost everything in-house. And the productions were huge. Ashley pushed us all, creatively and physically to create the best drag shows we could. From costuming, to sets, to choreography, they were basically mini theatre shows.”
Again, being at the centre of changing performance styles, Vanity with Minnie Cooper and Hannah Conda gave the scene a masterclass in mime when they presented the ‘Transistors’ from 2015. Another set of awarded shows, ‘The Lovetts’, ‘Kiss My Brass’ and ‘Burlesque’ all dedicated to the art of the perfect lip-sync.
Courtney Act agreed: “When she lip syncs, you stop watching a performer on a sticky gay bar stage and start believing the voice of Tina Arena, Mariah Carey, or whoever she’s embodying is flowing from her mouth, that’s the level of artistry she commands.”
Off stage Vanity co-founded the revolutionary brand ‘Wigs by Vanity’ alongside Courtney Act in 2003. She created premium lace-front synthetic wigs tailored explicitly ‘for drag queens, by drag queens’. The brand is now known worldwide as the yardstick by which other wigs are judged.
View this post on Instagram
Vanity told me “Wigs by Vanity is my life’s work. I’m not just proud of it…I’m extremely grateful. If you would have told me that I would be my own boss, doing what I love and what Im good at, I don’t think I would have believed you. And it’s not just wigs, being ‘Vanity’ is a huge part of it, so I still get to do drag, all on my own terms. I love everything about it, even the boring business stuff.”
When I asked Vanity how she felt about being inducted to the Hall of Fame she said it’s the most meaningful of all.
“Of all the DIVA’s I’ve won, I think this one means the most. Because it’s not about competition. It’s about a legacy, which only a few select people who come through our community get to achieve.
“Drag was never something I was doing to get to another place, never a stepping stone or a fall back plan. Drag is a part of my soul and to be given an award for getting this far, doing something I truly love is the highest honour.”
You May Also Like
Support the Star Observer… while you still can
LGBTQIA+ media is under threat. Queer content is censored by tech conglomerates who amplify bigotry and push out AI slop — so we receive less financial support than ever.
When our community is muzzled and intolerance intensifies, we need queer media more than ever. Your donation means we can continue paying queer journalists to write queer news.
Don’t rely on the straight lies of big tech – support Star Observer instead and donate now.
