Ava Duvernay’s A Wrinkle in Time film adaptation is soon upon us. Aside from the killer cast, the immortal characters’ makeup looks are seriously gag-worthy. They are mesmerizingly ornate and baroque: Oprah rocks crystal eyebrows, Reese Witherspoon slays with green lipstick, and Mindy Kaling serves it to us with sculptural braids. Of course plenty of people will try to recreate these looks at home. But Drag Race stars Kimchi, Bob the Drag Queen, and Alyssa Edwards have put us to shame before we could even bust out the highlighter.
The girls shared their high-level looks yesterday, taking part in Warrior Wednesday. Kimchi says she was inspired to add a “Korean twist” to Oprah’s Mrs. Which costume. She wears a shock-white wig, shimmery bronze eyeshadow and lipstick, and diamonds galore. “I constantly struggled with my cultural identity, who I was, and where I belonged,” Kimchi shares in her clip. “Luckily, I eventually discovered the art of drag. When I’m on stage I’m able to showcase my culture with outfits and silhouettes and ideas that are often influenced by Korean culture.”
Bob the Drag Queen shared a similar message of empowerment, recreating Mindy Kaling as Mrs. Who. “Wearing drag is like wearing my own suit of armor that empowers me to stand up for the rights of others as well as my own,” Bob the Drag Queen says, strutting through a New York subway station with her yellow dress flowing in the wind.
Alyssa Edwards wore iridescent lipstick for her interpretation of Reese Witherspoon’s Mrs. Whatisit character. She talked about how drag first helped her overcome being shy and timid. Then she showed off her found confidence by delivering one of her iconic tongue pops.
A Wrinkle in Time stands out for including an incredibly diverse cast and crew, much like Black Panther. The film’s costume designer, Paco Delgado, has talked about how the Carnival celebrations he enjoyed as a kid provided inspiration for the Misses’s outfits. The Canary Islands-raised creative said that he decorated Oprah’s character in a lot of metallics to reflect the “light and wisdom” her character is filled with. While he wanted the vast travels of Mindy Kaling’s Mrs. Who to be reflected in her globe-spanning garments.
It’s refreshing to see Disney emphasize diversity not just in A Wrinkle in Time, but also in its marketing of it. Because as Black Panther recently proved — moments like these reminds marginalized communities of our own superhuman strength.