An unlikely drag queen is taking over social media with nearly 40,000 Instagram followers and over 10,000 Twitter followers.
RuPawl, an eight-year-old Chihuahua mix, dresses up as RuPaul Drag Race queens including Liverpool’s own The Vivienne. The rescue pup’s owners choose one costume per week to replicate from the latest series of the franchise, All-Stars Seven, and create an alter ego based on it, with RuPawl being transformed into “The ViviChienne” most recently.
The pup’s owner, J.R. Lizarraga, welcomed RuPawl into their lives when they were just three months old. Wanting to provide emotional support for them and their husband, Arturo, RuPawl quickly settled in and it wasn’t long before they created an unbreakable bond.
READ MORE: Liverpool drag queen like a 'Scouse mum who used to be in the Crosby circus'
The 44-year-old designer told the ECHO: “Our pooch loves people and children. We are a harmonious and extremely loving family of three; me, my husband Arturo, and our pooch. Though I think RuPawl is becoming increasingly aware of their diva status, we’ve been getting some free stuff and are so spoiled.”
One of RuPawl’s fans includes the former ‘gay town' host and DJ, The Vivienne. The 30-year-old retweeted RuPawl’s finished look to her 127,000 followers to tell them she was “obsessed” with it. Speaking about the surreal moment, J.R. said: “We are such big fans of The Vivienne so we were so thrilled to be recognised by her on Twitter and on Instagram. She has such grace and beauty and we can’t wait to meet her in person sometime. We support all the wonderful queens, but of course, we have a special love for The Vivienne. She is so talented, and beautiful, and brings a special kind of joy to the show.”
J.R. explained they try to stick to the same materials used by the drag queens on the show to create the outfit. However, they always make sure the fabric being used is suitable and comfortable for dogs. This time round, they opted for a satin fabric with real steel studs and spikes.
They said: “We started dressing up our pooch during the ninth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race as an experiment. What a lot of people don’t know is that we started doing this after some interactions in public where people would constantly ask us the gender of our dog. These same people would get angry when we would say ‘they haven’t chosen their gender, yet.’ This revealed that there is still a lot of compulsion to put people and even animals in gender boxes. We decided to use RuPawl as a platform to elevate the art of drag as a way to fight against the binary. Since then our pooch has become a public activist figure across different platforms.”
The photoshoots are made as comfortable as possible for RuPawl, who never takes any longer than five minutes to get a picture-perfect shot, according to their owner. They believe once RuPawl “sees the backdrop goes up and the lights come on they’re ready for some fashion fun,” and know they will be compensated with plenty of treats too. When RuPawl isn’t posing for Instagram, they love going on long walks and getting to know the wild near their home. And when they can’t be found doing this, it's likely they are either napping or sunbathing according to J.R.
J.R. plans to create one costume per week based on the looks from each episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, All-Stars 7 for RuPawl. They said they have a few more in mind for The Vivienne, who they believe could take home the coveted crown. They added: “She’s got the resplendence, uniqueness, nerve, and talent to win.”
