I am:

Miss Geena. That’s spelt with a double e. If you look closely or from far away, you'll see why I envision my drag as a pop princess from the 90s who has been teleported to the current day to remind people why pop music is and will always be superior. I have been doing drag for 11 years now, so I’m entering my teenage years. The mischievous years where I'm probably going to get up to a lot of trouble.

I perform on the legendary Karangahape Road here in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland. I am the resident MC showgirl at the legendary Caluzzi Cabaret, which is one of the oldest queer cabaret venues in the entire world, and I'm so proud to be there.

For me, fashion and drag is really important because I get to tell stories. As a trans person I get to choose what I want to put out there into the world, and often I wear my trans colours very, very proud. Because for me, drag is a political statement.

My fashion sense has been shaped by:

I draw inspiration from the colourful glitters of like, pop. I'm a pop girly when it comes to performing. So, Britney Spears, not much clothing. I like to show my skin or this body that I've created from the gym. And then if I’m MCing, I’ll put on a lot more clothing like Lady Gaga. And really just like the light up outfits and the visual aspect of it.

I think I'm trying to be visible with my choices in fashion with drag. Again, being a trans person right now, I think it's really important to be visible. And so, whether that's just wearing the colours or putting on something that I've created myself. It's very important to me. I definitely curate from existing pieces.

My drag image has definitely been shaped. Early days by Britney Spears. She was my princess. I just wanted to be her so bad. And that went into obviously making my own music. I write and record my own music. Even before drag, I was doing that as the sort of femme male kind of persona, which then evolved into drag, and I just love being able to look good on stage.

And drag is all about lip syncing, and I think Britney Spears is one of the best lip-syncers in the world. So, I learnt from the best and learnt how to move my body through seeing what she would wear. Often, she would not wear a lot, but even like simple outfits were so sparkly and just the way that they moved, for me that was some fashion that inspired my drag.

My relationship with fashion is:

It's like one of those, like long distance ones we like sometimes in contact, we sometimes don't talk. Like any typical marriage.

I think image and drag is everything, right? From a very young age, I remember I was always doing drag without realising I would stick some sweatpants on my head and wear them down the sides as if they were big, like ponytails. Kind of like Emma Bunton / Baby Spice. I would just imagine that these track pants were my hair, like I was wearing some kind of wig. So, I've always envisioned myself as being as something a female entity. And so now that I have a bit more money behind me as an adult, I'm able to create this image of who I have always envisioned myself to be.

Political statement:

When I'm getting into drag, there's that process – I'm thinking ‘what colour am I wearing today? What outfit am I going to put on in in an hour's time? Oh, that one okay’. So, I'll match the eyeshadow with that. Then there's all these layers and then the wig.

And then that moment of putting the eyelashes on all of a sudden, I'm like, ‘oh, I'm a woman’. It's getting there’. And then the stocking and finally the outfit. There's something that feels so whole and complete about being fully in drag, but it's almost like I'm bringing out that powerful feminine identity inside of me that's always been there but just wearing it on the outside and I think that's very powerful.

My drag clothes connect with the audience when there's not many, and people get to see the skin, they get to see the movement. And I get to be sexy and kind of inspire other people to feel sexy in their own way. Because underneath it all, I feel honestly like Fiona from Shrek sometimes, but with the drag I get to create something that gives out positivity and confidence.

And from a community aspect, when I am wearing what I'm wearing, it's definitely that political statement of wearing my trans colours when I'm in drag at events, because I think visibility can save lives.

Putting together an outfit/inspiration:

A lot of my outfits and drag are reconstructed from thrift shop outfits, second-hand dresses, and I've pulled them apart and then stitched them back together. Every now and again, I'll wear a little old cookie cutter off-the-rack dress, which is all done for me because I'm a busy girl, and sometimes I've just got to be like, ‘I'll do that outfit, it's there’, and then Miss Geena will sew the rest.

When I first started, I would shop at second hand shops and put together dresses, find a belt, find heels, and sort of put it together myself. I still do that today. I feel like there's a lot of pressure to have a lot of money and get designers to create looks for you.

When in my mind, I think drag at its core is that creative side and I like a bit of messiness with drag sometimes. So, I try not to let money hold me back because, I mean, sometimes my looks very tacky, and I kind of like that. Oh my gosh, the amount of time that we spend behind the scenes with our drag.

And it can be kind of draining as well. You spend all these hours putting a look together or getting yourself into that drag persona, and then on top of that, you've got to go to work. And even in between gigs, let's say you're on the street, bar hopping, people are asking for a selfie and they're trying to talk to you.

And that's like unpaid work. But you're doing it for the love of it. Because I remember the first drag queens I met on K Road when I was 19. You may have heard of them – Tess Tickle and Buckwheat. I remember meeting these drag queens for the first time changed my life. And I could be the medicine in the room that someone needs right now. So, I'm always going to be ready for that one person.

When I’m not in drag:

As someone who's lucky to do drag as a full-time job, I'm in drag quite a lot and often drag absorbs all of my feminine confidence.

And so, as a trans woman, it's kind of changed me out of drag because I get to do drag so much. In the last few years, I've had to sort of rediscover who I am out of drag, which is kind of this opposite effect. Not a bad thing either. As a trans woman, I would always wear a lot of makeup. I would put on dresses to sort of pass as much as I could, but with drag taking over that power, I've actually gained a lot more power as a woman out of drag, where I've gone back into that feminist movement of going, ‘well, I don't need to wear heels out of drag to be a woman. I don't need to wear a dress to be a woman’. And so, my fashion outside of drag has actually gone a lot more androgynous in the last few years, which I've felt really good about. I've learnt to embrace like a slightly more masculine side, which I never knew that I would like. And I've really enjoyed that.

Portrait by Denise Baynham, 2025.

Audio engineering by Finn Hopley.
Video by Rochelle Ivanson.

Last published January 2026.

This exhibition was created for the New Zealand Fashion Museum for Pride 2026 with support from Britomart Group, Foundation North and The Rule Foundation.