- Hello, my beautiful angels and welcome
to the premiere episode of "Whatcha Packin?"
(upbeat playful music)
Joining me today from Chicago is the gorgeous Kahmora Hall.
- Hi Michelle, good morning.
- How are you, baby doll?
- I'm good.
Honestly, I'm so happy to see you again.
You look stunning.
- Go on.
(both laugh)
I can see your banana.
(record scratch) - Oh my God, oh my God,
I didn't know it was showing, I'm so sorry.
(Michelle laughs)
So Kahmora Hall, any relation
to our reigning queen, Jaida Essence Hall?
- Jaida is my big sister.
We share the same drag mother, the legendary Tajma Hall.
- Now you're in Chicago.
Jaida's in Wisconsin.
She's got drag children all over.
She's international,
spreading her seed throughout.
- How did that happen?
How did you find your drag mother?
- I actually met Tajma my freshman year of college.
It was the first time I ever saw a drag show,
and I just told myself, if I ever wanted to do this,
I want to be just like her.
And I just remember
spending months nagging her on Facebook,
can you please be my drag mother?
Until one day, she was like, okay, fine.
We can do it.
And so it's just how it all started.
- So we talked a little bit about this on the show,
your love for the legendary designer Bob Mackie.
- Yes.
- And your entrance look was an actual Mackie,
which you're a bitch
because you can fit into an actual Mackie.
(Kahmora laughs)
How did you first get clued into Bob Mackie?
- When I was starting drag, looking for outfits and whatnot
I actually bought my first dress,
and I didn't know that it was a Bob Mackie.
I looked at the label and I just did my research,
and then I just loved
that everything he did was so glamorous and jaw-dropping,
and that's exactly what I wanted to be.
And then I just became hooked.
He just holds a special place in my heart.
- Bob Mackie is a legend for so many reasons.
And I'm like you, if I ever see a piece
or even, dare I say, the wearable art from QVC,
I don't care.
I will pick it up.
I will buy it because Bob Mackie to me is
all the iconic stuff you're thinking of.
- Yes.
- I aspired one day to wear a piece of Bob Mackie,
so I totally understand that.
- He's already done everything
you can do possible to a dress.
Even if designers today don't realize it,
they're all paying homage to him someway, somehow.
- What other designers do you love?
- The more vintage era designers.
Holson, Bill Blass,
the Naeem Khans, the Steven Yurick dresses,
the Lillie Rubin, that high end boutique back
in the sixties to the eighties.
I just love everything that's sequin and beaded.
Kind of gaudy.
Those are the ones I hunt for.
Shine and sparkle just never goes out of style.
- You kind of have a vintage look
that's been modernized.
I absolutely hunt down the vintage Bill Blasses,
the Oleg Cassini's. - Yes.
- The obvious choices are the Fendis
and the Pradas and the Gucci's.
I want the older stuff.
- You gotta really scour the internet
for these pieces. - I know.
- Looking for liquidation sales, estate sales.
I will find a Mackie someway, somehow.
- And they're out there.
But the key is, people,
you have to find people
who really don't know what they have.
I love vintage Patrick Kelly
and Stephen Sprouse and trying to find pieces like that,
people are charging thousands and thousands of dollars.
It's like now they know what they have.
- Right.
- So when I go to Chicago and I go to Milwaukee,
you go to every vintage shop you can
because you will stumble across a masterpiece,
and that's kind of what you brought to "RuPaul's Drag Race".
Now, do you sew yourself?
- I can sew a pillowcase.
(both laugh)
Coming into "Drag Race",
You have to know how to sew.
I learned how to do it,
so if I ever got to that challenge,
I was prepared to sew a gown.
- Wow, you went from a pillowcase to a gown very quickly.
- Yup, I learned real quick.
- You know, and I say it every season.
It's like, guys,
you know there's gonna be a sewing challenge.
I don't want to hear that you can't sew.
Figure it out, find a way.
So it sounds like you had enough lessons
to be able to make a gown,
and that's very smart.
You take a very long time to get ready.
Valentina takes forever.
Shangela takes forever.
Violet takes forever, although she has gotten better.
- Yes, oh my God.
- You can't have six hours to get ready,
so was that your biggest challenge
do you think on "Drag Race"?
- I've always been doing drag kind of part-time.
- Right.
- On my normal day doing a gig,
I have all day to get ready,
but the makeup is my favorite part of drag,
so I really just take my time and live in the moment.
I love every blend and every swipe of the lipstick.
I enjoy it.
It's the fantasy for me.
Let me be this glamorous woman.
- What did you do for your day job?
Are you still doing it?
- I worked as a research coordinator
for a social science institute,
and so we did clinical trials
on mental health and substance abuse.
So we helped a lot of disenfranchised communities get access
to treatment,
we helped them with transportation to treatment.
That, to me was a very fulfilling part of my job
just being able to help other people.
- We stan a philanthropic queen,
so I think that's amazing that you do what you do.
It takes a lot out of you emotionally,
so you have to be prepared to do that kind of a job.
So good for you.
I'm assuming you knew Denali beforehand then?
- Yeah, so Denali, she's my Chicago sister.
We've done gigs together many times.
It just felt so good to see a familiar face.
Someone that I can confide to if I ever needed to.
And I don't know, I'm just so proud of us.
Finally two Chicago Queens on a season.
- Yeah, that must've been really comforting
to look over and be like,
all right, at least I know somebody,
because I've done these competitions where
you want to get to know them, but you can't be weak,
so it's a tough situation to be in.
- Yup.
- Now, the first lip sync,
when you lost to Tina and you were in the Porkchop Room,
were you scared that you were all going,
or did you think, oh, mama Ru,
you have to have something up your sleeve.
- I knew there was some kind of like goop and gag-erie
'cause I feel like every season
there's always some big twist.
I'd be so pissed if they got all of us wigs
to get ready for the show just a set us all home first day.
So I knew there was something Ru's sleeve.
- Hundred percent, I looked at Ru when she did that,
I said, you are naughty.
These girls have spent how long preparing for this,
you are naughty.
Absolutely.
- Not even five minutes into the workroom,
we're like, oh, we have to lip sync,
and someone's going home, like, oh God.
- When you watch the show,
you wait for those twists and turns.
It just sucks when you're in it.
But when you watch it, you're like, yes,
absolutely.
- [Kahmora] I'm just glad to be a part of it.
- And you are a part of it.
You're part of history.
Let's talk about that beautiful gown
that you have next to you,
that pink pageanty beautiful fashion number.
Tell me about her.
- So this dress is actually inspired
by my drag mother's winning gown
at Miss Continental Plus 2007,
and I just figured what better way to pay tribute to her
then for the final runway of "Drag Race".
- And who made it?
- A very good friend of mine in Chicago,
his name is (bleep)
I'm sorry.
Let's redo that.
- Such a good friend, isn't he?
- (laughs) He would kill me if I got this wrong.
- All right, say it again, say it again.
Go.
- A very good friend of mine in Chicago made this for me.
His name is Trevor Rankins.
Thank you Trevor.
- (laughs) Believe it or not,
a lot of people don't know this
cause I always wear black
because I'm a new Yorker,
but my favorite color is pink,
(Kahmora gasps) and in particular, baby pink.
- You're just like my drag mother.
Her favorite color was baby pink as well.
I thought about what I was gonna wear
for the final runway.
I could have pulled out a Bob Mackie dress,
but this to me, it was more sentimental.
- But are you proud of what you did,
and how you presented yourself?
- I'm the longest running first out,
so I feel like I'm going to be holding that title forever.
I am proud of myself.
My whole life, I kind of played it safe.
And this was the first time I took a risk and a chance.
I went for my dreams, you know?
And obviously things didn't work out the way
I planned it to,
but now I don't have to wonder what if anymore,
I did it.
I got "RuPaul's Drag Race",
even though I got sent home first,
I was still on multiple episodes.
I still got to show some looks.
I solidified myself as the Mackie queen.
I'm just happy I got show that dragon runway.
That's the one runway I wanted to show you guys the most.
And at least y'all gave me that, so. (laughs)
- Success comes from the risks,
so the fact that you'd got here,
that you're part of Ru's legacy,
you're part of the family is a big deal.
So somebody has to go home.
Sadly it was you, but you were still amazing,
and you're right.
It doesn't feel like you were first
because we saw a few different looks,
and we will see more of Kahmora Hall on social media.
I'm assuming Kahmora Hall.
- Yes, Kahmora Hall.
- You gotta say Kah because it's K-A-H, correct?
- You got it right Michelle, you got it.
- You are an amazing talent.
I'm so happy that I got a chance to judge you.
Please keep doing what you're doing.
Stay sweet, stay adorable.
Stay Mackie forever.
- Hey, RuPaul said we're all born naked,
and the rest is Bob Mackie.
- Yes, I love it.
Thank you Kahmora.
- Thank you, Michelle.
- And that's another episode of "Whatcha Packin?"
See you next time.
Bye.
(upbeat dance music)