Sasha Velour didn’t know it at the time, but “NightGowns” was made for a a time when we could all use some beauty, grace and entertainment in our lives.

Available through new streaming service Quibi, "NightGowns" wondrously documents the drag variety show created by Velour, the Brooklyn-based winner of "RuPaul's Drag Race" season nine.

At this time when coronavirus has forced most of us to stay home, Velour and Quibi are providing the world with the opportunity to check out a stunning drag show from the comfort of our own homes.

“On the one hand, it feels so superficial just to be talking about a TV show or drag or dressing up for fun when hospitals are fighting to save people’s lives and streets are empty," Velour said. "But then (again), people need seven minutes of escape and just a little bit of empowerment and a smile on their face. So maybe drag is more essential than I even realized."

Quibi, a service where all episodes are 10 minutes or less, launched with three episodes of "NightGowns" on Monday, April 6, with one episode to follow every weekday to unveil the series' eight-episode run.

Legendary music video director Sophie Muller — Annie Lennox's "Walking on Broken Glass," No Doubt's "Don't Speak" and Beyonce's "Ring The Alarm," to name but a few — directs and Velour serves as executive producer as every episode blends a cinema verite-style behind the scenes look at the show with vivid visualizations of the final numbers by Velour and company.

“It’s a brilliant format for any environment, but I think especially now people are craving just a little bit of escape," Velour said. "And especially I think something that has a gay point of view, a queer point of view, can speak to that balance of humor and heart and realism and fantasy, all those things in balance in the face of despair and tragedy.

"I think that’s kind of what the queer aesthetic is all about, and drag is like an extra hopeful version of that aesthetic, one that’s all about wish fulfillment."

When "NightGowns" was born far from its currently online home in the former Brooklyn bar Bizarre back in 2015, Velour used the theatrical drag showcase as a means of taking audiences away from their personal screens.

“People would come into this bar and I would demand that they put their phones away, quiet their conversations and pay attention to the performances on the stage," Velour said.

Velour also envisioned "NightGowns" as a blend of different drag styles, including live singing, comedy, fashion, performance art and dance delivered by drag queens, drag kings, transgender performers and "really the whole gamut of what drag is, or at least some version, some attempt, to give a more full and inclusive representation of what drag is."

The "NightGowns" experience quickly found a following, with a New York Times write-up in its first year; then, Velour was cast in the ninth season of "Drag Race," which aired in 2017.

"The success ‘NightGowns,’ the reputation that this show gave me as a queen, it was a big part of my audition for ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,'" Velour said. "So suddenly ‘NightGowns’ really changed and the audience and the awareness of ‘NightGowns’ completely shifted because of this small, little change. It happened before my episodes of ‘Drag Race’ even aired.

"Our show ‘NightGowns’ had been like my school for drag, in many ways, an experimental place (that) suddenly had so many more eyes on it. I continued trying to shift, shift venues, shift formats, to accommodate all of this new audience while still staying true to the spirit of ‘NightGowns’ as a place where you could come and you could take risks as a drag performer and the audience would be here for it and paying attention and give you the applause that is required and the kind of intellectual engagement that you can get at a drag show.”

By the time "NightGowns" was playing to thousand-seat houses in London, New York and Los Angeles, Velour knew the show couldn't get any bigger and still hope to maintain its crucial intimacy — meaning the leap to Quibi was a natural progression.

"The intimacy is something that makes drag so important," said Velour. "So in some ways, trying to figure out how to reach even more people while still capturing all that intimacy and that power and the up-close details of what makes a great drag performance, it seemed like film and TV was actually the only option."

With a roster that includes both established names like Vander Von Odd — winner of season one of "The Boulet Brothers' Dragula" — as well as rising talents such as K.James and Neon Calypso, "NightGowns" is arriving at a time point of crossroads for many performers.

As coronavirus causes nightlife to shut down, plenty of drag performers are moving their shows online to generate income and maintain their connection with fans.

“It’s amazing how drag performers now in this current climate are discovering that there’s a positive twist to having to take everything to the Internet, which is that you can actually reach more people and you can reach younger people, sometimes who need it really, really urgently, who need to see queer representation," Velour said. "And you can reach people who are not in urban areas who need to feel their community sometimes in different ways than in a bar or in a club.”

Sasha Velour's "NightGowns" is now streaming via Quibi. For more information, visit quibi.com or sashavelour.com/nightgowns.