- Oh, my delicious banana cream pies.
Welcome to another episode of Whatcha Packin'.
(upbeat music)
We are here with Nymphia Wind.
- Hi. - Hi, Nymphia.
And look how you came all prepared.
- I brought all the bananas for you.
- Where did this start?
- Well, yellow actually started in 2020,
when I made a full-on yellow outfit for myself.
And after that I kind of got addicted.
And then banana came in after kind of, you know,
just looking all yellow, and looking like a banana.
And you know, I feel like bananas are really camp
naturally 'cause they're like phallic,
and then they're like in pop art,
and it's just like very yellow.
So I just fell in love with bananas.
- You just ran with it. - Yeah.
- So it just took you wearing one yellow outfit
once to be like...
- It's my color! - Yes.
And that's what happened.
- Yeah, basically.
- Because it brought you joy.
- Yeah, it did.
- You live in Brooklyn now.
- [Nymphia] Yes I do.
- And you went right from Taiwan to Brooklyn.
How old were you when you moved to Brooklyn?
- I was 27. - 27.
- I moved in 2022.
- Did you come with your family?
- No, I came by myself.
- And your family's still in Taiwan?
- So when I moved to New York, my mom actually went to Italy
to pursue her dreams, just living in Europe.
So she went to study Italian.
- Okay, so she went to Italy.
What part of Italy?
- She went to Florence.
- She went, beautiful, to go study Italian.
- (laughing) Yeah.
- Did you know that your mother's dream
was always to study Italian in Italy?
- I think my mother's dream was always
to travel the world and be free.
And just do whatever her heart's desires.
- And she's doing that? - Yeah.
- Does she know about Nymphia?
- Yeah, she does.
She's a great supporter of Nymphia.
- How wonderful. - Very.
- And what was it about America that was calling you?
- In America, like drag is so developed.
And there's so many opportunities.
Like doing drag in Taiwan, I got to a point where
it kind of plateaued.
Like there's not a lot of opportunities,
it's very limited.
So coming to America was like a next big step
to really challenge my drag,
and to see where my drag could go.
And you know, now I'm here.
- And where was the first place you worked?
- I just started doing like sewing gigs here and there.
But like, because-- - For queens?
- No, it was for this burlesque company.
Actually, no, I remember, my first job was at a laundromat.
- Really? - Yeah.
It was a very cute little easy job to do without having--
- And make some money. - Yeah.
Without having to turn on your brain
and just get it done, you know?
- And then you started sewing. - Yeah.
- And this whole time you were making your own costumes?
- Yes.
- And had you been doing drag yet?
I know in Taiwan, but I mean in Brooklyn.
- Yeah, I actually have.
Like arriving to Brooklyn,
I think because I'm like a Taiwanese local star.
So like some of the Asian queens in New York
already knew me prior.
So like coming here I was really surprised,
like I was able to get one gig at least a month.
I was really happy about that.
- When you were preparing with your designs, whatever,
your packing, was there one thing that you knew
that you couldn't do this competition without?
- I'm into like collecting dolls.
So like there was like these two dolls that I really,
really wanted, and were like really hard to find.
So I just randomly said to myself,
imagine if I went into the competition,
like, and then I found those dolls
before I came into the competition.
And then I actually did, and I bought them.
So I bought them as a lucky charm into the competition.
- Oh, I love that.
- So they're like in my hotel room.
They're like my manifestation dolls.
- They're watching over you. - Yeah.
- As you're working away.
- Slaving away, stressing out,
and just managing to stay afloat.
- [Michelle] All the stress was probably not worth it.
Meaning mentally, because you had it all in you.
It was there all along.
- I know, I know.
If only I could have a recording.
One thing for the future to prepare,
that like if I could go back in time,
I would tell myself that "You are good,
you are great, you are fabulous.
Don't be scared."
Like all of the good stuff.
- That's all true.
- Just to remind you who you are
and don't forget who you are.
- Actually a great idea.
- Like I kind of lost track of who I was.
- That's easily done in competitions.
- [Nymphia] Very.
- But it came back together because look what you're doing.
Look where you're sitting.
Look where you're standing.
In the final. - Yes.
- Very proud of you, Nymphia Wind.
- Thank you. - You're welcome.
Did you have any idea you would be understood,
and supported, and loved with everything that you did?
- I don't know.
I didn't have any expectations.
All I said to myself was, I'm here to break the Asian curse.
I am not gonna be out early on.
- Was that important to you?
- Yeah, yeah.
So I just wanted to come here and really show a rich,
rich Asian culture in my drag.
- I see Asian excellence. - Asian sensation.
- Yes, yes.
And you are so, so dynamic.
What was it like for you, this competition?
The whole thing.
- You know how sometimes you watch it on TV
and you're like, yeah I could do that.
That's totally easy.
- Everybody says that. - Yeah.
And then I came in, I thought I would be able to, you know,
keep afloat, or like manage a lot of stuff.
But like the cast as a whole, everyone was like
really good and well versed,
and really like just so talented.
And it was like, oh, this makes everything so much harder.
- I agree.
Yeah, it makes it that much harder.
- Yeah.
- So did you feel the pressure was on?
- The pressure was definitely on.
I was living in fear of going home.
And that really kind of affected
my performance in a sense.
Or like my mentality during the competition.
I was like.
That's why I drank that immunity potion.
- [Michelle] Yeah, you know, you didn't need to.
- Yeah, I didn't.
Instant regret.
- What were you thinking about?
Did you really think you needed to?
- [Nymphia] I think it was because of my verse.
I was feeling really insecure of the verse I wrote.
- [Michelle] Okay.
- 'Cause I'm not the best lyricist.
So I was really insecure about that.
And yeah, I just took it.
- Yeah you did.
- And after I went back, I was like, why did I take it?
I live in regret.
'Cause like I wanted to be critiqued and on stage,
'cause at that point I wasn't getting a lot of critique.
- [Michelle] And it was so good.
- [Nymphia] I know.
- I know, I know, I know.
Again, you can't live in regret.
You can't do that.
- At least I have a good untucked.
I was there by myself talking to bananas, so.
- You're used to that, aren't you?
- Yeah.
(Michelle laughs)
- Has fashion always been a big part of your life,
even in Taiwan?
- [Nymphia] It's really weird 'cause fashion to me
is not really about like, ooh looking,
you know, wearing the trends and all that.
For me, fashion is, you know,
being able to make something pretty.
'Cause from a young age
I was always attracted to anything pretty.
It was just a way for me to communicate to the world,
'cause I'm not the most vocal person.
So making clothes was my way of saying stuff.
And then just creating beautiful stuff.
- I agree with you.
Fashion doesn't have to be about the latest trend.
Fashion is about making trends.
You're a drag queen, you're a performer,
and you're expressing yourself as a person, as a human.
So that's what fashion is to me.
- Yeah.
- And I think that you've done that really, really well.
You have turned so many iconic looks this season.
I don't know how you had the time to do it.
- I don't either. - Let's talk...
Honestly, I don't.
And you brought so much culture into everything
that you did, which seems very important to you,
to bring a piece of Taiwan. - Yes.
- [Michelle] And Asian culture in general, into your looks.
So let's start with this red one.
Who made that?
- I made all of these looks.
- You made all of these looks.
Nymphia, are you a fast sewer?
- I'm very fast. - Who taught you?
- I think my talent most of all
is that I learn things really fast.
So I kind of like, from a young age,
I remember my first experience of sewing was
I was trying to fix my little doll
'cause it kind of had a hole.
And after that I just started sewing stuff,
and I was always very crafty.
And then like in high school,
I was like drawing designs before.
And I got to a point where I was like,
I wanna make these things happen.
Like, so I started like learning how
to make clothes, and then just learned.
And then the rest just became that.
- I can't like, I can't believe.
How long, like this one, how long?
That material, first of all.
Yeah, exactly.
Did it take that long?
- That one? - Yes.
- [Nymphia] Was a (beeps).
That one is like so far the hardest thing.
'Cause that one is heavy.
And then I had to quilt it
with like home sewing machines.
- [Michelle] Were you breaking needles?
- Yes, I was breaking needles, I was breaking my soul.
I was dying, I was having mental breakdowns.
I was like, why did I do this to myself?
I was like, ugh.
But, worth it.
- Yeah, worth it.
I am just enamored by everything
that you brought to this competition.
The detail.
In season 16, it's been going for a while now.
So we had no choice but to up the ante, right?
And the queens that audition now, the ante has been upped.
Consider it upped.
So, it's all about the detail.
- Yes.
- And you have really just met every criteria.
Not just the character that is Nymphia Wind,
but the whole look, the aesthetic.
And you can tell when you're standing there with pride,
like this white dress.
You did all the painting as well?
- [Nymphia] No, my drag family back in Taiwan did it.
- [Michelle] Oh my goodness.
- [Nymphia] So that's why it's so sentimental.
- [Michelle] Even more exciting.
So you made the dress?
- [Nymphia] Yeah, my daughter came to New York
to prep with me.
And then we made that dress together.
And then before she came, my whole drag family
and some of my friends drew that.
So that to me felt really important
and sentimental to be able to bring
my family back in Taiwan onto the main stage of Drag Race.
- That's like something I'd get married in, if I were you.
Honestly.
That's how important and sentimental that piece is.
You are a one of a kind.
You are not only making your people in Taiwan happy,
but all of us happy, watching you
do what you do, and just dominate.
- Dominate?
- Yeah, you did.
You might not consider yourself a dominatrix.
- Oh, I am. (laughing)
- But you did.
Nymphia, you should be really proud of yourself.
- Thank you so much.
- Thank you, my darling.
- Can I give you a, Whatcha Packin'?
- Whatcha Packin'?
Oh my god, you have a banana in a banana.
Thank you so much.
And thank you all for watching Whatcha Packin'.
I will see you next time.
(smooches) Bye.
(upbeat music)
You are so funny.
Do they all have bananas in them?
- There's a apple juice here.
- (laughing) Of course there's an apple juice in a banana.
- Are you hungry?
- I'm good, I'm good.