Q. Your style has been described as high fashion but also anime. What inspirations are running through your head to produce this style?

Season Eight of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is down to its final four contestants, and Chicago powerhouse Kim Chi is still in the running. The 28-year-old has been doing drag for only three years but has become an Instagram celebrity of sorts, making her a fan favorite even before the season started. Now her Instagram (@kimchi_chic) has more than 270,000 followers and those fans are biting their nails to see how she’ll do. Before the top three are revealed Monday, Kim Chi will perform at Ego Providence on Saturday and Candibar in Boston on Sunday.


A. Growing up, I read a lot of manga by CLAMP, whose style is very heavily inspired by the art nouveau drawings. The delicate feminine figures paired with voluminous costumes always left me in awe. The first time I truly fell in love with fashion was when I saw Louis Vuitton’s Spring 2008 line, Marc Jacobs’ collaboration with Richard Prince. The campaign ad featured so many supermodels laying on top of a yellow limousine with hand painted bags. That’s when I knew I wanted to be involved in fashion as art.

Q. What looks of yours do we not see on the show?

A. In a television format I couldn’t show the looks that transfer into an editorial format like my 2-D looks. Because of the baggage limitation I couldn’t bring my biggest looks. We’re only allowed five suitcases and I couldn’t fit everything in.

Q. Beyond those looks, we also haven’t seen you lip synch for your life yet and you’ve made it all the way to the final four.

A. I try to do a variety of things but since my character is an anime character that is a high-fashion model, the songs I choose are saccharine and boppy and almost stupid at times. A lot of people haven’t heard the songs I do before, which I like because then there’s no preconceived notion off what the song should be.


Q. Talk a little about the character that is Kim Chi.

A. I consider Kim Chi a fashion chameleon, so every time she comes out she’s going to look completely different. I want people to wonder “How is she going to look next? What is she going to do the next time she comes out?”

Q. With all of these different looks you pull off, what is the cohesive element?

A. The cohesive element is my intense makeup that pulls the ridiculous costumes together.

Q. So now that the show is done filming, you get the chance to get out and perform again, which you’ll be doing in the Boston area this weekend. What songs do you love to do and what song haven’t you done but would love to do?

A. For the song I haven’t done yet, I’ll keep that a secret. I’ll let it be unveiled when it comes out. My favorite artist to perform though is Say Lou Lou. They have an ethereal soft sounding voice to them and it’s how I imagine Kim Chi to talk and if she were a singer it’s how I imagine her to sound.

Q. Who were your favorite queens to compete with this season?


A. Definitely Bob the Drag Queen and Naomi Smalls. Their aesthetics are completely different from mine but they’re just really good people. I talk to both of them on a daily basis now.

John Paul Stapleton can be reached at john.stapleton@globe.com