DRAG KID
access until he is 18 — isn’t letting
the uproar over his passion
get him down.
The fi fth grader, who rose
to fame after being caught on
camera dancing in a rainbow
tutu at the city’s 2015 LGBTQ
Pride Parade, said the joy he
fi nds dressing up in wigs,
skirts, and lip stick is only
bested by the thrills his performances
bring to his fans.
“I like performing so
much,” he said. “I like to entertain
people, it makes them
3guysfrombrooklyn.com
FABULOUS: The boy in drag outside
Grand Army Plaza (above), and
with mom Wendy Napoles (right).
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happy.”
Ever since he could walk,
the Brooklyn-born-and-bred
youngster showed a performative
streak, and his interest in
drag dates back to when he habitually
stole clothes from Napoles
— who is now her son’s
assistant — to create genderbending
characters he’d act
out at home, she said.
But after a 6-year-old Desmond
went trick-or-treating
dressed as Elsa from the movie
“Frozen,” mom’s old duds just
didn’t cut it anymore, and he
started asking for his own
feminine wardrobe, according
to Napoles.
“He went as Elsa for Halloween,
and something really
clicked for him,” she said. “After
that, every time we went to
the store, he wanted a skirt or
a dress.”
Unsure of their son’s burgeoning
sense of style, Napoles
and her husband took
Desmond to a therapist, who
advised neither discouraging,
nor encouraging his behavior,
and suggested it could just be
a passing phase.
It wasn’t, said mom.
“It was never a phase for
him, and soon dressing up
at home wasn’t enough,” she
said. “He wanted to dress
up and go outside — then he
wanted to perform.”
Desmond made an early
drag appearance in a music
video for fellow queen Jinkx
Monsoon — who won the fi fth
season of television’s “Ru-
Paul’s Drag Race” competition
series — but his career really
took off after his Pride appearance
went viral, Napoles said.
Since then, the boy has
rubbed shoulders with Ru-
Paul himself at the iconic
queen’s DragCon convention,
walked the New York Fashion
Week runway as a model
for designer Gypsy Sport, and
signed with a talent company,
which started booking shows
for Desmond earlier this year,
according to his mom.
On stage, the tween wows
spectators by doing impersonations
of celebrities including
Gwen Stefani, whom he channeled
during his so-called controversial
performance at 3
Dollar Bill, and Winona Ryder
as Lydia Deetz from the fi lm
“Beetlejuice,” Napoles said.
And although Desmond
may have inherited his early
wardrobe from his mother,
she said his penchant for performing
in front of an audience
is uniquely his own.
“He has no nervousness,”
said Napoles. “He just gets up
there. I don’t know where he
gets the confi dence. I could
never do it. I would die.”
Continued from page 10
Wendy Napoles Photo by Caroline Ourso
/3guysfrombrooklyn.com