This article was originally published at Shondaland.com
On “Avalon TV,” Symone (née Reggie Gavin) and the House of Avalon flex impeccable style and talent along with a wicked sense of humor.
Symone (née Reggie Gavin), the stunning drag queen who snatched the crown on season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, is fiercely loyal to her chosen family — which is a damn good thing because her latest venture involves and revolves around them. During her season on Drag Race, the leggy queen melted hearts with her warm personality and innate authenticity, and now, with Avalon TV, a new variety show on WOW Presents Plus about the house (drag family) she calls home, we’ll get a campy, frothy glimpse at the inner workings of their inner sanctum.
After all, many members of the House of Avalon go all the way back. The Los Angeles-based native of Conway, Arkansas, first met house members Marko Monroe, Hunter Crenshaw, Grant Vanderbilt, and Caleb in her early days at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock after one of her first drag gigs at a local nightclub (Gigi Goode and Symone met later at Micky’s West Hollywood, a popular club featuring drag performances).
This house’s one-for-all, all-for-one vibe is what Avalon TV is all about. A variety show of sorts, it cheekily apes ’80s and ’90s sensibilities with “Dragass,” a spoof of Jackass (think pranks!), and other segments that give off the vibe of MTV’s House of Style, sometimes presented with the grainy finish of RuPaul’s own ’80s public access on-the-street interviews. In fact, a segment called “Chosen Family Matters” gives Symone command of the mic as she interviews special guests like Abby Lee Miller (Dance Moms), Taylor Hale (winner of Big Brother, season 24), Ts Madison, Nicole Byer, Orville Peck, Dominique Jackson, and Drag Race darlings Trixie Mattel and Sasha Colby, among others.
Since winning the crown, Symone has ascended to becoming a fashion VIP, attending the Met Gala, walking runways and attending numerous fashion shows (Maison Valentino, Jean Paul Gaultier), posing for the covers of such magazines as Interview and Out (where she was proclaimed an “It” girl), and in campaigns for such designers as Moschino (with Gigi Goode). Regardless of the wig, look, or accessory she chooses, Symone is the kind of “It” girl who rules fashion because she wears the clothes — they never wear her. Even over Zoom, Symone commands the screen, exuding the very same effortless charm, down-to-earth warmth, authenticity, and humor that bewitched viewers, her fellow contestants, and the press alike during her season on Drag Race.
VIVIAN MANNING-SCHAFFEL: It’s so lovely to meet you! I want to start by asking how you all came together and landed on the word “Avalon” for House of Avalon. Avalon is my favorite album from the ’80s, so I’m wondering how you landed on that.
SYMONE: Hello, darling! We’re all from Arkansas, and one of our favorite books is A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson, and she talks about the children of Avalon [referring to a book called The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley]. We all just wanted to create a place where we could go and be ourselves, and have our authentic fun, be free, and enjoy each other, and then one day expand it to other people, like we now have our family here in Los Angeles.
VMS: “Avalon” implies an exalted, spiritual life.
SYMONE: Yes! Exalted, I like that!
VMS: I’m so glad! How did you all come together as a chosen family?
SYMONE: Well, I met them when I was in college, straight out of high school. They were throwing parties at a club. They were already together, but I met them when I was starting out in drag and I did a competition. It kind of just formed organically. Hunter and Grant are friends from back [in] their hometown, so they knew each other as kids, and then Grant went to college with Marko, and Grant hooked Hunter and Marko up. Caleb was met when all three of them were at a party in Little Rock. So, we all just kind of organically came together from our love of drag, and just pop culture, and art, and all that stuff. Also, I like to say I stayed on their couch and just didn’t leave, child! I’m just not going no damn where! It’s much more fun than my dorm room, so I’m going to stay right here.
VMS: A good couch is invaluable!
SYMONE: Baby, you cannot beat a good couch!
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VMS: The sensibility of Avalon TV is very ’80s and ’90s, with a spoof of Family Matters called “Chosen Family Matters,” and the look and feel of Ru’s old interview show on public access.
SYMONE: You’re getting it! You’re catching it all!
VMS: I miss nothing! Did the concept and the format evolve organically? How did you all brainstorm and land on how you were going to pull the show together?
SYMONE: We all love television, darling. That was all of our escape, in one way or another. So, we wanted to do a show that follows us and talks about us, but we also wanted it to be more than that. We wanted to have a talk show [“Chosen Family Matters”], like the one I’ve been hosting.
VMS: You did so well! What a first guest [formerly incarcerated Dance Mom Abby Lee Miller] too!
SYMONE: A gag, I know! We were like [crosses fingers], “I hope she does it, I hope she does it, I hope she does it.” She showed up, and it was amazing; she was so much fun. And I was kind of nervous because I was like, “Am I going to get whacked? Just don’t get me, child!” But it was great — it was really fun.
VMS: She was giving.
SYMONE: She was! With her, I could ask questions, and she would go, she would go, go, go in different directions. It was great. But we love television, so we wanted to combine all of our favorite aspects of it into one show. We did “Dragass,” which is a drag parody of Jackass.
VMS: I was like, “They did not!” With the bug, I was upset that you lost. (Note: There was a contest involving a bug, a tube, and using breath to move the bug.)
SYMONE: I was not. I was like, “You know what? I’m gonna let it go.” Had me a House of Love cocktail, and I said, “I’m gonna let it go.”
Symone attends the Avalon TV premiere party for The House of Avalon at Soho Warehouse on October 8, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Matt Winkelmeyer//Getty Images
VMS: There’s a reason we disassociate in this life, and this is one of the reasons! [Laughs.] How does your chosen family sustain you?
SYMONE: I think we are all very honest with each other. We all love very hard, and we love in our very different ways. I think we all have a sense of humor about ourselves, so we just come in, we say it all, do it all, and then we laugh about it later. We keep each other grounded. Sometimes it’s not fun, and sometimes we get mad. Ooh, we get mad — those eyebrows be furrowed, child! But we all know we love each other and that we ride [as in ride or die], and we ride, and we laugh. All we want at the end of the day is to have fun and keep that childlike sensibility about us, so we try not to take nothing too damn seriously!
VMS: No, life is too short for that! Let’s talk about your looks. I love how, on the show, your chosen family was gagging at your Met Gala look! You slayed your looks so hard on Drag Race. What goes into creating a Symone signature look?
SYMONE: I usually like to start with a feeling: How do I want to feel in this garment, or what am I trying to say? Those are the two big questions for me. [With Drag Race], I had a folder that I created, and I said, “If I get on [Drag Race], this is what I want to look like.” It was, like, hundreds of pictures, references of hair, makeup, clothes, all these things. I was just very intentional about it, and I was like, “I want to be myself, I want to say something, and I want to have fun.” It just starts with a feeling for me. And you know, it’s a house. If any of us have an idea, we’ll say, “This is what we’re thinking — how do we make it better? Is this okay? Is this going to come off?” We pick it apart until it’s perfection.
VMS: How long does it take to pull a look together? From mood board to execution?
SYMONE: Oh, it just depends! We’ve been doing this for three years, so we could be pretty quick about it. To create that whole package [for Drag Race], it took all the time we had, like three and a half weeks, to create all of that, which is crazy.
VMS: That’s crazy!
SYMONE: But now that we’re kind of in the swing of it, we can get something together real quick, child!
VMS: Three weeks sounds crazy to me. There’s so much that goes into pulling these looks together.
SYMONE: I had no idea, and then I discovered how crazy I am!
VMS: Are you a perfectionist?
SYMONE: Yeah, I am. I’ve loosened up a lot, but yeah.
VMS: What’s your sign?
SYMONE: I’m a Capricorn.
VMS: So, you’re not going out half-done! Celebrities were very supportive of your Drag Race run — even Rihanna cheered you on! What was your reaction?
SYMONE: She did! I remember that day. We were in the desert, shooting the beads look. It was the light. It was like 4 or 5 in the morning, so the sun wasn’t up yet, and so I’m just, like, on Instagram, and I’m looking. Then I’m thinking, “Wait, what? What is this? What? What? What?” I was like, “It’s one of those fan accounts, you know, like there’s an extra ‘i.’” And then I clicked on it, and I clicked on her profile, and I was like, “Oh, s--t!” It was a shock, especially since so much of my drag is inspired by her, and I love her so much. It was humbling in a way because I was like, “Oh, my God, you saw it, and you get it.” For someone like that, who is such a fashion icon, to see it and love it and be cheering you on [and] be like, “Keep your foot on the gas” — that is crazy. I’m just grateful.
VMS: To be seen by the people you idolize is such a huge gift. It puts gas in the tank.
SYMONE: It’s all you can ask for.
VMS: Is there someone else you idolize whom you’d love to meet? Or whom you have met who went above and beyond in person?
SYMONE: I have to say I’ve met a lot of people [laughs]. Not to brag, but I’ve met a lot of them! You know who I never thought I’d get to meet and lived up to everything was Grace Jones. I never thought I would get to meet her and get to perform for her. When she was watching me, I didn’t even look at her. I knew where she was, and I thought, “I can’t look at her, or I’m going to lose this moment.” For her, I was told later, to be cheering me on and love everything that I brought to do in front of her — I couldn’t believe I got to meet her. I would love to get to meet Diana Ross.
VMS: I thought you might say Diana Ross! You’re from Arkansas, which we’ve established, and doing drag there and living in your truth these days is not easy. What advice would you give to a little Symone who lives there now? What words of encouragement would you offer?
SYMONE: I would say, “Do it, and do it 100 percent. Don’t let anybody anywhere tell you that you’re not allowed to be yourself or explore your art.” I’m so happy that I had that for myself because I was not a confident kid out of drag, and drag gave that to me. I’m so happy that I hung on to it, just kept going, and being like, “This is what makes me happy. I don’t care.” My mom wasn’t too happy about it at first. Some people at school — I didn’t care. I finally felt like myself. It doesn’t even have to be drag — whatever it is, if that’s what makes you happy, hang on to it. Especially in these times, you have to hold on to your joy, and you have to hold on to who you are and be unafraid to explore that. There’s a community of people out there for you. Don’t let nobody take that s--t from you. Don’t do it. It’s not worth it.
VMS: If you could manifest any kind of opportunity for yourself, if you could storyboard your dreams, what would you do? What’s next for you? Where do you want to take things?
SYMONE: Not just for me — I want everyone around me to be able to do what they want to do, whether it’s design clothes … I would love, love, love to have a TV show. I would love to have a talk show and be in people’s world so they can see what’s possible, you know? I remember seeing RuPaul, and I had no idea that’s what a Black gay person could be. I know we have much more representation now, but I would love to be that on TV, and I just would love everyone to have their dreams, and do what they want to do, and accomplish their goals. I want to succeed, and I want everyone around me to succeed as well. And I just want this business to grow. I want this family to grow. I want all of us to just be happy. Oh, I have one more! I’m going to say I did my astrology thing the other day. He said, “Don’t be afraid to say you want to be rich,” so I want to be rich too.